Sunday, August 08, 1999
Day 9: Albuquerque, NM - Holbrook, AZ
There was one experience yesterday that I didn't talk about that was incredible. In a wide sport in the road in New Mexico about midway from Tucumcari to Albuquerque there is a town, and I use that term loosely, called Cuervo. Just past town there is an old, old alignment of Route 66. You have to angle off the frontage road by the expressway and pass a "Dead End" sign and you end up on this mostly paved pot holed washed out "road" with tall grass growing up between two tracks for your tires. The grass in the middle had to bee 2 feet tall, with taller grass encroaching from each side. In several spots the road was washed out over 1/2 way, and you had to be careful not to drive into a deep hole. There wasn't any traffic on the road at all. About 6 miles down the road we stopped under a large tree and shut off the car. Silence. Not just quiet. COMPLETE silence. No cars. No road noise. Nothing. Silence. The only place I've ever heard that deafening a silence was many years ago when I was camping up in northern Ontario in the remote backwoods on a canoe trip. Chris had never heard that type of silence.
We continued on until we once again met blacktop and were transported back to the 90's.
We passed through Cubero today. It consisted of a store/gas station and a boarded up cafe. The significance of this place is that Ernest Hemingway wrote "Old Man and the Sea" here. Didn't see an old man.....certainly no sea here.
Some red cliffs began to loom in the north as we continued toward the Arizona border. We passed through Grants, NM which used to be a center for uranium mining. Now the "Uranium Cafe" and a mining museum are the only vestiges of its past.
As we continued to climb in elevation, we came to the continental divide at 7552 feet elevation. There were several "Indian trading posts" there. We dropped some money at one. Let's just say Squaw feathers has a new drum. For those of you who don't know Squaw feathers, ask Cindy for an explanation.
At the Arizona border we stopped at Fort Yellowhorse, an authentic Indian trading post with a display of actual cliff dwellings and buffalo. Chris had never seen a real buffalo, or so he said. We bought some trinkets with our wampum and saw the exhibits. True kitsch.
The Painted Desert and Petrified Forest has intrigued me since my grandparents brought some petrified wood to me after visiting there many years ago. The part consists of a 26 mile out and back road which has occasional stops for observation. Lot's of driving. Not much to see in all honesty.
Our guidebook which tells us how to find old alignments of Route 66 has unfortunately not always been accurate. This was the case once again today. We tried to find an old section of the road next. As we followed an old section of pavement we came to a bridge. As I drove across it I noted holes in the pavement. Now, these weren't just holes in pavement....you could see all the way down to the dry river bed. At some points the hole would extend almost across half the bridge width. Of course, being stupid, I didn't go back but just drove across....I figured that was the easiest way to get off this obviously dangerous bridge. We continued on about another 1/2 mile until the "road" was nothing much more than a mud track. Wrong way I figured. Turned around. Then back over the bridge. Guess what? The bridge was even WORSE now. Parts of the bridge where we had driven were actually depressions in the pavement. Slowly I crept across the span, dodging the holes the best I could. WE MADE IT!!!!!! Close call, though.
As we approached Holbrook we saw the Petrified Wood store on the north frontage road. There were mannequins in the front parking lot greeting us, and large poorly designed dinosaurs outside the building. As we approached the door, a small blue car pulled up rapidly and a woman came up to the door and unlocked it. Though the sign said open, the door to the shop had been locked. The shop was filled with all kinds of rock....petrified wood, fossils, dinosaur fossils, and fragment of meteorite. Chris wanted a piece of meteorite and we found out that a small fragment smaller than a dime cost 10 bucks. A piece the size of an egg goes for over 300 bucks. Gazell Stewart, who was the owner and opened the shop showed us how the true meteorite pieces could be picked up with a magnet due to their high iron content. She showed us a business card with Jerry Seinfeld's signature on it. On a rainy day last month, Jerry stopped in and bought a $2500.00 meteorite fragment for himself, and a $300 meteorite for his nephew. He put it on his charge, and she had him sign his autograph on a business card. I bought a couple of pieces of petrified wood and a postcard of her store and she gave Chris a free polished piece of petrified wood. Chris bought his fragment of meteorite.
