Day Ten: Tucumcari, NM to Santa Fe, NM

In the morning, before leaving Tucumcari, we stopped over at the Teepee Curios shop. There are alot of souvenir shops along the way and we've definitely been buying some things, but we have been selective about where we go. It was lucky we stopped in because we bumped into Johnny Vee - president of the New Mexico Route 66 Association - we actually met him the night before at the Blue Sparrow, but we talked to him in more detail about places to go in New Mexico. Johnny Vee is also a writer for such magazines as Kustom Kulture Deluxe, Route 66 Magazine, Hot Rod, etc. He is a cool dude who gave us some tips on where to stay and the conditions of the road ahead. Thanks, Johnny!

He recommended stopping in at the Route 66 Auto Museum in Santa Rosa, which we did. They had some great vehicles and lots of 1940s and 50s pictures and memorabilia.

Johnny also said that we should stop by Bozo's Garage, a custom rod shop across the street - we had been having some issues with the car bottoming out on the right rear shock and he said those guys were definitely the ones to talk to. We headed over there and they put the car right up on the lift for us. Bozo has been in the custom car business for almost 30 years and has really original and innovative designs - he's definitely old school and has built some seriously neat stuff.

Turns out not only was our right rear shock collapsed, but the front right shock mount was completely broken. The shock was not even attached to the car anymore. They welded it together and put on some new shocks, so we spent a couple of hours in Santa Rosa.

Sidenote: I wrote up a bunch of postcards while waiting for the car, but I didn't have my addresses with me, so I just wrote down people's names and I was going to fill in the addresses later. Unfortunately, when we got to a hotel that evening, I saw a mailbox and quickly dropped off the postcards and didn't remember until the next day that none of them had addresses on them! I can't believe I did that! I was just so excited to get them written and mailed - bummer!

Back on the road again, after getting the car back from Bozo's, the suspension is much better and we can definitely tell the difference. Sweet. We stopped in at the Comet Restaurant for some excellent Mexican food. They gave us these free desserts that were kind of a warm vanilla custard - not flan, it had a specific name that I can't remember. Tracy/Amy - can you think of what that might be? So tasty.

A lot of the day is driving through the desert - luckily, everything is in bloom, even the cactuses (cacti?). There are also a lot of side roads off 66 in this part of the country, but many are unpaved and rough, so we tend to stay on the main drag. We'll have to come back with an off road vehicle at some point and do this section again.

We wound our way through to Santa Fe and I was completely amazed at how beautiful and different the downtown was compared to anywhere else I have been. The buildings in the downtown areas were adobe and we decided we wanted to stay right downtown rather than out on the edges. It was kind of a splurge, but the room was awesome and the bathroom had all this great tilework.


This is our hotel from the back - the La Fonda.

We were right on the plaza and near the St. Francis Cathedral. We walked all around downtown in the evening checking out the art galleries and shops. We went out for pizza and then had some drinks and listened to some great local music at Cowgirl. Thanks for the recommendations, Brooke and Aaron!