Friday, May 7th - Albuquerque NM to Gallup NM
Yet another beautiful day in the great state of New Mexico! This is our third and final day in New Mexico and the weather, facilities and people have all been great to us. Today we go (gallop?) to Gallup.
Ready for the road at 8am. Charlie was taking his grandson to school so we all left in the (now familiar) three-car 53CE caravan. If you think the CE turns heads, wait until you see three in a row coming down the road! Charlie invited us to visit his racetrack on the way of out of town. He's the Racing Director, a VP and part owner of Sandia MotorSports Park. The facility has a pair of oval tracks, a road course and several other paved and dirt racecourses. The grand opening is tomorrow night (we'll be in Arizona, dammit!) and they're busily getting ready.
If you know Buzz you know an invitation to a racing facility is NEVER turned down -- so off we went.
As we're blasting west on Route 66 (yes, the track is just off Route 66) Charlie asked if we'd be interested in stopping by Al Unser's garage to see his racecars. Charlie's been a friend of all the Unsers for many years. None of the Unsers was in town but Martin Fox (their vehicle restorer):
.. was there and invited us in to see the garage.
(This car still holds the lap record at Indy today)
Buzz told me that he used to have a friend who would have given anything to be here today.
A bit of racing trivia: When you win the Indianapolis 500 you also win a pace car (whatever pace car had been chosen for that year). In 1978 when Al Unser won the Indy 500, the pace car happened to be Corvette. There in the garage was his 1978 Corvette Pace Car (now with less than 300 miles on it). I've seen many of these over the years, but never one owned by the winner of the Indy 500:
The Unser facility is going to be a racing museum and a Children's Discovery Center when it's completed:
All the cars here (and more) will be in the facility. The Unser's have never forgotten their Albuquerque roots; they all still live within 100 yards of their racecars.
While we were admiring the cars, Charlie called Bobby Unser (it's nice to know someone who has Bobby Unser's cellphone on speed-dial!) to confirm that he would be back in Albuquerque tomorrow to be the "Gentlemen, Start Your Engines!" announcer and Grand Marshal for the opening of the Sandia MotorSports Park. Yep; he'll be there (for those of you going to the race).
Buzz would have stayed all day but the lure of seeing the track itself beckoned.
The spirited drive to the Sandia MotorSports Park would be the last time the three CEs would be on the road together -- at least for this trip.
The Sandia facility is often rented for other purposes (as it was today). We took some photos:
(This is the Sandia MotorSports Park logo)
.. and then bid Charlie:
.. a grateful farewell as we jumped back on Route 66 to head for Gallup.
Our first Route 66-related stop today was the bridge over the Rio Puerco. It was built in 1933 and, while no longer in use, remains a Route 66 icon:
Using the original Route 66 roadway (we stay off (I was going to say "eschew" here until someone opined that I was being a smart-ass) I-40 unless a section of R66 is unpaved) we made our way:
.. to the Villa de Cubero Trading Post in Cubero, NM:
This general store is operated by Betty De Soto (here with her dashplaque):
She told us all about the cafe across the highway which is now boarded up:
She said she'd often see Route 66-ers pull into the gravel area in front of it, look down at their guidebook, up at the boarded up-window, down again, up again -- and then drive off. The cafe was still open at that time but when they got a liquor license they replaced the glass window with a solid wall to darken the bar. Killed the business eventually.
On the road to Grants, NM we saw this pueblo a mile or so off on the south side of the highway:
In Grants was another unexpectedly terrific find. The Grants Mining Museum is an absolute must-see:
 
From these pages you know we've seen a lot of museums and, among us, over the years, maybe 200 more. This is the absolutely best- done museum we've ever seen. What makes it great is this: After you walk through the typical "text and photos on walls" area you step in to an elevator and descend to an old uranium mine directly beneath the museum. Here, there are stations (ten of them) where you can either read about what you're seeing or push a button and have a real miner with 25+ years experience describe the area you're in. Each station has a different narrator; it really adds to the realism. And, as they describe each station, synchronized spotlights highlight what the speaker is describing. It was wonderful. And it's only $3/person (unless you're old like me and then it's only $2!)
