Day 12 - Santa Fe

 

Coffee and pastries at La Fonda's French Pastry Shop was a great start to the day. It was Sunday morning, and it was First Holy Communion at the Basilica of St. Francis for a few youngsters. The girls were dressed in outfits that could have suited a bride; the boy looked awkward. A pipe organ and violin filtered beautifully down from the choir loft. A few blocks away we discovered the DeVargas Street house, one of the oldest buildings in the US. Its origin is unknown, but it is believed to date to the Spanish colonial period around 1610. Across the street is San Miguel Chapel, described as the oldest church in the US, also around 1610. The founding priests brought grapes with them, making New Mexico the oldest wine-growing state.

To continue the peace and contemplation found in these churches, we set out on Santa Fe's art scene. We began with Georgia O'Keeffe. Although she lived in New York for the first part of her career, she began to visit the southwest in 1929 and bought a home in New Mexico in 1949. Her work reminded us of a contemporary Canadian artist of the time, Emily Carr. Both explored their environment and painted their impressions of what they saw, breaking from the established patterns for art and for women. They were also strongly influenced by the Native cultures that surrounded them. 

O'Keeffe worked mostly in oil and watercolor, but she worked in pastel as well, often setting out sketches before creating a painting. The museum displayed some of her working materials, pigments, brushes, and so on.

 After a quick lunch of tacos and salsa, we headed up Canyon Road where there are over 100 galleries. It was overwhelming, on and on nearly a mile up the street. We saw so much amazing artwork but managed to get back to the hotel without breaking the bank. 

License plate count - Alaska, Arizona, Arizona Navajo Nation, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, Nevada, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee. Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and the US Government. And from Oh Canada - British Columbia, Saskatchewan, and Quebec. And from Mexico - Sonora.

When we moved to the US, I discovered the writer Willa Cather, who reminded me of Canada's Nellie McClung. She soon became a favorite and her novel, Death Comes for the Archibishop, is in my top ten faves 'of all time'. It is based on the story of Father Lamy, a Jesuit priest assigned the New Mexico Territory as his region. He was the force behind the building of Santa Fe's Basilica.

Today's song is by a well-known singer, but it's not so well known that he was born in Roswell, NM, to a military family. After New Mexico, the family spent six years in Tucson, where John sang in the Tucson Boys Chorus. Anyway, here's the song, John Denver "On The Road" - YouTube.

Day 11 - Ya Tah Hey from Santa Fe

Ya ta hey is a Navajo greeting that means 'all is good'. And all is definitely good with RnB.

After breakfast we did a quick tour of the murals on the downtown Gallup buildings. We also hit a few of the Trading Posts and saw more jewelry than you can fathom. We had no idea there was that much turquoise in the world, much less in a small town surrounded by the Navajo reservation. Some of the larger shops were more like museums with historic collections of Navajo, Hopi, Apache, and Zuni work on display. We bought a few trinkets, including a pair of Navajo moccasins, and talked to some of the locals before we headed out of town.

For miles the highway follows along a gorgeous red sandstone bluff. Several different Jurassic units form the base, bluffs and caprock to make a striking landscape. Here is more information on the geology: Geologic Tour: Red Rock Park (nmt.edu). 

Crossing the continental divide was a major milestone. This spine of the Americas stretches from western Alaska to Tierra del Fuego. On Day 8, we crossed the Colorado River, which forms the boundary between California and Arizona before flowing into the Gulf of California near Guadalupe. Just southwest of Albuquerque, we drove over the Rio Grande, which drains into the Gulf of Mexico between Brownsville, Texas, and Matamoros, Tamaulipas.

There are at least two generations of Route 66 through New Mexico, the original one looping north through Santa Fe and a later one bypassing it, both eventually being largely replaced by Interstate 40 and 25. We stayed off of I-40 where it made sense, but when we hit I-25 south of Albuquerque, we stayed in the fast lane north to Santa Fe. We settled into a lovely room at the Old Santa Fe Inn. The Pueblo architecture here is charming. 

