After Gallup we drove over the Continental Divide to Albuquerque. In the morning we went on a hike to see 400 ancient petroglyphs. Mom and I sang the “No bug song” because I was freaking out about all the huge millipedes and beetles.
Soon thereafter we drove to Santa Fe, where we look at Rail Runner trains, age Chicago hot dogs, and walked around. We also looked at their beautifully painted caboose.
After Santa Fe we drove past the Cumbres and Toltec RR on our way to the Great Sand Dunes, where I got some great Lego pics.
Check out our Petroglyphs & Great Sand Dunes gallery.
Henry continues,
This is where my legs started getting itchy, exactly one year after they did in Arches. We then ate in Alamosa, at an incredibly good microbrew pub. I got a Philly cheesesteak (my first ever!).
We then drove to where we were staying—a yurt with a camel pasture! We even got to go up and pet the camels and burros.
To say that these accommodations where unique and memorable would be an understatement—especially when this 1,500-pound guy made a fast run at us!
We started off from Flagstaff and got to Holbrook, where we visited the Wigwam Motel (one of the last two in America) that Dad and I visited back in March (video).
From there we went to a rock shop featuring fake dinosaurs.
Next, we went past the Painted Desert Indian Center. Near the border of New Mexico, we went past an Indian trading post that sells the worst tacos known to mankind. (I described the tortillas as “matted.”)
Once we crossed the border, we went to Gallup, NM. We stopped in a really cool gallery, and we ate some yum tacos while Mom looked in a pawn shop that was covered floor-to-ceiling in Native American stuff. Then we went to another store, where I got an awesome book on NM (and where we learned the phrase “rare as a three-legged chicken”).
After Gallup we drove over the Continental Divide to Albuquerque.
We left Las Vegas and headed through the Mojave to Kingman, and along the way we kept seeing billboards for “Gus’s Beef Jerky” and various junkyards. When we actually got to Gus’s the sign looked like this:
We also saw an old bombed-out pizzeria, where it looked like the “ia” fell/melted off, so it just said “Pizzer!”
When we arrived in Kingman we looked at the steamie in the park, and then we crossed the street and went to the visitors’ center/Route 66 museum. In the museum they had lots of cool stuff, like a neon Mobil pegasus where the wings moved. On the ground floor they had a really interesting documentary all about all of Arizona’s 66 towns. They also had an electric car museum from which I saw two BNSF trains go by each other.
When Dad & I left, Finn came running out with Seamy, because we didn’t know they were inside. He told us how he was in the gift shop for 45 minutes, watching the same video about “The Route 66 Kid” over and over again!
We then crossed the street and ate at Mr. D’z 50’s diner. When we got back to the van, I nearly died from choking on a mint, and Dad forgot to pay, so he had to run back. Soon after we drove down Kingman’s bit of 66 and saw their train station.
Next, we started on our drive to Flagstaff. We drove through the historic towns of Seligman & Williams. On the way through Williams we saw several old Santa Fe cabeese.
Soon we arrived at Flagstaff, and Dad, Mom, and I went to the pioneer museum and saw their steam locomotive and caboose #999455. Next, we drove downtown and visited the sticker shop. We went back to the room and ate Little Caesar’s pizza.
After we’d chilled out (literally) following our Meow Wolf & antique explorations, we packed up the van & headed out to Hoover Dam & beyond. Henry write,
After a while staying at the motel, we embarked to the Hoover Dam—”The Zeus”—which had a super low water level. Dam, that was a fun time! 😛
Here’s a quick clip of our journey across the top:
Henry writes,
Next, we went to the Nevada Southern RR for rail bikes, and on the way we stopped at A&W, where we got a family meal pack that included a gallon of root beer in its own special flagon/bladder!
We of course enjoyed touring the old trains, and all five of us hopped onto a rail bike for a sunset ride. Check out the pics.
Hen adds,
When we were riding, Seamy’s poor tail got stuck in the axle, and we had to back up and unwind it. The rest of the ride [minus Dad & Seamy, who walked back up to the station] was really beautiful, though a little ruined by the incident.
We got picked up by the Union Pacific GP-30-844 and some passenger cars + caboose. Seamy & Dad rode down in the caboose, and we all rode back in the caboose. I got to sit in the cupola.
Happily, Seamy’s proud plume wasn’t badly injured, and it was back to flying at full mast within a few days. ❤️
Our time in Vegas was all about beating the heat—especially for our fur-coated amigo. Even at 8am, our jaunt to the dog park was insufferably hot, though it did produce a memorable interaction with a homeless guy offering some, uh, unique grooming services (“For 20 bucks I’ll squeegee yer dawg!”).
While Mom & Finn took in the amazing Meow Wolf exhibition (more on that below), Henry and I took El Poocho on a little antiques exploration of the arts district. Hen in particular was thrilled to drop in on the shop featured in the Pawn Stars TV show. He says “I saw some Confederate paper bills & even some Picassos!”
We were relieved to find a dog-friendly & air conditioned shop where Hen chatted up the proprietor & impressed him with his extensive knowledge of arcane railroad facts. 🙃 He writes,
I budgeted myself $20, and I found the coolest old mug from the Santa Fe Railroad with their mascot, Chico. I also found an old anti-drugs pin for Finn, with a lion he named Darnell. 🦁
Now, about Meow Wolf: it’s the product of an artists’ collective that’s turned into a sprawling, madcap interactive space. The entrance seems to be a too-perfect convenience store (“Omega Mart”) stocked with really bizarre products. From there you’re beckoned (by crawling through tents, lockers, and other hidden portals) into a psychedelic world-behind-the-world, complete with weird interactive instruments, climbing walls, slides, aliens, and more.
Margot and Finn checked it out first, spending a good three hours (!) exploring, after which Hen & I passed Seamus off to them and explored it ourselves. Take a peek at what we saw.
Following our Red Rocks jaunt, we plunged right into the triple-digit temperatures of Las Vegas. The city isn’t one we’d normally choose to visit, as characterized by Henry continuously flipping the bird to the big, gross edifice owned by The Former Guy. To our surprise, though, in the last couple of years the town has grown a rather cool arts district, and it was fun to explore it with the boys & Seamus, as you can see in this little gallery.
And here’s a quick little timelapse of our sunset walk:
Later we attempted to take the lads to see old Fremont Street, but between the still-triple-digit nighttime temperatures & total lack of parking, we opted to cruise the Strip in air-conditioned relative comfort. I had fun making this trippy little rendition of the journey:
Adhering to the timeless wisdom of ZZ Top, we began our second day by scoring some cheap sunglasses—then headed out to Barstow, the huge rail hub we first discovered in 2019 and then visited last summer and again in March.
After hitting Centennial Park (where Hen scrambled over a vintage Marine tank) and visiting the various trains and Harvey House, we headed out to piping-hot Las Vegas. Before we got there, though, we took a cool detour through Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area, where Henry picked up a little stuffed buddy, “Churro the Burro.”
Dropping by the Tehachapi Loop (“the Eight Wonder of the railroading world”) last year en route to Colorado was a highlight of the journey and one of Henry’s greatest railfanning experiences ever—which is really saying something!
So, this year we planned our first overnight in the cute little railroad town of Tehachapi, and while Margot and Finn chilled out with Seamus, Hen & I set out for some sunset trainspotting. We were thrilled to see multiple trains passing each other & looping over one another via the corkscrew tracks.
default
Henry worked my big cam (check out his gallery of shots) while I flew overhead via my drone. Here’s the fun video we just cut together, featuring a “Big Train” soundtrack by the great Wynton Marsalis & friends:
And here you can click and drag to explore the site from overhead:
You only turn twelve once, so the dudes & I said YOLO and rang in Hen’s milestone by flying over Leadville at the Top of the Rockies zipline tour. As you can see in our gallery and in the vids below, we had a blast zooming over the railroad tracks and on down the mountain. Check it out!
Having been a fireman & machinist for Southern Pacific, our neighbor Severn is incredibly well connected to folks dedicated to railroad preservation, and his skills remain in high demand.
On Saturday we were delighted to accept his invitation to drive up to Napa, where a team of volunteers devote many hours per week to restoring old engines & cars. It was an especially interesting day as the group was firing up their 100-year-old steam engine for the first time in many years.
Severn & the whole team were incredibly generous with their time and knowledge, taking us through their numerous old cars. Highlights include a mail car that had been trapped in an avalanche in the 50’s (causing the passengers to have to rip up & burn its flooring to stay warm) and a beautifully restored Art Deco lounge car featuring an amazing round bar.
The real highlight, though, was Henry getting to fire up a pair of the old diesel locomotives on site! Here’s video of the whole process:
Finally, after some restorative beer & potato chips (the former for me, the latter for Hen 🙃), we cruised back over the foggy Golden Gate Bridge, then south to San Jose:
“This car is awesome!!” yelled Finn as we zoomed through fog banks & bursts of sunshine en route to Alice’s Restaurant up in the mountains on Saturday. Check out the Miata’s latest topless adventure:
Our friend Severn (owner of his own backyard caboose & railway) has been incredibly supportive of Henry’s interest in trains, and a couple of weeks ago he bestowed upon Hen a couple of amazing gifts. First was a real railroad pocketwatch! As you’d expect & as you can see in some pics, he went completely nuts. 😌
Severn also bestowed upon Hen an HO-scale version of the famous Daylight train on which he’d ridden as a kid. With quarantine restrictions easing, we were able to take it on a spin at Silicon Valley Lines on Thursday, and the two of us teamed up to capture a gallery of photos and videos.
Henry is, as he’d be the first to tell you, one very lucky young engineer—and I’m lucky to get to be his wingman in all of this. 🚂😌
“Life’s as big as you make it,” I’ve often told the boys—so as much as I didn’t want to sign up for 4+ hours of driving on the spur of the moment Saturday, how could I turn down Henry’s suggestion that we do a little father-son Miata road trip to photograph the abandoned nuclear power plant up near Sacramento?
Hen, I should note, has a real fascination with the Chernobyl disaster (the 35th anniversary of which, we didn’t realize until later, was on Monday), up to the point of having watched the gripping HBO miniseries—at least until it got really dark.
Anyway, off we went on Saturday, and you can check out our little gallery here. And here’s to more spur-of-the-moment adventures, especially in the MZ!
I was especially taken with this shot Hen captured. It’s nice to see his photographic eye evolving!
In the morning we were eating at the cool train-based McDonald’s when a train (BNSF) started going by very slowly and quietly. It was either the second or third locomotive that was an old Dash 9 Santa Fe warbonnet.
I attended school from a motel on Route 66, which was a Motel 6, and right next door, there was a “Motel 7.”
We cruised top-down on 66 and turned onto the soon-to-be demolished 100-year-old bridge over the train yard., next to the old Santa Fe Harvey House. We got off the bridge and parked around the outdoor train museum for a while.
From there we drove to Tehachapi, remarking on 20 Mule Team Road, looking at the airplane storage area, and talking about the Carter Administration and Iran.
In Tehachapi we ate at the Burger Spot & got out of there. After Bakersfield, we stopped at a Shell station to try to clean all the melted Rolos off the floor.
After that, the only interesting thing was seeing all the red & white stripey silos in orchards. That concludes our awesome adventure, but our Miata adventures have just begun! 😉
On Sunday Henry & I arose early and braced ourselves for what was to be the longest leg of our trip—just over ten hours in the MZ! I’ll pass the mic to Hen to narrate the whole day:
Albuquerque, NM: In the morning, we cruised over to the train station with our Breaking Bad Lego minifigs (courtesy of cousin Tony) for pics.
Hovering over the skyline were hot air balloons. At the gas station, we bought a very, very cheaply made neck pillow that immediately sprang a leak. We traded it in for another neck pillow, which was a combination monkey-wiener dog!
After a while, we stopped at the Petrified Forest visitor center, where we met some cool Illinoisans.
After that, we stopped at the Painted Desert Trading Post, which had lots of cool old teepees and dinosaurs. This store was on old 66, which was basically cut of road that was next to I-40.
Next, we stopped in Holbrook, AZ, at the Wigwam Motel. (Side note: this was the real-life inspiration for the Cozy Cones in the movie Cars!) Outside the teepees, they had lots of cool old cars such as a rusty old tow truck labeled “Tow Mater’s Grandfather.”
Come take a spin with us!
Later, we stopped by Flagstaff, AZ, to see what we think is the westernmost Culver’s, as well as their cool old locomotive.
When entering Kingman, we were following an intermodal train. Next, we went to Mr. D’z, a wonderful 50’s diner. Next, we went to see their big Santa Fe 4-8-4 steam locomotive, #3759, and some old cars all along Route 66. Across 66 was the visitors center (the ex power plant) and the train lines. It was almost completely dark, so their cool neon sign lit up.
After loading up on milkshakes, we faced down a final three (!) hours of driving. My little “R2 unit” Hen thankfully conked out while I powered us through all the way to California.
If you haven’t already, please check out the day’s photo gallery before you go. And tune in next time for the conclusion of our epic journey. 😌
Henry was such an energetic scribe/wingman that I get to pass the mic to him for most of this update. 😌 Here’s how he recorded things in our journal (Hen text indented throughout, mine regular):
After Cadillacs we ate an excellent lunch of fried chicken and gravy. While we were there, someone began the challenge of eating the famous 72oz. steak in an hour.
After that we went to the Amarillo Train Museum, which had a model railroad and lots of equipment from the nuclear weapons disassembly plant’s train (three guard cars, electric buffer cars, a car to carry bombs, and a helium car).
You know who’d love to take you on a narrated 15-minute tour inside, outside, and on top of those trains? Why Henry Nack, of course. Take ‘er away, Hen:
In Amarillo we saw a Santa Fe steam engine—the prototype #5000—and five BNSF locos in H1 paint schemes.
After finally getting our fill of the museum & city, we headed west once again, hoping to grab lunch at the Midpoint Cafe in Adrian, TX (population 166). Well, good news/bad news: it’s hard to find a living soul there, much less an open restaurant, but the antique ruins are fun to explore:
Hen writes,
We were trying to find the Midpoint Cafe, but instead we found an abandoned Phillips 66 station with an old Coke machine, vintage gas pumps and signs, and most importantly, a very cool Texas farm route sign, which is in the Miata as I write!
All was well until we grabbed that sign. As we were somehow finagling it into the Miata, an ominous white pickup truck started running slow laps on the road in front of the service station—and the afternoon took a turn I can only describe as “Murder-y.”
We hightailed it out of there as fast as the old car would carry us, and I swear for the next hour on the freeway, I kept nervously checking the rear view mirror, honestly expecting a Mad Max-style pickup truck full of hooting, pipe-wielding yokels to speed up on us. 😬 Thankfully that never happened, of course—and Hen and I had a good chat about following one’s gut and not taking things without permission, even if they seem long abandoned.
So, moving right on…
While going to Tucumcari, NM, we were in the endless fields of wind turbines. We found an enormous pile of their blades!
When we arrived, I started to notice all the abandoned gas stations, motels, etc. on Route 66 (acting as the Main Street). But, I also noticed all the cool historical motels and gas stations. We stopped at Teepee Curios and got some cool stuff.
We took the clerk’s advice to eat at a restaurant down the street, which had a fake cow on the sign. In Tucumcari I noticed the sign for the Blue Swallow Motel. You may ask why this is so special, and it is because I saw the sign on one of my many postcards. While leaving we saw another scene from one of my postcards.
And with that, we settled into our final 3-hour (!) drive of the day:
We saw several trains and many mesas. We also saw a huge truck wreck on the median, where there was merchandise thrown everywhere & one of the trailers was mangled. While writing this I had my head down, and dad joked that I was a prairie dog, and I was gonna be served up as “chicken”!
Given how late we’d rolled in the night before, I thought that Hen might want to lag a bit in the morning—but given the prospect of catching sunrise at the famous Cadillac Ranch art installation, he was up and raring to go!
We swung by a Home Depot to grab some spray paint, then booked it to the outskirts of town. Upon our arrival, Henry was so excited that he went running out ahead of me.
Just as you’d guess, he went right to work applying his “HSN 2021” monogram, then inserting a few salty modifications to pro-Trump remarks we found. 😛
After dropping our half-used cans of spray paint (our gift to the next wave of visiting artists), we headed back to the Big Texan for some biscuits & gravy, then off to see atomic trains; next post coming soon!
