2023 WB Day 13 - Busy Bees

It was the longest day of this journey and began with a run down the i25/66 to Albuquerque.

Through the centre of town we found dozens of landmark buildings, some in use...

...some not.

Owl Rock is just after Mesita ...

...and that meant Dead Man's Curve was next.

The black volcanic looking rock at McCartys is indeed lava... left there long before America decided on a Main Street.

Sands Motel on the outskirts of Grants isn't quite as old but certainly hasn't weathered as well.

This town loves 66... talk about finding a way to get people to stop!

...although it didn't look like anyone had needed one of Charlie's Radiators in a while.

At the end of the still used two lane system of R66 at Prewitt, just past the old Swap Meet...

we found another Charlie, this one still in business... we'll sort of.

Time hasn't been kind to this engine builder cum drag racer and trophies lie around the workshop highlight better days.

There's a very rare genuine 428 Cobra Jet Engine from a '69 Mach I sitting in the corner. It's going into a project car... if there's time.

Lunch was delivered to our cars at Sonic Burger, but not on skates like they used to.

And a stop in Gallup at El Rancho Hotel is a must see, where the big stars once stayed while making their movies...

...and some even bigger long horns.

The weekly flea market revealed a new take on curly fries.

In several spots the terrain forces the old road, train track and interstate together,

and we dropped down to 3,500 feet through the course of the day.

The Painted Desert left lasting images in our minds and cameras...

As did the Petrified Forest.

These natural wonders are split by the Mother Road and interstate and marked by the hull of a 1932 Studebaker Sedan...

and a line of power poles.

The remains of the foundations from a village built by the Native American Puerco people between 1259 and 1380AD is outlined, south of the i40.

While some of nature's largest creations lay idle,

some of her smallest were hard at work on the flowering cacti.

It was a busy day on the road for us too, covering more than 300 miles. Our Tee Pee motel in Holbrook beckoned.