Our routine for settling into a hotel is getting better. Drag our bags in, get food and beverages in the fridge and sigh contentedly. Before long we were ready for a walk before dinner.  

We've seen flashy old cars for pretty much the whole trip so far, but at the old Plaza in Santa Fe we saw a line of old tricked out Harleys. All had straight pipes and when they took off to tour the town, everyone knew.

We went to the top of La Fonda on the Plaza for a drink and a light dinner. The sun was getting low, and the town had that golden glow. Downstairs, we checked out a twosome scratching out western songs in the main floor lounge, but on the advice of some waiters we searched out Evangelos. La Fonda is a pretty smooth place, very toney; Evangelos is, um, not. There was a guitar player, Terry, belting out New Orleans style tunes accompanied by Ramone on a percussion box. The sign behind the bar made clear that this was a serious place. The bartender wasn't much into cocktails ("we got no bitters and no fancy liqueurs") but he poured a healthy shot. If you click on the picture to get a large view, the photo on the right of the soldier is the bartender's father, and that picture made the cover of Life magazine. 

A local came in. leaned on the bar and started chatting us up. He started as a beat cop in Santa Fe fifty years ago and never left. We learned a good bit about the town from him. He told us he wrote a novel about being a cop in Santa Fe, and it is with his agent. After twenty years of waiting, he just got a call that maybe they would use the storyline to make a film. Hmmmm, don't hold your breath, but you gotta wish him all the best.

Today's mileage: 224.2.

License plate count - Alaska, Arizona, Arizona Navajo Nation, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, New Jersey, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, Nevada, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee. Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and the US Government. And from Oh Canada - British Columbia, Saskatchewan, and Quebec.

Our musical piece today comes from Bob Dylan. We just discovered he wrote a song about Santa Fe. 

Santa-Fe - YouTube

Day 10 (Cinco de Mayo) - Winslow, AZ to Gallup, NM

 

Another day, another state, this time New Mexico.

Route 66 dies out just east of Winslow and the published alternative is I-40. We said, "meh" and headed northeast on Arizona Highway 87 into the Hopi and Navajo Nations. This is 4 Corners, Painted Desert and Petrified Forest country and it is stunning.

The high plains of the Colorado Plateau are above 7000 feet, and rising above them is a series of mesas that are striking in their geometry, geology and color. The scenes are straight out of Tony Hillerman's novels.

In Gallup, we stayed at the Hotel El Rancho, a place that is comfortable with its past, and why not. Pictures of clientele like John Wayne, Gregory Peck, Humphrey Bogart, Katherine Hepburn, Spencer Tracy, Jimmy Stewart and Mae West cover the walls, along with posters of the movies that were shot in the area.

Also staying in the hotel was a Harley tour of about twenty motorcycles. The leader (of the pack) said this was his 61st tour and by October he will have done 66. Oh, my achin' whatsits.

Today's mileage: 216.0

License plate count - Alaska, Arizona, Arizona Navajo Nation, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Nevada, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee. Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin, and the US Government. And from Oh Canada - British Columbia and Quebec. 

 As we mentioned, today's ride took us through the heart of Tony Hillerman country. If you have not read any of the Joe Leaphorn, Jim Chee books, the first book is called The Blessing Way. In honor of my niece Naomi, I recommend you start at the beginning. If you have already read the books, I recommend a book that was published by his daughter Anne and her husband, who is a photographer, called Hillerman Country.

We are going to shock the nieces and nephews and pick a song from this century. The Shins are a band from Albuquerque and wrote this song about their hometown in 2004, called New Slang.

The Shins - New Slang [OFFICIAL VIDEO] - YouTube

Day 9 - Kingman, AZ to Winslow, AZ

We woke up to wind howling through the keyhole of our room at El Trovatore in Kingman, not pleasant but sort of fitting for a day in Arizona's high desert. After breakfast in the room, we lit out to finish the longest intact stretch of Route 66 - Needles, CA, to Seligman, AZ. The winds stayed with us - southerlies from a high-pressure system centered just offshore of northern California - and the tumbleweeds were tumbling. We just had to play Sons of Pioneers as we drifted along.

