Day 49 - Getting our kicks on Route 66 - Tucumcari, NM!

Not a long drive today from Albuquerque, but the sign says it all:

And it's the 4th of July!!!   Fireworks!

On the trip out, we lost 2.5 days in North Little Rock when the fridge died.  In order to catch up on our schedule, we left I-40 going out at Santa Rosa, NM and by-passed Albuquerque.  Today we passed the spot where we left I-40.  Our mileage to this point in the trip:  8,527 miles!

Nothing spectacular along the way unless you count this vehicle that passed us:

Normal truck, right?  Not a normal cargo!

We got off I-40 at the first Tucumcari, NM exit so we could see Route 66.  We'd been here several years ago and enjoyed all the old motels and the monuments. 

Here's the monument done for one of the anniversaries of the Mother Road:

 It's a cool monument.  A lot of the businesses along the route have neon lights for night, so we're hoping to catch some of the neon tonight.  It's the 4th of July and we found out that the fireworks are off the interstate near downtown, so we'll catch the fireworks and the lights!

We need a few groceries and the only grocery store we could find open was Lowe's, so we went in.  Lots of different things from what we find at home.  We have some new hot chocolate with all the directions and ingredients written in Spanish - Abuelita's.  Has a cute little old lady drinking a cup of hot chocolate.  Got our groceries and got in the truck.  Saw this sign as we were leaving:

We learned later that it reach 105 degrees that day!

Some of the signs we saw that were unusual:

I have others, but won't share what happened with them until the end of the day!

Back to KOA and David's making lunch.  We're having tacos or taco salad.  He's making it, so it doesn't matter to me!  LOL

Nap time so we can stay up late, but I'm not sleepy, so I read/watch TV.

Time for fireworks!

We got directions to a field in town where we could view them.  We pulled in and sat next to Mike and Mike..two guys from a nearby town.  One of the Mikes had been responsible for the the fireworks show at Ute Lake the night before and he wanted to see this display.  It was quite windy, so I don't know how the fireworks will go!

The wind made it difficult to get any really clear shots, but I tried!

On to town!  I really wanted to take the Blue Swallow Inn with the neon on.  Just as we approached it, they turned out the lights!  Used to be the whole Route 66 area was lit at night.  Not now, but here are two different signs I did get:

The day version is at the top of the blog!

This one I didn't get a day version of, but did get the neon one:

The Wash Lady!

We were supposed to spend two days here, so I could do more photography at night, but we decided it wasn't worth staying another night for one photo, so we're on to Amarillo, TX tomorrow.  We're supposed to meet our friend Donna in Oklahoma City in 2 nights, so we're trying to reach her to let her know we're a day ahead of schedule now.

Late to bed and an early wake up call!

See ya down the road!

Jenny :)