WARD ROUTE 66 - 1

America’s Darling

Story and photos by Nathan Ward WARD ROUTE 66 - 1

t is Friday night, and with the your wheels like a road map to the last gasp of the day, a golden promised land. glow burns low across Central The fabled Route 66 still holds Avenue in Albuquerque, New the lure of discovery, and Americans IMexico. It throws a storied slant on love that promise of potential. Back the time-pitted windows of a blue in 1926. Right now. Tomorrow. I 1968 Ford Mustang, cruising slowly can’t define it, but there is certainly in front of the bright lights of the something about the idea of Route Route 66 KiMo Theater. Lost in the sound of 66 that promises happiness. There glass-pack mufflers burbling out a is no better way to discover The V8 song, we glide on bicycles east Mother Road’s mysteries than to on the avenue to the pink and teal ponder them slowly at bicycling neon of the Route 66 Diner where speed. the promise of the past lives on. From Chicago, Route 66 starts On Friday nights in Albuquerque, down Jackson Boulevard, crosses it’s not the best hour for bicycles, and , tastes , but we persist just as the legend of and digs deep into , the Route 66 persists in the dreams of Panhandle, , people worldwide. , and — Lake Pull open the door. Inside the Michigan to the Pacific Ocean. Route 66 Diner, the needle drops It’s a classic journey best done on a 45 and “Tucumcari, Here I in one push, but we decided to Come” by Dale Watson bursts out. tackle it in bite-sized rides, bit by A bubbly girl in a short dress and bit like a Dust Bowl jalopy that braces seats breaks down but us on spinning keeps chugging stools at a long when the time is counter in front right. We tasted of an Elvis our first slice of cutout and an Route 66 pie by old Schwinn traveling from cruiser. We Romeroville to order fizzing Gallup, a stretch drinks, then across most of walk around New Mexico that the restaurant follows the pre- looking at 1937 route up memorabilia — through Santa old road signs, a Fe. Pez collection, Why start in the cutt-off the middle? Why front of a 1950s New Mexico? Chrysler with Simply put, for the chrome still gleaming. This me it was the crux of the journey, diner is the just the way I dream of the land where the culture notice- Route 66, but out on the road, of ably changes, food grows spicier, course, the story runs far deeper. hills thrust higher, and the history Next year, Adventure Cycling of the American West, just a gener- will release their newest route, ation or two ago removed form us, Bicycle Route 66, from Chicago’s begins. We weren’t disappointed by gleaming Miracle Mile to Santa Route 66 in New Mexico. Monica’s infinite blue waters. It’s On paper Route 66 was born on a 2,448-mile (give or take) ribbon November 11, 1926, when the U.S. of highway — America’s Main government officially linked up Street — stretching out in front of a collection of existing roads and WARD ROUTE 66 - 2

285 84 0 25 50 550 Miles 25

e 84 d n a r Santa Fe G Las Vegas Gallup io R Romeroville 25 40 14 84 Grants Albuquerque 285 Santa 40 40 Rosa

P e c o s 54

R iv ARIZONA e r 60 60

25 60 60 Socorro

Los Chicago Angeles

e Route 66, pre-1937 alignment d n Ward’s detour from Route 66 ra G io R MARTHA BOSTWICK MARTHA

Classic sights and experiences await along the forthcoming Bicycle Route 66 that traces the iconic Route 66 from Chicago’s Miracle Mile to the Pacific Ocean in Southern California. Old hotels, vintage signs, and hole-in-the-wall watering holes abound, if you’re willing to look.

