Santa Rosa to Glenrio, New Mexico – Route 66

Driving on Route 66 from Santa Rosa to Glenrio is 102 miles and passes through several ghost towns.

The town was established in 1865 and known as Aqua Negra Chiquita, Spanish for “Little Black Water”. It wasn’t until 1890 that the name changed to Saint Rose or Santa Rosa. Known as the “City of Natural Lakes” and scuba diving capital of New Mexico I feel the modern day hasn’t been too kind to it. We found Santa Rosa a strange little town. When I say strange it seems more disjointed than anything else.

I guess like pretty much everything along Route 66 when the freeway was built, it changed the lives of so many and not in a good way. Part of Route 66 is now the airport runway of Santa Rosa, and the Cut-off wiped out a lot of the town. A few of the vintage motels and cafés can still be seen.

The Late Club Café

This sign is all that remains of the 1935 Club Café. After 57 years, it finally closed in August 1992.

Comet II Diner

The original Comet Diner was family run and had been serving customers since 1927. Fire destroyed the building in the 90s, hence the re-build being named Comet II.

The Courthouse is one building that has remained. Built in 1909 and still in use today.

The Route 66 Auto Museum and Bozo’s Garage is worth a look–see, especially for all you budding vintage car enthusiasts. 

the blue hole

And of course, there’s The Blue Hole. 

• Address: 913-1099 La Pradira Ave
• Parking: $5.00

Once used as a fish hatchery, the clear blue waters are a perfect escape for scuba divers and training. The water here renews itself every six hours which keeps the water at 100% visibility and is a constant 62º F and 130 feet deep, although care must be taken even for experienced divers. It is easy to get trapped in one of the many passageways which connect to an extensive underground water system leading to one of the Seven Sister Lakes.

Swimming isn’t allowed here, although there are other Lakes nearby designated for recreational use.

There were several divers when we were here, so we decided to explore the area a little and take some pictures. Walking up the steps at the top of the Blue Hole we came across some abandoned buildings. We have no idea what they were used for.

Further down, to the right of the main body of water we found, what appeared to be, overflows which ran into a stream with a quaint little stone bridge. The water was absolutely crystal clear. If it had been warmer I think we would have gone for a paddle!

UPDATE: Since our trip, the Blue Hole has been fenced off and there is a now a fee to enter.

park lake

Next door to the Blue Hole is Park Lake, which was pretty empty being out of season.  In the summertime, I would imagine this is quite the attraction for locals to come and swim, lay in the sun and have a relaxing weekend by the water. 

Here is a photo of how Park Lake looked in the 1950s.

The water levels were very low, leaving dry mud and with it being so shallow, you wouldn’t want to use the waterslide.

Apparently, in high season they charge $5.00 for parking and $10.00 for a wristband per day.

BACK ON the MAIN ROUTE from santa rosa to glenrio

We spent at least an hour or so looking around the Blue Hole and Park Lake before heading back to the main “old” highway and onto the next town.

We arrived in Cuervo and by sheer fluke, decided to cross over the freeway. Wow! Bonus. I expect by now you would know that we just love ghost towns. Well, this one was a real treat.

cuervo ghost town

Every so often you come across a true ghost town.  This is the case of Cuervo. Not just ruins of a few homesteads – a full-on, complete town which the I-40 went straight through the middle of leading to its demise. For us, this was an amazing find on our journey from Santa Rosa to Glenrio

Both of us were quite smug after exploring the ruins of Cuervo. Leaving the ghost town in the rearview mirror, we ventured on to the next few towns all of which have a few abandoned buildings and ruins.

Firstly we drove through Newkirk ghost town where there were ruins of Wilkerson’s Service Station which closed in 1989. Even with two off-ramps into the town, it wasn’t enough to keep the place alive.

Next stop was the Richmond Store ruins at Montoya and an old cemetery which we meandered around reading some of the old gravestones.

