Half way to the end of Route 66

August 20^th, 2026

Tucumcari, New Mexico

Woke at normal time and got going as I was hoping to get out early today.

Had bike loaded and ready to go by a little after 9:00am.

Hit the road and followed the route out of town.

Not much to see along this section of the route, even the route is mostly just running alongside the freeway.

Stopped for fuel so I could be ready for the higher speed sections today since some of the route is the interstate.

It was at least cooler today, was only in mid 80s and sky was mostly overcast, so cut down on the direct sunlight.

Crossed over into Texas, and road became even more dull, just running along the interstate and not much around, even the trees had thinned out.

First stop of interest was the old U Drop Inn and Conoco station in Shamrock Texas.  Walked around the old building a bit and then went inside to check out some of the interior displays.  I checked out the café and bought a brownie as I was hungry.

Ate out by the bike and then just as I was getting ready to leave, the skies opened up with a medium rain.  I had seen several small showers on the horizon and even a few sprinkles along the way, but this was a good rain.

Drove out of town and rain was done in just a few minutes, then sun started to come out more and clouds thinned out.  Was only about 80 at this point, but I could tell it was going to warm up now.

Bit farther down the road and we stopped in McLean Texas at another old gas station which had been restored some.  This one was just external, nothing inside, but took a few photos.

We then started to reach the interstate sections where all the road alignments throughout the 100 years are now under the freeway, not even the access roads are part of the original route, or only for a few 100 feet.   

While some of the roads in the area are original and off the freeway, they are the first segments in the mid 20s, and never had pavement, so are rough gravel at best, some are even beat up enough to make driving them difficult if not impossible depending on vehicle.

Many sections are just gone, no longer existing, or now on private property and no longer accessible.

The only way to drive many of the alignments here is to get off and drive out to the dead ends and then back track.  Just not something I want to do at this time, so will stay on the freeway, which technically was Route 66 prior to the Interstate system using the same route and laying on top of the original route.

In the areas that the access road served at least in sections as the original route, I would ride some of them just to avoid being on the interstate as loaded up the bike really does not want to go above 65mph, and freeway is 75mph, and most drive beyond that.

I did several sections where some of the access road was original, other parts were not.

At one point I had to back track though as an accident had occurred on the frontage road that I was on (and it was original route).  Thankfully it was only 1 mile back to the interstate access ramp, and then I was able to get off and back on the frontage road after 4 miles.

A few older bridges still on some sections, but mostly just plan road and much of it has been freshly surfaced (at least in Texas, the Oklahoma sections were very old concrete).

At one point the Google Maps did its usual thing of changing my route midway, and even though I had set it up to avoid the interstates this time, it had me on the wrong side of the freeway, so I was riding just a normal frontage road, and not the original route which was the other side.

It did make it easier for me to stop at the leaning water tower at Britten though as I was now on the correct side of the interstate and did not have to cross over.

Stopped there for a few quick photos, then had to adjust my map as it was still trying to route me to a spot back down the other road, but once I deleted that stop point it found the road I needed to use.

Not long after and we reached the section where all the routes were under the interstate.

I thought about riding the frontage roads anyway, but since I was trying to make a longer distance today, I had planned the route using the freeways to save time.

I did pull off going through the small towns on the original route, but then back on the freeways.

We finally reached Amarillo and was able to follow the old route into town on the north side and then it drops down into the center of town before heading back out to the west.

Was not a bad route, only the routing was a bit confusing as the original roadway in use back in the day was now a one way road heading north.  So, I had to use one of the southbound roads a block to either side.

I had decided to use the road to the east as the overpass to get over the rail yard was bigger and would give a larger view of the city.  This ended up being a bad choice.

Due to some work on the north bound road I could not reach, they had EVERY SINGLE east west road closed for 9 blocks, over a half mile.

So instead of crossing on 6^th street, I had to go all they way to 10^th street to get over, and then go back north on another road farther west to reach the Route 66 alignment on 6^th.

This was also right in downtown, traffic was busy, and like always, I got stopped at EVERY SINGLE traffic light, and they take forever here just like in Oklahoma (seriously, lights can stay red up to 2 full minutes, traffic or not).

Once I was back on the route, I started to look for a place to eat.