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named it double six. In New Mexico, the original was a teeth-chattering 501 miles of washboard dirt that S-curved across the state. Back then, there was no straight shot across the Enchanted State. My wife Andrea and I started our tour in Las Vegas, a town just north of the proper route in Romeroville. The road comes into Las Vegas after long stretches of short grass prairie, persistent breezes, windmills, and long fence lines that fade straight into the distance. Then the road starts to roller coaster up and down through a canyon thick with red dirt, stone, and piñon pine. Stacked stone houses give in to gravity, a patient horse waits for dinner at a big porch tacked on to a tidy trailer house, and primered project cars erode NUTS & BOLTS Route 66 in front yards, all under the brilliance of the New Mexico sky. WHEN TO GO Midwest in the spring or WHERE TO STAY Rolling into town under black drip- The route runs from the early summer. A mix of camping and clas- ping fingers of clouds, Las Vegas speaks northern climes of the sic hotels would be ideal of modern America with box stores Midwest through the WHAT TO RIDE along the route. Some of the and chain hotels on its perimeter, the southern U.S. deserts, so We rode road bikes with original hotels are pretty the weather is a factor. You 25 millimeter tires. This cool, but there aren’t many downtown chock-full of historic brick could encounter both very worked well, but these left. Adventure Cycling’s buildings — some restored to glory, hot and very cold. And it would be too narrow for maps will highlight all the others waiting for saviors. We pedaled depends which way you most of the dirt roads or campgrounds along the way. through Las Vegas seeking out its gems want to ride it, Illinois to rough sections. Next time, — a mural on a brick wall and chopped California, or the opposite. I’ll ride a standard touring BOOKS TO READ smooth lowrider pickups with giant If starting in Illinois, late bike with something in the The Grapes of Wrath by chrome grills so shiny they mirror summer or early fall would range of a 32 millimeter John Steinbeck the quiet Spanish-Mexican plaza with be ideal so you would pass tire. Panniers or a trailer Route 66 - The Mother Road streets radiating out like the rays of the through the desert when the would be effective. You can by Michael Wallis sun. days are cooler. If starting also vehicle support the Route 66 Sightings by Jerry Las Vegas has more than 900 build- in California, you could start entire route if desired. McClanahan, Jim Ross, in late winter to reach the and Shellee Graham ings on various historic registers, and it’s fascinating to ride around looking at them. Some may look familiar because, Montezuma Hot Springs. Amazingly, to a battered building. “They worked despite the diminutive size of Las Ve- in this day and age, it’s still free and not all over this area, but that’s where they gas, it’s a hotbed for Hollywood. Many commercialized. Families park along stayed. It ain’t much to look at these well-known directors have filmed the road after work and ease their days.” scenes here over the decades. bodies into these healing waters. They She was right, it ain’t. Time was In the last hours of the day, we rode were an almost too-relaxing cap on a taking its toll, but I could picture it out of town a few miles to “The Castle,” day of riding and it was a struggle to with fresh paint and slamming doors, a a stunning edifice on the mountainside ride back to town and sink deep into home for girls with no other home. We that is currently home to the Armand bed for the night. came to see that this old building rep- Hammer United World College of the In the morning, under a cloudless resented a lot of Route 66. Not much American West. Security guards in golf sky, we rode to the railroad tracks near is left anymore, the road covered by carts chased us down when we tried our hotel. A stunning building sat for- interstate, the buildings torn down, and to pedal through the campus, but they lorn and boarded up. Back in the day, the roadside attractions long gone. But did point out a back road to something it strummed with life and even hosted this home of soiled doves prompted more precious for cyclists: hot springs. a Harvey House restaurant. A white- an epiphany of sorts. Route 66 became Right along the road near the haired lady in the train station saw us more than just a ribbon of highway, college, hot water seeps up through looking around and came out to tell us it became a treasure hunt to find the the ground, and locals have built rock stories. “That was where the ladies of original bits that still remain, and there pools to harness the mineral water of the night lived,” she said and pointed are plenty of treasures if you only look.

