Route66 New Mexico – ADOBE

19-20 June 2013: Days 36 & 37 of 43 – Adrian TEXAS, Tucumcari, Santa Fe NEW MEXICO (State 20). 

Route66: Days 7 & 8 of 13. 

Overnight in Santa Fe & Gallup NEW MEXICO. 

Period 890km, Route66: 810 for 2,879km, Total 14,548km.  

Our last Route 66 specific curio in Texas was, wait for it, ten 1950s rusted and graffiti covered Cadillacs buried nose down in a wheat field just outside Amarillo – call it art, call it junk – it looked awesome in the early morning sunrise with dark storm clouds overhead. Lucky for us no rain eventuated and by the time we reached Santa Fe the skies were completely blue and the bone dry heat had reached 35C. You can pick up one of many spray cans around the Cadillacs and spray on whatever you want – this is allowed and encouraged.

 Not far away is the Texas town of Adrian at the New Mexico border. This is a very key town. It is the exact half-way point on Route 66 between Chicago and Los Angeles. We arrived early (8:30am on Wed 19 June) and took our time with photos and film until an organised tour of 26 English Harley riders turned up. As they say there is opportunity in everything and I proceeded to interview all 26

in front of the midway marker by the side of the road – a great insight to be revealed on the movie! We then enjoyed coffee and pie at the Midway Café just across the road, fitted out exactly as it was in its heyday. What a great morning

– you could swear you were back in time. Then in a blaze of sound and colour 26 Harleys and one Mustang blazed off to complete the other half of Route 66. The Route 66 signage in Texas 

was much better than Oklahoma and New Mexico was even better. Kansas was the best and Illinois second. Texas saw flat green scenery but New Mexico quickly turned that into desert and flat topped mountains. Tucumcari NM had the most and best preserved Route 66 original curios including, motels, cafes and even a bank and car wash. It also had a stainless steel, retro style Route 66 sign – the best so far. We washed our car here but it was short living as we dipped into more muddy pools on our way to Santa Fe which is at 7,000ft at the start of the Sangre De Cristo mountain range.

This area is striking and different from what we saw in Utah and Colorado. Santa Fe (pop 144,170) meaning “Holy Faith” was founded by the Spanish in 1610 making it the second oldest city in the USA and the oldest State Capital. I found out a lot about the city and New Mexico at the jam-packed “Museum of New Mexico” at the central plaza. The area was originally inhabited by the Pueblans some 6,500 years ago. The Spanish first arrived here in 1541 and in 1680 the Pueblans fought back and occupied the city for 12 years.

New Mexico was originally an external Royal Territory of Spain and then became a state of Mexico until the USA invaded Mexico and New Mexico in 1846 and built a fort (Marcy) at the highest point of Santa Fe city. New Mexico decided to surrender peacefully to the USA in return for economic assistance (after many years of poverty and struggle) and joined the union in 1912. This history is obvious as you walk around Santa Fe – many of the locals are a Spanish / Pueblan mix and most home, hotels, commercial buildings and even MacDonald’s bare the “adobe” architectural style.

There is also heaps of Spanish and Pueblan signage. It does not feel like the USA – more like Spain or Mexico. Bubba Gump also visited the St Francis Cathedral and all the area around “The Plaza”. We then drove to the bottom of the Cross of the Martyrs and walked to the top for views of the city – Fort Marcy remains are up here as well. Another interesting find is “The Miraculous Staircase” at the Loretto Chapel nearby. This Catholic Church was built in the 1870s and operated by the Sisters of Loretto. For many years they struggled to build a staircase from the floor of the church to the choir loft. There was not enough room for a secure spiral staircase and the only option was to rebuild the loft at prohibitive cost. The sisters prayed for a result and soon after an old man turns up with a few simple tools and proceeds to build a freestanding spiral staircase out of wood over 6mths and mysteriously disappears without requesting payment. According to the sisters this old man was St Joseph the Carpenter and hence the name. Since that time the staircase has been brilliantly preserved and only recently bolted into the church walls to secure it. Without these bolts it is hard to see how it could bear the weight of so many nuns going up and down each day. You need to see it to know what I mean. We then drove past the Capital Building which is also done in Adobe style.

