When I stopped off at Midpoint Cafe in Texas and told owner, Brenda Bradley, we were continuing on to New Mexico, she asked if I could bring some pie to her friend Larry at the Motel Safari in Tucumari. Never one to deny someone pie, I obliged, and I made my first stop there.

Tucumcari is considered an oasis in the middle of the desert, and it’s been a popular stop for motorists since Route 66 was created. Many of the businesses that opened up between the 1930s-1950s are still in operation, giving the town a very cool, mid-century feel. One of those businesses is the Motel Safari. It opened in 1959 and became known for its “Googie” or “Doo Wop” design. It’s a style of futuristic architecture that someone from the 1950s might imagine.

Next up on our road trip is the Route 66 Auto Museum in Santa Rosa. This museum started as a repair business and soon turned into a massive vintage car collection. You can even buy some of the cars!

When I told people I was visiting Santa Fe as part of our Route 66 road trip, they often looked confused and asked, “Is Santa Fe on Route 66?” 

The short answer: Yes!

The long answer: Route 66 actually has two different alignments in New Mexico. The original alignment is more of an “S” curve that goes up to Santa Fe and then down through Albuquerque. The new, post-1927 alignment goes straight from Santa Rosa and through Albuquerque. So if you follow the old alignment, you will, in fact, hit Santa Fe. 

While here I walked around with Tom Gallegos, a Northern New Mexico tour guide, who told me more about Santa Fe’s pueblo culture. I love this city so much, you can actually see it featured in its own episode here and as part of my 25th Anniversary Special.

The open road leads me next to a city whose reputation along Route 66 rests on two unforgettable highlights. The first is that at 18 miles, it contains the longest urban stretch of Route 66. The second is that it is the only place where the route crosses itself. If you stand at 4th Street and Central Ave, you’re standing where the old alignment crosses the new! And less than a block away is one of the very few examples of Pueblo Deco architecture to exist – KiMo Theatre. Opened in 1927, the theater’s style mixes Art Deco with Native American imagery and elements. I had a chance to tour with Albuquerque’s Director of Arts & Culture, Dr. Shelle Sanchez, who told me more about the theater’s design and history.

Further down Central Ave is a truly specialized store. A man named Carl Dunlap opened The Man’s Hat Shop back in 1946 after coming home from the war, and his son, Stuart, still runs that same shop today. While visiting, he showed me all the ways you can customize a hat to fit someone’s head perfectly, even if it already looks all finished. I was shocked to discover you can even shrink some hats down!

A little over an hour from Albuquerque is the small town of Grants. This area has the largest known deposit of uranium and once employed 8,000 people across 100 mines and 7 major mills! Today you can visit the New Mexico Mining Museum, which commemorates this history and even takes you deep underground to walk through the recreation of one of these uranium mines. I had a chance to explore it and learn more with Terry Fletcher, who worked with underground mining for 20 years and had plenty of insight into its day-to-day operations!

Further on from Grants, you’ll come to one of six continental divides that go through North and South America. This one is known as the Great Divide, and it extends from the Bering Strait between Alaska and Russia all the way down to the Strait of Magellan off the tip of South America! I had to stop by to snap a photo with the sign and do some shopping in the nearby Ortega’s Indian Market. Here you’ll find all jewelry and crafts are locally handmade and feature a number of authentic Native American products.

Our final stop along Route 66 in New Mexico is Gallup, a city only 20 or so miles from the Arizona border. First things first – grab a bite at Earl’s Family Restaurant. They’ve been in business for 75+ years and serve up a unique mix of American, Native, and Mexican cuisine. Their speciality, though? The Navajo Taco! While digging in, I chatted with current owner, Sherol Richards, and learned how exactly she’s connected to the eponymous Earl.

Located in the former Santa Fe Train Depot, the Gallup Cultural Center is an absolute treasure trove of stories that range from Harvey Girls to Route 66. One of its most interesting exhibits, though, has to be on the Navajo Code Talkers. As Dr. Zonnie Gorman, daughter of a Navajo Code Talker, explained, these men worked during World War II to develop a secret language. Everything was transmitted by voice and even within Navajo there were different codes. By the end of World War II, they had 700 terms and never once was the code broken.