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Out of Romeroville, the road follows that’s how we found San Jose del Vado, But some people lasted longer than the path of least resistance through a pueblito founded in 1803 where it others, and the story of civilizations and growing hills. Short original sections seemed like time had stood still. their passings became tangible when of Route 66 parallel the road, and side “Wow, it feels like we’ve just ridden we rode into the Pecos National roads stray to abandoned villages and in a time machine back to Old Mexico,” Historic Park. They didn’t call it Route old cemeteries. A lot of stories have I exclaimed to Andrea. The village sur- 66 back then, but the land looked essen- unfolded here — more stories than we’ll rounded an attractive old church and tially the same when the Pecos Pueblo ever know. The last section of Route 66 plaza, a sleepy place of adobe houses began to emerge around 1450, as the was decommissioned in 1985, replaced with shuttered windows and stick native people from this area banded by the bigger and faster Interstate 40. fences, everyone out at work. Swallows together, potentially as protection But even before 1926, this road was flited in and out of their mud nests, against encroaching Plains tribes. It was here, host to cars, wagons, horse, and frantic and elegant. still a land of wolves and grizzlies where foot traffic. For as long as humans have Later, in Santa Fe when we were music was played on bird-bone flutes been here, we’ve traveled this natural having a drink with Route 66 historian and two good horses would buy you one path through the tough desert land- Michael Pitel, I told him that I’d felt we good Apache or Comanche slave. scape. had dropped into Old Mexico, and he In 1540, the Spanish arrived with We paralleled I-40 on a frontage quickly said, “No, no, they wouldn’t ever their military and religion — then came road with rolling hills and no traffic. We want you to say that. They’d want you Mexico, the United States, Santa Fe weren’t sure if this would be part of the to say ‘old New Mexico’ because hardly Trail settlers, General Stephen W. final Adventure Cycling route because any of those people came from Mexico. Kearny and the Army of the West, the the maps aren’t yet finished, but it’s cer- They’re Spanish.” Civil War, the railroad, and Route 66. tainly a nice ride despite the proximity Pre-Pueblo, Pueblo, Spanish, Andrea and I locked our bikes and of the interstate. Mexican, settlers, cowboys, armies, walked the path up a hill that is the re- As we climbed toward the Sangre Dust Bowl refugees, criminals, World mains of a Pueblo city. The sides of the de Cristo Mountains and its snowy War II veterans, history buffs — the hill served as the trash dump for hun- summits, we noticed a small sign that whole mixing bowl of humanity has dreds of years. Shattered pottery and simply read “San Jose,” and the road led followed this trail through the gap be- arrowhead pieces litter the ground. We through a culvert under the interstate. tween the Sangre de Cristo Mountains tried to imagine what it was like but, as It looked too interesting to pass up, and and Glorieta Pass. always, this was nearly impossible. The world of human culture has changed a lot in a short time. We continued riding over Glorieta Pass at 7,500 feet and dropped all the way down into Santa Fe. There the low-slung, adobe-esque city of 80,000 hides well among the hills, but it still felt frenetic after the miles spent in the quiet hills to get here. We rode into Santa Fe on old 66 and turned into the El Rey Inn to check into Protects your phone an original adobe room, cool and dark * even in the heat. The El Rey was built from rain, snow, dust and dirt in 1935-36 and enjoyed only one year of Route 66 business before the govern- Gives full access * ment changed 66 through New Mexico. to all smartphone functions A new road opened and cut off the whole S-curve loop we’d been riding so Keeps you connected * far. This new route ran straight across anywhere bike takes you and shaved 106 miles off Route 66. In early evening, we pedaled Cer- rillos Road to Galisteo Street into the famed Santa Fe Plaza. Route 66 led straight to the plaza then, and some of the original building skylines and businesses still exist. On the corner of www.bike2power.com Water Street and Don Gaspar Avenue, Stay Connected Anywhere Bike Takes You! three Route 66 businesses flourish, including the beautiful Hotel St. Fran-

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cis. We met Santa Fean and Route 66 historian Pitel near here, and we walked through some of the best remaining 66 sites in downtown Santa Fe. It was a great way to learn a lot without having to fumble around the city on our own. We ducked into the La Fonda Hotel and the Plazuela Restaurant, perhaps the most famous Harvey House restau- rant. They offered us a choice of 23 dif- ferent margaritas, whipped up a moun- tain of guacamole right at our table, tempted us with fresh squash blossoms stuffed with goat cheese, and finished us off with bowls of posole in red chile. It was heaven. Then one of my favorite writers on the planet walked in and sat down at the next table. Cormac McCarthy. Could it get any better? As anyone who has been here knows, it’s hard to leave Santa Fe, but we sad- dled up and pedaled out. The journey west out of Santa Fe was a big step for many travelers because it was the day Plug into the evolution they had to navigate the infamous La of bicycle safety

Bajada hill that switchbacked steeply with the new Superflash USB down to the valley below. Drivers often & Superflash Micro USB.