The little towns along the way - Valentine, Truxton, Peach Springs, and especially Seligman - have worked up the Route 66 theme with posters, signs, old cars and old junk. It's mostly a 50's theme, even though the Mother Road is way older than that. Burma Shave (in business from 1925 to1966) has a series of odd signs along the way that go beyond advertising their product. This picture is an example - each of these little phrases is a few hundred yards down the road from the last. Marketing baffles me.

With the altitude, the clear sky and the wind, the air was incredibly dry. While washing the windshield at a service station, the top was dry before I could squeegee it off. Despite this, there was still snow on the top of the hills (not even mountains). The high desert is amazing. Near Ash Fork, we were back on I-40 blasting along with heavy truck traffic. There are so many trucks on the interstates. At Flagstaff, we ducked off for fries at McDonalds (real road food) then booked along toward Winslow. The Painted Desert was gorgeous - red rock, red soil and tan/green bunch grass against the blue sky. At 6000 ft, the air was sparkling clear.

We blew (literally) into Winslow mid-afternoon. Our room at La Posada Hotel, Gardens and Museum wasn't ready and it was too windy to stand on the famed corner, so we slaked our thirst in the Turquoise Room. The hotel has a wonderful history (History - La Posada Hotel); it has a tinge of Route 66, but it is more about native art and culture. Really well done. The restaurant was a treat, starting us off with a Mary Coulter martini (she was the original architect) and squash blossom tamales. Waaay too much food but oh so good.

Today's mileage: 216.0

License plate count - Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Nevada, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee. Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin, and the US Government. And from Oh Canada - British Columbia and Quebec. 

This year at the Tucson Festival of Books we were able to hear Linda Ronstadt talk about her new book describing her early life in Arizona. She grew up in a close-knit, musical family and her routes straddle the Arizona/Mexican border. Originally, she wanted to share some family recipes, but the book became much more as she began to write. Funny how that happens. She is an incredible force in much more than the music industry. This book is full of wonderful photography and great southwestern recipes. It just makes you want to visit Arizona.

Okay everybody, you know the tune for today. Get out your guitars; it is that old rock 'n' roll strum, G, C, D with a few A minors and E minors for that plaintive tone. The Eagles Take it Easy, written by Jackson Brown and sung by Glenn Frey. Apparently, Jackson Brown's car broke down here, and "there was a girl, my lord, in a flatbed Ford, slowin' down to take a look at me."

It is amazing to think that a song and a group of local women could save a town but that is essentially what happened in Winslow. A local (well, only 40 years in the area) told us how the town was fading after I-40 bypassed it in the '70s but the community just would not let it happen. They got together and had some artisans create a space to memorialize the song. New businesses ensued and the town is thriving as an attraction along Route 66. The luxurious La Posada Hotel adds to the ambiance and makes a visit here special.

eagles take it easy at DuckDuckGo

Day 8 - 29 Palms, CA to Kingman, AZ

     

Another day, another state. California is long and beautifully varied, but today we got through it and into Arizona. It's been less than a month since we left Tucson, so we had an easy feeling (a peaceful easy feeling?) to get back here. But to begin at the beginning....

A quiet, dark night at the 29 Palms Inn and we slept like logs. After breakfast and some exercise (our first of the trip other than walking), we strolled the grounds and saw three ravens yelling at a coyote who was at the spring for a drink. The oasis was beautiful in the morning light, especially since the desert was literally 10 yards away.

As we drove away from the oasis, we got back on the road that stymied us the day before. Truly, do people live here? Then we came across The End of the World sign, and all became clear.