Across the highway from the Mining Museum is another Route 66 landmark, The Uranium Cafe:
It was about time for lunch so we walked across the highway and had an excellent meal; so satisfying that we forgot the usual photo of ourselves. Grants, NM is a winner in our book!
Next we stopped at a Trading Post situated at the Continental Divide:
We're at an altitude of 7275 feet and the vista is breathtaking.
Heading on into Gallup we stopped to visit Red Rock State Park:
The park wasn't open but no one said anything so we gave ourselves a walking tour. Located ten miles east of Gallup, this facility has a rodeo ring and several outdoor amphitheaters for shows and concerts. And if you're wondering why it's called Red Rock:
I only took one other photo today that pleased me more than the those in the park:
Got to our hotel, the El Rancho Hotel & Motel in Gallup about 3:30pm and checked in. Built in 1937 by the brother of movie director D.W. Griffith, the El Rancho is yet another of the "Route 66 traditional" hotels. Because of the Hollywood connection, many famous movie stars have stayed here.
So many movie stars that each hotel room is named for a movie star from the 30s and 40s. Buzz and Jackie are in "Kirk Douglas":
.. and we're in "Robert Taylor":
Here's our room door to prove it:
There were a few minor disappointments: they haven't turned on the A/C yet because it snowed here last Thursday, the swimming pool hasn't been filled for the same reason and the laundromat isn't working. But the kitchy decor and (once more) spotless rooms work for us. Since we have no A/C we left the windows open. The Robert Taylor is near the kitchen so the aroma of broiling steaks serves as our room freshener. We may be tired of that by morning but for now it's hard to stop salivating.
Buzz and Jackie went off to find a laundromat and to wash the car (need you ask?) while I worked on the web page.
They were back in a short time and we decided to have a bit of libation in the hotel lounge:
After a couple of drinks we headed on down to Earl's Restaurant for dinner:
Remember me mentioning Earl's yesterday? No? Well, here's that story again:
Yesterday we visited the Route 66 Diner in Albuquerque for a photo op. As we were leaving, there was a group of folks leaving the diner who stopped to admire our cars.
We chatted for a moment and they asked where we were headed next. We told them that we were going to Gallup the next day (today).
They said that they owned a restaurant in Gallup, Earl's, and that we should eat there. We said we'd try to do just that.
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Dinner at Earl's
True to our word yesterday, we drove the few blocks east to Earl's. We were seated promptly and had ordered when a gentleman stopped by the table to see if we were being treated OK. I asked if he knew Earl; he told me that his family, the Richards, had acquired the restaurant years ago. He introduced himself as Steve Richards. We told him about yesterday and he guessed that it might have been his parents we'd run into. We gave him a dash plaque and he left the restaurant for the night.
(You can only imagine how much better Steve would have looked if I'd come to Earl's BEFORE the two beers at the hotel.. I swear, this is how he looked to me..)
A few minutes later his sister Christine came over and we went through the story again. She got a call a few minutes later from Steve who'd talked to his folks and, as we all guessed, they were the folks we'd met in Albuquerque. Small world (and a half!). Christine got a dash plaque, too.
This sort of thing (talking to folks, sharing stories) is exactly what the Route 66 experience is all about; it makes us smile..
The food was excellent. My meal in particular was the best Mexican-style food I'd had - ever. When my buddy Pete and I return this way in a couple of weeks, we're coming back to Earl's for SURE!
Back to the hotel, a little planning for tomorrow and I started work on this page again. Finished at midnight. Hope you're enjoying it all!
If you find typos or other errors on these pages, please click to
. I can't always respond to the emails promptly (being on the road all day) but I do receive them.
Another great day -- and much, much more to come...
Watch for more tomorrow, Day #12 on the Mother Road!
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