rode the brakes hard, and the old cotton 25% of profits to bicycle advocacy Better Bicycle Products for a Better World brake pads would burst into flame, causing a lot of excitement. Locals would congregate at the top and bottom of La Bajada to offer their services as drivers to get vehicles up or down the hill safely. Many travelers took them up on it. Today, La Bajada is no longer a route anyone travels. It’s even hard to find, locked away behind someone’s cow pasture. No matter — for us it was time to deviate from Route 66 as I-40 covers the whole next stretch of the historical route all the way to Albuquerque. We turned south on New Mexico State Road 14 (NM 14) to follow the mountainous Turquoise Trail Scenic Byway through the picturesque towns of Madrid, Golden, and Sandia Park. The Turquoise Trail is quite obviously named for the turquoise that Pueblo people mined, starting over 1,000 years ago. In spite of the beauty of this section of the journey, we were eager to reach Albuquerque and treasure hunt for Route 66 remnants. We arrived late and settled into Hotel Andaluz just off Route 66 in the historic downtown. It opened in 1939 as the Hilton Hotel,

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Historic sites from graveyards to adobe churches on the backroads of “America’s Main Street.” the first hotel built in New Mexico by The place to start is along Central but we turned off on older sections of native son Conrad Hilton. From there Avenue and the Nob Hill District, which Route 66 every chance we had. we headed up Central Avenue/Route 66 offers a diverse mix of Americana — It was a long, hot, windy stretch, and to Kelly’s Brew Pub, a spot heaving with carnicerias, auto shops, university hang- the bits of Route 66 that remain are locals eating deep-fried green beans outs, streetwalkers, boarded-up Route just broken remnants. But there are still and such. 66 hotels with their classic signs, faded treasures, like Mission San José and Just up Central Avenue is the pol- and barely hanging on. Try to find them Budville. Budville isn’t much to look at, ished Route 66 Diner, which draws on soon because locals say they’re disap- but the old gas station has an inter- a version of what most people today pearing by the day. It’s history that no esting story. The town was named for think Route 66 must have been like. one has the money to restore. Bud Rice, a local businessman who ran Back in the heyday of travel along this We headed out of Albuquerque on a towing company and a cafe. He was route, people built “roadside attrac- Central Avenue through the old part murdered there, along with a waitress tions” to try and lure travelers in. You of town, then up 9 Mile Hill where we in the 1960s during a robbery, and the could find tipi-shaped hotel rooms, stopped to rest and enjoy the great crime was never solved. There is no end giant Paul Bunyan statues, and other view of the city behind and below us. to the stories along Route 66, including oddities. The Route 66 Diner is simply a Albuquerque ends abruptly, and in no the tales of mobsters and other crimi- modern roadside attraction, and it’s fun time we were back in the sage, dust, nals on the run. to visit, but the real fun in Albuquerque and scrub. Our route now occasionally is searching out the originals. followed the shoulder of the interstate, CONTINUED ON PAGE 63

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CONTINUED FROM PAGE 16 AMERICA’S DARLING - ROUTE 66 their names in the rocks for hundreds of horse and reputedly said “Give me a years, marveled at the light across Dowa beer. Give my horse a beer too.” The road passes through the black Yalanne (Corn Mesa), For us it was the end of the first sec- lava flows of Malpaís right before and enjoyed riding tion of our Route 66 adventure, but that the town of Grants. The town was through the beau- old highway still stretched out in the famous for carrots and uranium, tiful American distance to the west. but it looks bit beat-up these days. West on the way There are many ways to ride Route From Grants, our route left to Gallup. 66. You can do it for the diversity and Route 66 to avoid a long section of Gallup was the beauty of the route, just skimming over interstate with no shoulder. Instead we center of the West- the history. Or you can dig deep into it, pedaled south along NM 53 on a back ern film industry from seek out the Route 66 fanatics that live road to Gallup. Stock up, it’s roughly 1929 to 1964, and all in every town along the way, and ask miles of wide open land and sky, the big stars were them to share their knowledge. Then beautiful and peaceful. It’s also here. In the El pedal out again and seek out all the old an easy way to get up and over Rancho Hotel, we pieces of the route’s history that are out the Continental Divide — we slaked our road there, slowly fading away but still wait- hardly noticed pedaling over it thirst with a cold ing for you to discover them. at a mere 7,882 feet. beer in the hotel We stopped at the El Morro bar, the same one Nathan Ward is a freelance writer and photographer National Monument to see the that John Wayne living with his family in Colorado. He is a regular cliff where travelers scratched rode into on his contributor to Adventure Cyclist. See more of his writing and photography at nathanward.com.

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