The Cactus Motor Lodge RV Park to be leveled

Cactus Motor Lodge

(Quay County Sun) The project manager for the O'Reilly Auto Parts chain said he expects to begin construction on a new Tucumcari store within a month, with an anticipated completion in April. O'Reilly Auto Parts store No. 5437 is slated at 1316 E. Tucumcari Blvd., site of the closed Cactus RV Park. Continued

Royal Inn Motel: Wildorado, Texas

 

 

Tucumcari's Cactus RV Park sign hauled off after sale to collector

Photo by Ammodramus

(Quay County Sun) Workers on Thursday afternoon dismantled and hauled away a 1950s-era neon sign from the Cactus RV Park in Tucumcari after a collector from Albuquerque purchased it.
… A prominent Route 66 advocate in New Mexico called the disappearance of neon signs in Tucumcari and elsewhere on the historic road alarming and has proposed an idea to do something about it. Continued

Western Stars Under The Clouds

Nara Visa, New Mexico

Tucumcari Still Burning, Again, Some More

(Sixgun Siding)

(Route 66 News) Fire ravaged the long-closed Paradise Motel in Tucumcari, New Mexico, for the second time in less than six months.

Tucumcari Fire Chief Doug Hogan said the blaze was reported at 3:25 p.m. Wednesday and wasn’t brought until control until about five hours later. Continued

Arson case slated in Tucumcari Motel Fire

The only thing left of Payless is the sign (Sixgun Siding)

(Quay County Sun) A mediation hearing is scheduled for Friday in Albuquerque federal district court in a civil case against Tucumcari city and police officials filed by owners of the Payless Inn, which was destroyed in an arson fire in 2014 started by former Tucumcari police officer Dustin Lopez while he was still on the police force.
Last Thursday, the Tucumcari City Commission approved $25,000 allocation for the deductible portion of the settlement of this case, indicating a settlement might be near.
In the case, Maggie Ventures, L.L.C. of Nevada, the motel’s owner, alleged the city and police department officials improperly hired Lopez despite his known problems with “alcoholism and other disorders.” Continued

Fire at Silver Spur Motel ruled accidental

Photo: Route 66 University

(KFDA) ... Officials say the owner of the motel stepped outside and saw smoke coming from the office building.
When crews arrived at the scene, the office building of the motel had heavy, black smoke pouring out of the east and west ends. Continued

Tucumcari's west end properties focus of environmental cleanup

Tucumcari Truck Terminal (Sixgun Siding)

(Quay County Sun) A small army of government officials, college professors, students and local officials from as far away as Manhattan, Kansas, near Topeka, are focusing talents and expertise on a patch of Tucumcari's west end that includes the city's old Shell Truck Stop.
The area, which also includes two abandoned motels, will be the subject of expert advice on cleaning up environmental hazards, then developing the property through a program called Technical Assistance to Brownfields (TAB), sponsored by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Continued

Motel: Negra, New Mexico

One of the early ones, properly classified as a tourist court.
You can tell by the attached garages.

Tucumcari Still Burning: Fire damages Paradise Motel

Before the fire (Sixgun Siding)

(Route 66 News) Fire heavily damaged the main office building and one room Friday afternoon at the long-closed Paradise Motel on the western edge of Tucumcari, New Mexico.
The fire didn’t damage the motel’s distinctive neon sign, its garage or much of the rest of the complex. But the blaze doesn’t portend well for the motel’s already-grim future. Continued

Tucumcari Motel sign emerges from the ashes

Before the fire (Sixgun Siding)

(Route 66 News) The last time most people saw the old Tucumcari Motel sign near downtown Tucumcari, New Mexico, the long-closed business was destroyed by a suspected arson fire about three years ago.
Because it stood about 20 feet from the building, the fire left the neon sign for the motel unscathed. Locals hauled away the sign a few days after that, and nothing more was heard about it. Continued

Nara Visa, NM: Gateway Courts

Glenrio: State Line Motel

The motel behind the bar needn't be ornate.

Palomino Motel in Tucumcari gets a new owner

Old Palomino sign, photo by John Margolis

(Route 66 News) The Palomino Motel in Tucumcari, New Mexico, quietly underwent an ownership change, and many improvements are planned at the historic Route 66 property in the coming months.
The change in owners was announced in a Facebook post June 30 on the Tucumcari and Quay County Then and Now page. Continued

Horses Welcome

Empty Saddle RV Park, Tucumcari, New Mexico

Roadside Ruins: Nara Visa, NM

66 isn't the only interesting road out there

San Jon Motel

San Jon, New Mexico

Paradise Motel and Cafe: Tucumcari, New Mexico

 

On a family vacation, all day in an un-airconditioned Chevy Bel Air wagon, "seeing America," places like this really were paradise.

Professors rescue design drawings for neon signs on Route 66

Blue Swallow Motel in all its neon glory (Sixgun Siding)

(AP/KFDA) They were just a bunch of old business records belonging to New Mexico's oldest and largest sign-making shop, the last of the manufacturers from neon's midcentury heyday.
No longer needed and deemed a fire hazard, the file drawers were moved outside and placed on pallets under a tree.
Ellen Babcock spotted them during one of her many visits to Zeon Signs as part of her interest in sign-making and the installation of public artwork on unused signs in Albuquerque.
Thanks to her curiosity, she was about to strike gold. Continued

Abandoned Tourist Court: Newkirk, NM