We then stopped at the Dinosaur Museum & Rock Shop and saw some awesome life size dinosaur models next to the road, and some more live bison.
Tonight we're staying at the Wigwam Village. Our wigwam has two double beds, A/C of course, and cable TV. No phone, though, so that's why you're getting two newsletters in one day. The furniture seems authentic western. Just a wonderful, unique place.
Tomorrow we'll see Meteor Crater, pass through Winslow and Flagstaff on our way to Williams, Arizona.
We continued on until we once again met blacktop and were transported back to the 90's.
We passed through Cubero today. It consisted of a store/gas station and a boarded up cafe. The significance of this place is that Ernest Hemingway wrote "Old Man and the Sea" here. Didn't see an old man.....certainly no sea here.
Some red cliffs began to loom in the north as we continued toward the Arizona border. We passed through Grants, NM which used to be a center for uranium mining. Now the "Uranium Cafe" and a mining museum are the only vestiges of its past.
As we continued to climb in elevation, we came to the continental divide at 7552 feet elevation. There were several "Indian trading posts" there. We dropped some money at one. Let's just say Squaw feathers has a new drum. For those of you who don't know Squaw feathers, ask Cindy for an explanation.
At the Arizona border we stopped at Fort Yellowhorse, an authentic Indian trading post with a display of actual cliff dwellings and buffalo. Chris had never seen a real buffalo, or so he said. We bought some trinkets with our wampum and saw the exhibits. True kitsch.
The Painted Desert and Petrified Forest has intrigued me since my grandparents brought some petrified wood to me after visiting there many years ago. The part consists of a 26 mile out and back road which has occasional stops for observation. Lot's of driving. Not much to see in all honesty.
Our guidebook which tells us how to find old alignments of Route 66 has unfortunately not always been accurate. This was the case once again today. We tried to find an old section of the road next. As we followed an old section of pavement we came to a bridge. As I drove across it I noted holes in the pavement. Now, these weren't just holes in pavement....you could see all the way down to the dry river bed. At some points the hole would extend almost across half the bridge width. Of course, being stupid, I didn't go back but just drove across....I figured that was the easiest way to get off this obviously dangerous bridge. We continued on about another 1/2 mile until the "road" was nothing much more than a mud track. Wrong way I figured. Turned around. Then back over the bridge. Guess what? The bridge was even WORSE now. Parts of the bridge where we had driven were actually depressions in the pavement. Slowly I crept across the span, dodging the holes the best I could. WE MADE IT!!!!!! Close call, though.
As we approached Holbrook we saw the Petrified Wood store on the north frontage road. There were mannequins in the front parking lot greeting us, and large poorly designed dinosaurs outside the building. As we approached the door, a small blue car pulled up rapidly and a woman came up to the door and unlocked it. Though the sign said open, the door to the shop had been locked. The shop was filled with all kinds of rock....petrified wood, fossils, dinosaur fossils, and fragment of meteorite. Chris wanted a piece of meteorite and we found out that a small fragment smaller than a dime cost 10 bucks. A piece the size of an egg goes for over 300 bucks. Gazell Stewart, who was the owner and opened the shop showed us how the true meteorite pieces could be picked up with a magnet due to their high iron content. She showed us a business card with Jerry Seinfeld's signature on it. On a rainy day last month, Jerry stopped in and bought a $2500.00 meteorite fragment for himself, and a $300 meteorite for his nephew. He put it on his charge, and she had him sign his autograph on a business card. I bought a couple of pieces of petrified wood and a postcard of her store and she gave Chris a free polished piece of petrified wood. Chris bought his fragment of meteorite.
We then stopped at the Dinosaur Museum & Rock Shop and saw some awesome life size dinosaur models next to the road, and some more live bison.
Tonight we're staying at the Wigwam Village. Our wigwam has two double beds, A/C of course, and cable TV. No phone, though, so that's why you're getting two newsletters in one day. The furniture seems authentic western. Just a wonderful, unique place.
Tomorrow we'll see Meteor Crater, pass through Winslow and Flagstaff on our way to Williams, Arizona.
