Tucumcari, NM - November 2024
My intrepid companion and I took a road trip from Dallas to Albuquerque in late November, just because we could. We hadn't driven that highway on the way to somewhere else in some time, and we decided to stop at the Blue Swallow Motel in Tucumcari on our first night.
My intrepid companion and I took a road trip from Dallas to Albuquerque in late November, just because we could. We hadn't driven that highway on the way to somewhere else in some time, and we decided to stop at the Blue Swallow Motel in Tucumcari on our first night.
The sun had set when we passed through Amarillo on I-40. We refueled on the west side of town and kept moving. An hour and a half later, we took the first exit to Tucumcari and bypassed the road stop clutter on the south. Proprietor Robert settled us into our warm and cozy suite when we arrived at the Blue Swallow, and we made plans for our evening expedition.
It's not just the sign out front. All the neon gives a nice warm glow to the area.
We were hungry and went to nearby Del's Restaurant. It was bright and bustling inside, and I had a nice plate of chile rellenos, with Christmas sauce of course.
Clearly these folks were ready for Christmas.
We then drove up and down Tucumcari Boulevard to catch some of the signage.
The Wash Lady on top of a local laundromat was a nice surprise! Not all that glows is neon. The Palomino Motel's light is from LED strips.
We enjoyed viewing the motel's exterior details the next morning. This is an old-time motor court; some of the rooms have garages with fun murals and lots of bicycles and toys for guest use.
After checking out we returned to Del's for a good breakfast and saw all the Christmas decorations we'd missed the night before. The back room was the Christmas tree room, and the bar was the home of the Grinch.
Celebrating the Grinch and Santa at Del's Restaurant - in different rooms, of course.
After we finished, we returned to the Blue Swallow to pick up a charger we'd left in the room (thank you Robert for calling so fast!) and continued our journey west.
There's a ton of material on the Web about Route 66 and the Blue Swallow in particular, and I won't rehash that here. The neon throughout the motel is impressively well-maintained. Robert does most of the neon maintenance himself, and it's clear that he and Dawn love this place. So did we! It's well worth a stop.
Enjoy!