By the time we checked in, it was a bumper 32C and my 10km run down Route 66 sealed my 24^th US state but sucked the energy out of me – it took several Enchiladas and chillies and beers at “Maria’s” that night to bring me back to life. At least it was zero effort to find Route 66 from our hotel the following morning – it was the road our hotel was on. We zipped away at 7am headed for Albuquerque (pop 1.15m) only 1.5hrs away. It reminded us of Las Vegas, out in the middle of a vast desert plain surrounded by distant mountain peaks. Our first stop was just outside the city up against a ridge of extinct volcanoes –

“The Petroglyph National Monument”. There are two canyons offering a series of walks to view a total of 20,000 rocks carvings or “petroglyphs” (Greek of course – “Petra” = rock, “glyph” = writing) made by the ancient Acoma Indigenous Peoples 2,000-3,000 years ago and 400 to 700 years ago. The images feature birds, people, tools, insects, snakes and other animals and geographic designs. We viewed several images within the “Boca Negra Canyon”. No one is 100% sure what these images mean but the most common theory amongst anthropologists is that they summarise spiritual beliefs and customs.

The rock is igneous basalt and the carvings would have taken several weeks to achieve.

Nearby Albuquerque has an old town, CBD and trendy neighbourhood called “Nob Hill”. The old town is the same as Santa Fe – a central square shaped park surrounded by Adobe church, Governor’s Residence (now a museum), shops, stalls and sellers. Just off the square is the “American International Rattlesnake Museum” which we visited. What a place. It is the largest exhibition of “live” rattlesnakes and vipers of every kind – we must have seen about 80.

The highlight came when Bubba stared up close at a yellow belly rattlesnake and it rattled so hard that you could hear it from the other end of the room

– Bubba almost went flying out the other side because of shock! Most rattlesnakes are deadly to humans and this place also featured a number of even deadlier vipers and some strange looking rock turtles. I had forgotten just how deadly the New Mexico and Arizona deserts could be.

Albuquerque CBD was not much to talk about. Fairly small with dated brown buildings. The pedestrian mall through the centre was the only redeeming feature but even that was bereft of people at close to 11am on a Thursday! It must be the heat. By now it was 89F (32C) but unlike the South, very very dry. So much so that your lips crack and your hair stands on end like dry straw. Some 60 miles further down Route 66 is the incredible “Acoma Pueblo” or what is commonly referred to as “Sky City”. It is an Acoma Indigenous town built over an ancient town destroyed by the Spanish on top of an escarpment within a huge valley of hundreds of escarpments.

The town is 6,885ft (2,099m) above sea level and 367ft (112m) above the valley floor. It consists of 300 dwellings made of adobe/sandstone and has a permanent population of 50 – this swells to 150 during religious festivals with other residents having these dwellings as a second home and living in towns nearby where they work. We took a 90min guided tour by a pure blood indigenous Acoma – this guy was young, studying Economics and full of knowledge. He spoke fluent “Keresan” and was full of facts and figures – my favourite. The Acoma tribe or “pueblo” can be traced back to 1100AD in this area and most elders reckon that Acoma’s were here up to 2,000 years ago.

According to the 2010 census there were 4,989 Acoma’s declared. The pride and joy of the town is the San Esteban de Rey cathedral and monastery, a huge 21,000 sq ft (1,951 sq m) complex standing 70ft (21m) high and made of adobe. It was completed in 1640 and took 11 years to build. The interior of the church is huge and very cool at about 20C given the outside temp of 35C. It is amazing how well mud can insulate! The Sky City dwellings have no title deeds and belong to the youngest daughter of a family and are handed down as such since they will outlive all their siblings and take care of their parents.

Men do not own anything except the clothes on their back. The town has a council of elders who administer what goes on and there are no elections but a rotation system. The Acoma’s are recognised by the US Government and given modest grants from time to time. This place might have been an oven but was extremely interesting and a geographical spectacle. Gallop was another 90 miles away (145km) and took some time to get there given strange afternoon desert winds that rocked the car from side to side. Gallop has one main street with predominantly wooden cowboy town style buildings and a shit load of freight trains – it is the first time I have seen DOUBLE storey shipping pallets on trains up to 1km long! Gallop is a major rail freight hub and along with a major refinery just 10 miles out of town is responsible for most of the employment around here.The best thing about a desert is the wonderfully cool evenings and colder nights. We all walked to an excellent little steakhouse approx 1km down Route 66 from our hotel and the walk back was magic...