Not a huge number of places, and most were very run down looking and had little to now parking and not a place I was going to leave the fully loaded bike to walk inside a windowless building to eat.

When rode though another historic district, they had lots of nice places, but almost zero parking other than the street, and it was of course full up.

Ended up getting to edge of town and never finding any place that looked like it was worth stopping at that had sufficient parking that I could keep an eye on the bike while I ate.  Or in a few cases the place was good, but was not open for some reason.

Left Amarillo and headed along the freeway on the access roads.  I saw a billboard for a Pilot truck stop, so figured they would have something food wise and I needed to get fuel again as the freeway legs had definitely drunk it up faster.

Reached the place after 20 minutes and pulled off the route to go south of the freeway to reach it.

Pulled up to the pump and damn thing would not read my card, or something.  It just hangs up on Please Wait….

Finally cancelled it and moved to a new pump.  It’s also over 100 degrees again, so melting in the heat and humidity (though that has come down some).

Fueled the bike, and then moved it over to the front of the building.

Inside they did not have a restaurant, but had hot foods in a deli case, so bought a hamburger and a few cold drinks to eat while sitting in the seating area to stay cool and keep eye on the bike outside.

Once done, we were back on the road, went back over to other side of freeway and found the route again.

At one point, it routed me an odd way again, taking me off the Route 66 onto a different road, still not sure why, but then the routes ended again and back on the interstate.

At this point it would stay Interstate the entire way except for the small down business routes.  I had planned to take a 1.5 mile gravel road on the 1926 alignment to reach a long paved section of that route, but decided I was not in the mood to be on loose gravel in this heat.

I deleted that routing point when it came up and stayed on the Interstate.

We pulled off Adrian along the route going through town and stopped at the Mid Point marker.

This is the exact middle of the Chicago to Los Angeles Route, though I did not see what alignment they were using as the distance changed over the years.

I pulled up and waited on the side of the road as three other riders were doing photos with their bikes and the markings on the road and sign behind.

Once they were done, I pulled up and did the same.

While I was trying to do the sign selfie, a guy asked if I wanted him to take the photo and since I could not get me, the bike, and the sign on my own, I let him take the photo.

Then we got to talking, and a few others in his group came and went.  They all had accents, I am thinking British, but could have been another one of the commonwealth countries, I never had been good and detecting the differences.

At one point the guy asked if he could sit on my bike and take a photo and let him do that, then one of the girls wanted to do the same.

I then moved my bike over in front of the gift shop with the group of Harley riders that had been there before me.  They were all from Mexico and had ridden up.

The group of people were now setting up a photo in front of the sign and asked if I could take the photo so they could all be in it, which I was happy to do for them.

They left about then and I went inside the MidPoint Café to buy a cold drink.

Sadly, the can of Coke was not really that cold, but was still better than nothing.

I went outside to drink it and then got on the bike to continue on my way.

Short way down the road we crossed into New Mexico, and then reached Tucumcari which has a nice long section of the route going into the center of town.

Rode through town, and lots of old motels and hotels are still here.  Some are in better shape than others.  A few do look abandoned, or might be apartments now.

Lots of older buildings still to look at.

I found my motel on the west edge of town, but as I was still 10 minutes too early, I back tracked to find the Circle K I had passed so I could buy some cold drinks.

Once done, I returned to the motel and was good to check in.

There was one other car in the lot, otherwise place was empty, which is odd since it is an older property and in decent condition.

But also, not as much around here, definitely not walking distance.

I unloaded the bike and then sat inside for an hour to cool off.

Then decided I was ready for dinner as it was about 5pm, and might be nice to eat before things get busy, if they do.

I had asked motel guy about good places to eat and he recommended two.  Both were Mexican, though the one had lots of other stuff as well.

I rode down the road to the one I had seen on the way in as it has a very bright yellow building with cool hat structure on the top, called La Cita.

Ordered a thing of Nachos and 3 tacos, not realizing how large the tacos would be.  Way too much food, was quite stuffed when I left.

Rode back to the motel and then worked on a few online things, but was really tired, so did not get much done, even though I was up till quite late still, mostly just reading stuff or scrolling through other people’s stuff.

I will try to get some work done tomorrow, but now I am going to bed.

Catch ya down the road.

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