Newkirk & Montoya slide show

Continuing along Route 66 from Santa Rosa to Glenrio, near Palomas we decided to take the earlier alignment which was on a muddy dirt road and through a small tunnel. And when I say small, I mean small!!!

For all of you driving a much larger vehicle than a minivan, then we suggest the later alignment. You can see why from the photo! The car cleared it quite easily but if it had been any muddier we may have skidded!

tucumcari

Tucumcari, known as the town “2 blocks wide and 2 miles long” and what a strange name! It comes from the Comanche word for ‘lookout’ and took its name from the surrounding mountains. The town itself was founded in 1901 as a railroad camp having the nickname of “Six-Shooter Siding” because of the outlaws and saloons.

what we saw in tucumcari

This town is really fun for true Route 66 enthusiasts as there are so many things to see. First was the Paradise Motel and Café. It was built in 1950, eventually closing in the 1990s and has been damaged twice by fire in the last decade by arsonists.

Now the thing is, Tucumcari has a fair amount of historic Route 66 sites, so please indulge us with the number of photos we’ve added to the blog. There are a lot more which we didn’t put on!!!.

Tucumcari Trading Post is open for business with an array of both antique and new stuff. Established sometime in the 60s I believe.

the trading post slide show

The Route 66 sculpture is a newish addition to the road. Built 1997 of chrome in the shape of a Cadillac fin including tail lights with two sixes on top. Most definitely photo-worthy!

Ranch House Café

On the left side of road travelling east are the remains of the Ranch House Café’s neon sign with an old truck beside it. This makes for a great pic. I’ve seen it several times in Route 66 books and magazines.

The café opened in 1952 promising “Good Food Always…Always Good Food” and was one of the first places to offer drive-up curb service.

I haven’t yet got tired of seeing restored gas stations. Here’s another one, but I was unable to find out much about it.

Restored Esso gas station

And yes! Yet another one…..Restored Magnolia gas station.

Here are the rest of the sites in a slide show.

Are you up for some more pics of Tucumcari? If so, look no further.

We either were unable to find these sites or our pictures were even more crappy than usual.

• Pow Wow Restaurant 801 W Tucumcari Blvd
• Redwood Lodge Motel (now apartments) 1502 W R66
• Buckaroo Motel 1315 R66
• Desert Air Motel (now the Americana) 206 E Tucumcari Blvd
• Denny’s now Kix on 66
• Aztec Hotel 1162 E Tuc Blvd
• Poly Gas Station 1823 E Tuc Blvd opposite is Aruba Motel
• Pony Soldier Motel – Tucumcari Blvd/S Mountain Rd
• Whiting Brothers Sign 4001 E Tuc Blvd

Tucumcari is a fantastic place. Be prepared to spend several hours looking around. Maybe plan on staying the night at The Blue Swallow.

Just a few more sites to see until we reach the border with Texas, so we’ll bid Au’Revoir to Tucumcari – until we meet again!

Three towns until the border

Taking exit 356 we reached the small town of San Jon. There were once businesses lining the streets here, but once Route 66 by-passed the village in 1981 pretty much everything ceased to exist. Including this service station.

The next few miles are on a dirt road and the only things you’ll see are the cows, which happen to be free-range and stand in the road.

It’s difficult to imagine that this was once the main highway. What a pain in the butt after wet weather, literally, even with today’s vehicles let alone those with little suspension and thin padding on the seats!

There was once a motel and café along here. Now in ruins, of course, but we must have past it. The next building we saw was the modern restrooms in Endee unless of course, this was part of the motel. It gets difficult to say. Unless it’s in a town or a Roadside Attraction, very little is signposted, so a massive amount of research is in order!

There were a few other buildings around. Some dilapidated and one homestead.

And a cool old railway bridge.

Glenrio is on the border and half of the town is in New Mexico, the other, Texas.

So that was the blog for Santa Rosa to Glenrio. To view the rest of the town of Glenrio, you’ll need to go to the next blog.

PREVIOUSLY ON Route 66: