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Day Eight
New Mexico has a different feel than Texas or, for that matter, any of the states we’ve passed through on our trip. From Chicago westward there were many towns, each with a history, historic buildings, geological and geographical sites which tied them to the history of the migration of the people in the 20’s and the 30’s.

While the Texas panhandle was flat, dry and featureless, New Mexico, from the time you pass through Tucumcari, has a different look and feel. This is not due so much to the topography but to the light, more specifically the sky. The color, a deeper, more translucent cobalt blue reminded me of Provence, France where Van Gogh and Cezanne made the intense sky and the ochre, orange earth an inspiration for many of their works. It is no wonder that painters and, more recently, photographers have found the same inspiration in this spectacular state.

Before we left Santa Rosa we stopped at The Route 66 Auto Museum owned and operated by James “Bozo” Cordova. It had just opened days before. He had thirty or more cars and trucks, some stock and some hot-rodded, many of which were for sale. He was nearly closing a sale on a “brand new” 1956 Thunderbird for which he was asking $30,000. I offered to sell him my car for $20,000 but he declined.
Boy, is he a poor businessman.

After leaving Santa Rosa there is a 46 mile loop of “old 66” that heads north to Santa Fe, then turns southwest and rejoins the “other old 66” at Albuquerque. We opted to travel due west out of Santa Rosa, directly to Albuquerque. After eight days on the road neither Rick nor I felt like driving that extra 46 miles just to end up in the same place. This is not to say that we wouldn’t have enjoyed it but our interest was to follow, as closely as possible, the westward route to the “promised land” of California that the “migrants” followed.