Back at Amboy, we stopped to get ready for another day on The Road. I was trying for a picture of the long empty highway behind a Route 66 sign when two busloads of Japanese tourists pulled in. They pretty much took over the place, including the highway, to the annoyance of all. Several narrowly escaped being run down on the highway, just to get that perfect selfie. This shot looks mostly deserted but there are 50 interested Japanese just off the left side of the photo.

After Amboy, part of The Road was closed so I-40 took us to Needles, CA, renowned for often having the highest summer temperatures in the country. Today was mild, though, so we didn't need a Big Gulp or a Mr. Freeze. 

At Needles, we got back on Route 66 for a ride with amazing geology, wild burros, a tailings dam, and 192 twisty turns that kept the speed down to 10 mph. Take a look at the area around Oatman, AZ, on Google Earth.

We cruised down from the heights into Kingman and the El Trovatore Motel. The old town and the hotel are loaded with icons of Route 66 and claims to fame. For example, Clark Gable was married to Carole Lombard in Kingman and honeymooned in Oatman. Also, Jean Claude Van Damme was nailed for speeding through town and was fined $1500 and sentenced to two weeks of community service. Our stay was tame in comparison - our only touch with fame was occupying the Audrey Hepburn room in the hotel. These was no indication she stayed there, only photos of her all on the wall.

Another barbeque joint for supper, but this time we scaled way back on the portions. The idea that we would split an order of chicken wings and a salad raised some eyebrows in the place; we regained a tiny bit of self-respect by ordering bowls of gelato for dessert. On our way out the door, we heard a guitar and singing down the street at a wine bar. We closed down the place (at 9 PM) and committed to finding more live music on our trip.

201.6 miles today.

License plate count - Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Nevada, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee. Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin. And from Oh Canada - British Columbia and Quebec. 

We heard that Gordon Lightfoot died a few days ago, and we have been thinking of him. He had the gift of combining the magic of poetry to the sweet sound of an acoustic guitar. We listened to him all along the 'historic 66' all morning. Hard to pick a tune, but we came up with this one. 

Carefree Highway (Live In Reno) - Bing video

Day 7 - Heading East

 

Sorry for the late posts. The internet connection at the hotels was barely strong enough for an email or two. Blogging? Wazzat?

After checking out of the hotel, breakfast at Mel's Drive-in at the corner of Lincoln and Olympic in Santa Monica was an authentic way to kick-start our Route 66 trip. The journey until now was just a warm-up. Eggs, toast and "coffee, hun?" in an American Graffiti atmosphere was, um, thematic. We were ready to start getting our kicks.

On the road, we started off by cheating. Adhering even closely to Route 66 through Santa Monica, LA, etc., would have meant four hours of street traffic. We opted for the freeway to Victorville, which saved us nearly two hours, then we hit the Mother Road at Emma Jean's Holland Burger Stand. We passed up the chance at a burger (it was only 10:30), but the interior was just what you would expect - a parking lot full of pickup trucks, inside a row of low swivel stools at the counter, and the welcoming call of "Sit anywhere - coffee, hun?"

Only a few miles down the road was another quirky spot - Elmer's Bottle Tree Ranch in Oro Grande. It's a bit hard to add anything to the photo. I understand there are bottle collectors who go in for stuff like this, but for us it was a cause for raised eyebrows.

The Mojave Desert is tough country for the most part, especially near the Pisgah and Amboy craters, which looked like big piles of smashed basalt. Mining and water for the steam locomotives gave rise to the occasional settlement, most of which have entirely disappeared. 

Amboy nowadays is a little gas-stop, a post office, and a sign for Roy's Motel. We originally thought we must stay there, but it was a little bleak in spite of the vacancies. There was a group of bikers from Illinois parked outside stretching their whatevers. I can imagine they were glad to be one or two days from the end of their trek - 2000 miles straddling a Harley seems like something from an inner circle of hell. Amboy was about as far as we wanted to travel on the first day, but since there is no food or lodging for miles around, we left The Road and rolled south to Twentynine Palms near Joshua Tree Park. 

