April 7th – Albuquerque to Tucumcari

By 8:00 I’m at Sandia BMW, in Albuquerque for, I hope, a sprocket and chain replacement.  The old dealer, in 1984, was a “mom &  pop” traditional style shop, that handled only the motorcycles and was on a street in town.  This one is a part of the BMW car and Mini dealership, and located in a huge facility out by the freeway.  The staff is very professional and friendly….the service writer, like many out west, is a recent transplant from Indianapolis. They have only the rear sprocket in stock, and can source the chain, they think.

Then on disassembly, the rear sprocket bolts are found to be bent, unable to be reused, so replacements must be sourced.  Still waiting.  One of the staff  dropped me off at a nearby restaurant, LePeeps, for an excellent breakfast.

When I was here in 1984, the dealership was a much smaller affair, on a street in town not far from my apartment.  I was there a few times, to buy high-altitude jets for the old bike, and then a new windshield when the canyon winds tumbled  my bike over and over in the parking lot of my apartment one night. Back in those pre-internet days, shops kept things in stock.  I can’t fault the modern shop for not doing so.  In these days when everyone orders everything on line, it would be prohibitive for shops to keep everything in stock, waiting for the chance customer who needs it now.

By three o’clock, the bike seems to be done and ready for the service manager to take it for a test ride.  He is far braver than I as he flys the car going around the corner of the building.

Blue Swallow Motel

I leave Albuquerque at about 4, headed for Tucumcari.  I’ve reserved a room at the Blue Swallow Inn, the most classic of Rt. 66 motels.  I’ve passed this place by before and thought I would be doing so again, just as a matter of timing, but when this opportunity presented itself, I wasn’t going to let it go.

As the sun begins to drop behind the hills behind me, the light softens on the plains in front of my bike and the wind, no longer driven by the heat, calms down.  Between Albuquerque and Tucumcari is a part of the west I like a lot.  The bluffs on either side of the highway are the classic striated red and white faces one sees on postcards and magazine

The Blue Swallow Motel Courtyard

covers.  The high plains extend forever in the fading daylight.  Critters that have waited patiently for the sun to go down are beginning to stir for their nightly routines.

I pull into the Swallow at dusk, tired and hungry (no lunch today) and immediately am made to feel welcomed and at home.  I’m ushered into my own garage for the bike, adjoining my room.

Kevin and Nancy are the owners and Bessie the golden retriever is the supervisor, or so it seemed when she sat down and offered me a paw for as long as I would sit and pet her.   Kevin once worked for Valvoline in Lexington, Ky and  the family lived in Georgetown.  Small world.

My Room at the Blue Swallow Motel

The Blue Swallow is the perfect Rt 66 motel, exactly as I had pictured it to be. My room is small by modern hotel standards, but just what its era expected.  The decor is wonderful, even down to the working 1939 style heavy black dial telephone on the desk.   The bed is high, with a period-correct chenille spread on top that makes the “home” feel complete.  Yet there is the aura of adventure and travel everywhere within these walls.  I can picture Bogart and Bacall coming into this room on their way out of LA,

Artwork inside one of the Blue Swallow garages

both of them hot and tired from the road, the huge engine in the drop-top Caddy ticking slowly as it cools in the garage next door.  She drops her bag and turns to Bogart, that look, that look that only she can do, in her eyes….. (OK, got to stop there. My keyboard is smoldering and this is a non-smoking room.)

Tucumcari offers a free shuttle service from the motels in town to the restaurants and I accept the offer.  The restaurant offers New Mexican food (not the same a Mexican cuisine, similar, but different) that is just as I remembered it from my days in this state before.  I’m shuttled back to my room and quickly fall asleep.