Late last summer, Alan and I spent 22 nights on the road in a dedicated effort to travel Historic Route 66 from start to finish, Chicago to Santa Monica. Eight states, three time zones and 2,448 miles. The journey continues.
While planning our Route 66 journey the previous year, I had mapped out a three-week trip to fit in between a couple of other items on our calendar. Alan and I had decided early on that there were two iconic motels along the Mother Road that we really, really wanted to sleep in. One was the Wigwam Motel in Holbrook, Arizona. The other was the Blue Swallow Motel in Tucumcari, New Mexico. (Knowing now what I didn’t know then, I also would have booked nights at the Wagon Wheel Motel in Cuba, Missouri, and/or Boots Court in Carthage, Missouri.) When I attempted to book a date at the Blue Swallow, there was no room at the inn. We were so disappointed that we actually changed the dates of our trip to coincide with a vacancy. That turned out to be a fortuitous decision – the Blue Swallow was one of THE BEST highlights of the trip! More about the Blue Swallow later. First, several memorable stops along the way between checking out of our hotel in Elk City, Oklahoma, and checking in to the Blue Swallow in Tucumcari.