The 29 Palms Inn is a bit different than the Best Westerns and Motel Sixes. It started in 1928 and, since it was here first, operates like the others should copy it instead of vice versa. Clean, quiet and quirky - exactly what we hoped for. The Oasis of Mara - the reason for the town's existence - is on the property and is a pleasant contrast to the surroundings. It reminded us of Mataranka Spring in Northern Australia.

The hotel dining room was closed and the options seemed to be fast food, Mexican, Mexican, Mexican, Mexican and barbecue. We chose the latter and even the smallest portions were more than we could handle. The other patrons were mostly large folks - the symbiosis became clear.

265.5 miles today, 1552.4 total so far.

License plate count - Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas, Minnesota, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Nevada, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee. Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, and Washington. And from Oh Canada - British Columbia and Quebec. 

After driving for miles through pretty bleak desert country, a book about the desert seems in order. The Mojave by David Darlington is written by someone who has traveled extensively in the region. He describes desolation, ruggedness as well as the stark beauty of the desert landscape. We can attest to an astonishing landscape.

For our musical interlude, in honor of getting back on the road along with celebrating the King's coronation, we chose Roger Miller's King of the Road. The first song we sang in the car once we got out of L.A. 

Roger Miller - King Of The Road (1964) 4K - Bing video

Day 6 - Laundry Day

Long road trips include the spectacular as well as the mundane. Today began with the more mundane. It is Monday, and as my mother taught me, Monday is laundry day. So off we went to the Wash & Dry Laundromat on Lincoln Blvd where we joined a great cross section of society. With a bag full of coins and laundry soap, we thought were ready; unfortunately, we really did not know how to act. We filled a machine, and a gentleman came over and said, 'that broken'. Hmmm, okay, we pulled out the clothes and filled another washer with clothes, soap and nearly 20 quarters. When the clothes were washed, we filled a basket and rolled everything over to the drying side of things. We filled a machine and when we were confused about where to put the coins, another gentleman, of different ethnic background, came over and said, 'that broken'. We said, 'how do you know', and he replied, 'trial and error'. In spite of our confusion, a couple of hours later we had a bag of clean clothes. We were off to our next adventure. This time, not so mundane. 

John Paul Getty's collected antiquities are housed in the Getty Villa just up the Pacific Coast Highway from Santa Monica It is just above Malibu beach and as we walked up the hill to the main gate, the sun began to shine. Honestly, we were never sure if we were in Los Angeles until then or in some grey, drizzly Seattle suburb. After a lovely lunch of heirloom tomatoes and a glass of wine, we strolled down to the museum and walked through the exhibits. 

The collection is mostly Greek and Roman sculpture, with pottery, jewelry, frescoes, and more adding to the displays. When I saw the mosaics I thought, 'oh my gosh, I have to redo my mosaic fireplace in Tucson. Yikes!"

Art has an amazing power over us, even (or perhaps especially) through imagery of very common human experiences. Husbands and wives gazing at each other, a hand stroking the head of a favoured dog, girlfriends gossiping together, youths playing sport. My favorite, however, was part of a fresco of a young woman with a cup of tea, glancing out a window looking down over her garden in the morning. 

We ended the day following up on a recommendation of our friend, Rhos. We strolled down to the beach to have a drink and some nibbles at the bar of the Casa del Mar. The view was sublime, the cocktails delicious, and I have to say, the company stimulating. 

We are now set to have breakfast at Mel's Diner tomorrow morning before we finally get our wheels on to that highway of song, Route 66. Farewell to Los Angeles and the west coast.

My book recommendation today was inspired by the frescoes at the Getty. Years ago, I read a novel about the flooding of the Arno in Florence, called Sixteen Pleasures. I will never forget a scene in the book where art restorers are madly trying to save frescoes from the water that was trapped in the walls of the city. 

Our musical selection is also inspired by the Getty collection. Even though we did not get a chance to see  Van Gogh's Irises, we thought of Don McLean's Vincent.

" Vincent ( Starry, Starry Night ) " - ( Don McLean ) - Bing video