The crazy thing about trying to recount our trip, I’ve come to realize, is that on each day we packed so much in—as many adventures as could usually fill a whole series of blog posts and galleries—that it’s all a bit overwhelming to gather, recount, and relive. But what the heck, let’s give it a shot. 😌
To start us out, Henry writes,
We stayed the night in Chandler, OK, in the Lincoln Motel, which was right on Route 66. In the morning we visited the “Route 66 Interpretive Center.” We also visited an old Phillips 66 gas station.
After fueling up at a fun 50’s-themed diner & scoring a few Legos at the thrift store in Chandler, we dropped the top for our first real time cruising down Route 66. Check it out!
We stopped off at a neat motorcycle museum in Seaba Station, followed by the famous Round Barn in Arcadia:
Here, join us for an epic spin around the barn! Tap the video below to play:
From there, Hen writes, “We went to Oklahoma City and went to the awesome train museum (with a Frisco F-unit).”
Of course no trip to Oklahoma would be complete without “cooling off” at Braum’s Ice Cream, which Hen & I cheerfully did following our museum visit. Afterwards, Hen writes,
On the way to Amarillo we visited Slug Bug Ranch, which had a handful of VW Beetles dug into the ground next to some abandoned (spray-paint-covered) gas & motel buildings.
We stayed at the Big Texan hotel/restaurant, and we slept in an awesome cowboy/wild-west-themed room.
We like to think that the Miata met its big, longhorn-sporting brother. 🥰
And with that, we fell asleep, as exhausted as you must be reading this & seeing all the photos!
We awoke early in Kansas City to ensure that we could score ourselves a helping of Maria’s infamously delicious Bready Magic, after which she accompanied us to KC’s historic & beautifully restored Union Station.
Much to everyone’s delight, the station is packed not just with historical artifacts, but with enormous model train displays—some of them Lego!
When we’d finally gotten our fill (okay, most like a taste—but time was a factor), we headed to an early lunch. As you’d imagine, Henry enjoyed the one-of-a-kind burger-delivery system at Fritz’s Kansas City! Check it out:
After hugging it out with Maria, we hit the road for Tulsa, eager to arrive in time to check out Buck Atom’s—a “Cosmic Curio” shop right on Route 66 run by Margot’s high school classmate. Loaded with ironic midcentury ephemera & guarded by the enormous Buck, it did not disappoint:
Here’s a draggable 360º view:
Having scored a couple of “Oklahoma Route 66 Passports,” gotten them stamped, and loaded up on fun gifts, we rolled back up 66 for a real treat—getting to see our dear friends the Swiney’s for the first time in 20+ years!
It was amazing to catch up with Mr. & Mrs. Swiney, Quin, Mick, and Mick’s wife Veronika (with whom I swapped tales of being pleasantly traumatized on our first meetings with the full Swiney brood 😛). Afterwards Mrs. S. pronounced Hen “hilarious.”
Our two hours together felt like 20 minutes, but we had to press on in order to maintain our pace. Thus we closed out the day an hour’s drive later in Chandler, OK—setting the stage of the next morning’s exploration.
“The journey of 2,000 miles begins with a single tiny roadster,” I think the old saying goes. 😌 Whatever the case, after getting Miata fully spiffed & packed, Henry and I set out on our epic journey on Wednesday, March 24.
Besides being an excellent wingman, Hen’s also a great documenter of our travels, both via camera & the written word. You can check out the gallery of shots we took together, and as for narrative, I’ll pass the mic to Hen, as captured in the little leather-bound notebook we picked up at our first stop.
“We drove to Le Claire, Iowa, and visited the American Pickers store. We bought some typeform and stickers.
I (Henry) was observing silos on the way to Iowa 80, the world’s largest truck stop. I had an amazing DQ milkshake, with ice cream, brownies, and Oreos, too! Iowa 80 had the absolute coolest truck museum ever!
I saw some interesting truckloads there, such as a trailer carrying four teardrop trailers, two trucks with half-assembled combines, trucks carrying parts of silos, and… TWO HUGE TRUCKS CARRYING WIND TURBINE BLADES! We drove across four states in seven hours.
Also, we ate Kansas City BBQ at Joe’s Gas Station with Maria.
