September 15th - part 1 more signs, the Petrified Forest, & Wigwam Motel

Drive-by shot of a muffler man for Aunt Nancy

One of my favorite signs!

Hieroglyphs in the Petrified Forest National Park

Village remains

Teepees

Knowing nothing about this "petrified forest" previously...we were looking forward to finally seeing big, green clusters of trees again, it had been a long time since leaving the mid-west that we had a "fix" of green landscape. Ha!

The landscape was very other-worldly. It looked like a different planet.

close up of a petrified stump

The original route of historic 66.
At this stop we met a woman who was traveling with her husband in a 30 ft long 5th wheel, she literally could not contain her chuckles, she was amazed at how small our camper was :)

It went right through the park. The road disappeared but the telephone poles remain.

Back on the road

Stopped by the Wigwam Motel

The lady in the office gave us a key so we could peak inside. Wish we could have stayed here, but every wigwam is reserved months in advance!

 

September 14th - part 3 Neon

We walked around Albuquerque, and happened upon this sign...

Which was on the side of the Absolutely Neon building. On a whim we decided to go inside, and we ended up staying a couple hours! Robert the neon artist took a break from his current project to teach about the medium.

Ceiling rack storage

He let us explore the workshop

We hung out with Robert until the sun set, talking about everything from Rt. 66 neon, politics, religion, the nomadic lifestyle, rattlesnakes... He's a great guy all around. If you ever find yourself in Albuquerque (which we sure hope to, again!) be sure to check out Absolutely Neon.

Up until now I was a little bit sad that we came upon most of the vintage neon signs during the day. I really wanted to get some awesome glowing night-shots. Turns out, most of the signs don't light up anymore anyways :'( But here is one I managed to capture.

Just outside of Albuquerque is the most gaudy and brazen hotel/casino/truckstop you have ever seen. The Route 66 Casino. The place is huuuge! It has giant replicas of many Rt. 66 icons, and it is so strange to see gigantic, brand new, glowing replicas of objects that are actually decades old, and falling apart. We stopped here because you kind of have to...it is hypnotizing in a way that makes you uncomfortable after a few minutes. We popped open the back hatch and made ourselves some tuna sandwiches under the neon glow, then continued a few more miles down the road to the smaller, less intimidating Dancing Eagle hotel/casino/truckstop to boondock for the night.

September 14th - part 2 Midpoint Cafe & vintage signs

Ever Westward...

What is left of the Roadrunner Drive-In

We stopped to eat at the Midpoint Cafe, 1139 miles away from L.A. and Chicago via 66

Ed ponders our travels

 

while I resist the urge to steal a dining set.

We made it into New Mexico and saw quite a few Rt. 66 icons, here is a (very tiny!) selection of the vintage signs and other sights we saw.

 Mid century modern architecture. I'm drooling.

Deserted

Sept. 10, 2010 - We Embark

So we left home at 6pm on a Friday, to find ourselves in a traffic jam 30 minutes out of town. Great! We drove into the night, trying to get as far away from home as we could. 1:45am we stop for the night in a truckstop somewhere in Missouri for our first night on the road in the teardrop. It rains. Torrentially. We found our leak! And lucky for me it was on Ed's side. Actually we both tossed and turned all night just getting used to the idea of sleeping in a shoebox on a trailer in a truckstop in Missouri. So Ed's feet got a little wet but we patched up the leak in the morning. But not before being awaken by strangers talking about us just outside our window...

(read this in the thickest southern accent)

Mr: That's a tiny little camper right there, the back opens up and they got a kitchen and storage.

Mrs. A camper? You mean a trailer for camping supplies?"

Mr. No, no, that's a camper, you can sleep inside of it.

Mrs. No way, that is too tiny!

Mr. No it's not, I betcha they just got tired and pulled off to rest, I bet there's people sleeping in there right now.

And so it begins, seldom will we make a stop and not have an admirer or two. Literally not a day went by in our two weeks on the road that we didn't have someone strike up a conversation about our teardrop. "What is it? Where did you buy it? Do you really sleep in there?"

Sept. 11
After brushing teeth and cleaning up a bit at the truckstop, we finally hop on Route 66 at 9:30 am.
Here is our very first roadside oddity, you see we were quite excited.

In case you were wondering, this is the Route 66 Rocker.
Erected 4-1-08
Stands 42'4" tall
Weighs 27,500 lbs

We spotted the rock frog! Aunt Nancy, Americana expert and enthusiast, had given us a list of things to look out for. This was one of them, it was a like a scavenger hunt, looking for everything on her list and finding a ton of stuff in between.

Our very first neon stop, the Munger Moss Motel

Our first diner stop, the Bell Restaurant in Lebanon MO. We enjoyed a most satisfying breakfast at 11:30am. Love that ceiling!

Edit: I missed a page in our travel log! More to come from from our adventures on the 11th - I can't believe we did so much all in one day...part 2 of day 2 coming soon.