Day 15: Santa Rosa to Tucumcari -- 69 miles
We stayed here in Santa Rosa. Nice, clean place but the coffee shop was a smoke-filled disaster.
Remember Cowboy Jim from yesterday? Fortunately, he has a back-up business. I found this sign (and the apartments) when Lon and I got lost while looking for the famous Blue Hole of Santa Rosa -- a sink hole 81-feet deep that is popular with scuba divers.
Eventually, we found the Hole, which was full of divers waiting their turn to descend and look at who-knows-what. Probably an old car. After this, Lon wanted to explore the old alignment leaving town, which we did somewhat successfully, although we never found a really cool old milestone that's featured in one of the Route 66 videos. By the time we actually left Santa Rosa, we'd done about seven extra miles.
After Santa Rosa, we rode to the legendary Cuervo cut-off. Although it's marked Dead End at one end, it's drivable by a 4WD and easily bikable. Here Lon is fixing a pinch flat he got as a result of descending on the gravel faster than me. I hope he learned his lesson. At one point on the cut-off, I remembered to look up from the road to see the surrounding landscape and was rewarded with a large herd of antelope just off to our left. A rare case of me seeing something before Lon does.
The town of Cuervo (where the cutoff ends), has itself been sliced in half by the interstate. The southern half of Cuervo has almost completely become a ghost town.
Following an old alignment that parallels the freeway (and required hopping a couple of gates), Lon and I caught up to Tim and Don "Dr Dirt" Norvelle at this old abandoned bridge. The interstate is just beyond here. At this point, we went _under_ the interstate and started following the railroad tracks in hopes of connecting to the northern frontage road, which used to be Route 66.
Near the end of the railroad track expedition (you can see the tracks up on the left), I spotted an old bridge on the right. That led to the discovery of this old roadside picnic spot. No old vintage Coke bottles in the trash bin, though.
Looking closely, we could find traces of the old asphalt among the wildflowers. This part of the road has almost completely disappeared. Just a hundred yards past that old picnic site, the frontage road began and led us into Tucumcari. Lon, Don, Tim and I managed to ride the whole day without getting on the interstate once, which is probably a first (and last).
We're staying at the Blue Swallow Motel, a well-known place that has been lovingly renovated by the current owners. It's as nice as most Bay Area bed and breakfasts and if you're ever near Tucumcari, be sure to stay here. Between here and Santa Monica, this and the Wig Wam Motel in Holbrook have been my favorite motels by far.
Tucumcari is known for its old neon signs, many of which apparently still work, although I haven't had a chance to find out yet since it's still daytime.
The town was also always famous for having....
...lots of motel rooms.