Fall 2025 Road Trip; On To New Mexico

I’ve been to Tucumcari, New Mexico several times and somehow, I missed this mural and
the one below.  They are located on the side of the Tepee Curio Shop. I think these are really 
well done. (click to enlarge)

This is a continuation of my series of posts about my recent, fall 2025, cross country and back road trip, primarily following Route 66 west.  

Tucumcari, New Mexico is rich with photographic Route 66 eye candy.  I've been to Tucumcari several times over the years on previous road trips.  It is always a pleasure to stop and find things to photograph that I've missed.  I've posted many images of various motels, (including the famous Blue Swallow Motel where every room has it's own attached garage!), signs, oddities, forgotten things, old vehicles, etc., from Tucumcari.  If you enter ‘Tucumcari’ in the search bar on this site, you should be able to find many of them for reference.

This time, there were two things that I had previously missed that caught my attention.  Previously, I had photographed the Tepee Curios shop.  It is a building with a Tepee attached to the front.  Very cool.  (The proprietor is a really nice guy as well.  I had a good conversation with him.)  I had also photographed the old wrecker truck with the 10 ft. human skeleton on the side of the building.  But I had never noticed the murals painted on the other side of the building.  I thought they were well done and deserved an exposure or two.

I like the old 1955(ish) Buick station wagon.  Nice touch. (click to enlarge)

I had seen this old Esso service station but never stopped to photograph it.
Happy Motoring!  (click to enlarge)

Second, there is an old Esso service station.  For those not of a certain age, Esso is a trade name within the ExxonMobil corporation.  It was originally used by Standard Oil of New Jersey.  One of their logos was to "Put a Tiger in Your Tank."  Well, the tiger is still painted on the building and I thought it was a nice bit of nostalgic Americana.

Put a tiger in your tank! (click to enlarge)

I think the color of his head represent oil, not the “Poop” emoji of today!
(click to enlarge)

After Tucumcari, we drove on to Albuquerque.  There is a diner on Route 66 near the university called, appropriately so, the 66 Diner.  It is all decked out to send you back in time.  Even the waitresses and waiters are dressed as they did many decades ago.  The food was good, the music was from the 1950s and 1960s and it is generally a nice stop to eat.

66 Diner on Central Avenue in Albuquerque.  Also, keep a lookout as you drive Central
Avenue for many other old motels, signs, etc. that are relevant to Route 66.

There was one interesting and unexpected event that took place while we were there.  I went into the men's room to wash my hands before eating and there was a young man acting very strangely inside.  He was disheveled, talking and singing to himself and kind of had a wild look on his face.  I kept my eye on him but my gut told me he either was on drugs, intoxicated or suffered from a mental illness.  Being a retired police officer, I was not intimidated by him but I felt others would be as his actions and verbiage were not normal.  I found and told the manager of my encounter.  He tried to get in but the young man inside would not let him in.  About 10 minutes later, I heard a commotion behind me.  Where I was seated had my back to where the commotion was coming from.  I turned around and this rather large (not overweight, but think NFL lineman) woman had gone in and grabbed the man and physically dragged him out of the men's room and out of the restaurant.  He was kicking and fighting and actually kicked the antique juke box as they passed by.  I later talked with the woman and I believe she may have been one of the owners or such.  She was packing a semi-automatic pistol in her beltline.  She certainly was not someone to trifle with.  Wow!  Dinner and a show!

The servers are very personable and always have a big smile. (click to enlarge)

They are always happy to pose for an old guy with a camera like me! (click to enlarge)

The next morning, we drove from Albuquerque to Gallup, New Mexico and had a good lunch.  Along the way, we made a couple of stops to make some photographs of some old signs.  On to Arizona.  I think Arizona has more photographic-worthy Americana than the other states along Route 66.  Just my humble opinion.

Join me over at my website, https://www.dennismook.com.  

Thanks for looking. Enjoy!  

Dennis A. Mook  

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