The midpoint of Route 66 is less than 23 miles from the New Mexico border and about 90 minutes from the camping spot I had chosen at Ute Lake State Park. By accident I ended up at the South Side boat launch rather than the organized camping area on the north side of the lake. By the time I realized my mistake, the sun was setting and I really wanted to just settle in and enjoy the colours. I double checked with a couple that were fishing nearby and they assured me, as long as I had paid my fee at the “honesty box”, it wouldn’t matter if I camped here or on the other side. What good fortune, I had the whole place to myself.
And to top it off, there was a strong 5G cell signal. I took advantage of the beautiful surroundings and the strong connection, catching up on work, staying put late into the afternoon. So late in fact that I only covered 70 miles on Tuesday with a short stop in Tucumcari at the Teepee Curios, a fun shop filled with Route 66 souvenirs. Just my luck, they had a flat penny press and I was able to add to my collection. During all of the recent packing and unpacking, I’ve come across several stashes of these. I can’t seem to pass a penny press without stopping.
I spent Tuesday night at the Santa Rosa State park, leaving early on Wednesday headed for the Blue Hole. Not quite as impressive as the one in Belize but still neat to see. As a scuba diver, I was tempted but there didn’t seem to be any all inclusive dive excursions available. I had a Zoom call scheduled for 11am so I burned through a couple dozen miles on I-40 before pulling off at a rest area – my “office du jour”.
Three and a half hours later, while merging back into the truck traffic I had finally become accustomed to, I experienced a terrifying lack of power as Drifter refused to accelerate beyond 40 miles/hour. I pulled to the side of the road, Googling frantically. Waiting for a break in traffic, again I pulled into the right hand lane and attempted to get up to speed, but 40mph was all she could manage. A few forum posts talked about intermittent power issues that seemed to resolve by shutting the motor off and restarting. It was worth a try and much to my relief it worked. But for how long?
At this point, I was 100 miles outside Albuquerque and it seemed prudent to skip my planned stops at the Musical Highway and Owl Rock and make track for an auto parts store. I’d been planning to get a OBD-II scanner and this was probably a good first step. It confirmed that I had a glow plug out, which I had known about but was planning to change when I got to my sisters later in the month. More reading seemed to indicate that the DPF, diesel particulate filter, would be unable to perform it’s regeneration burn if the CEL (check engine light) was on. I’m getting a whole education in vehicular acronyms and mechanical short hand. I did try to buy a fuel filter and and air filter while I was at the auto parts place but alas, they would have had to order one in. No thank you. After 2 hours in their parking lot (it was now just after 6pm and dark) I continued on towards Grants, just south of Chaco Canyon.
When I was planning stops on Tuesday, I thought I might take a day or two and explore the Chaco Canyon area but with everything that was going on mechanically, it didn’t seem like a wise move. So I hunkered down in a Walmart parking lot with my sights on South Lake Tahoe. I still had phone appointments that I had to keep on Thursday but after almost 5 hours in the back lot of the Bowlin’s Bluewater Outpost I hit the road for the first of 2 long driving days.
I covered 400 miles on Thursday from Grants to Kingman, AZ and 550 miles on Friday. Through Las Vegas, past the turn off to Death Valley National Park, along the shore of Walker Lake, with the final 15 miles through the hairpin turns of Kingsbury Grade over the Sierra Nevada’s and down into the Tahoe basin, reaching an elevation of 7,375 feet at Daggett Summit just as the last light faded from the sky. I was racing the weather and I won by seconds. Rain was pelting down when I pulled into my sisters driveway at 5:30 pm and we woke up to snow the next morning.

I will absolutely go back and finish Route 66, probably from the Midpoint, but for now I’ll spend my time on the repairs and upgrades that I want in place before my “house” guest arrives for Christmas. After all, in reality, I have all the time in the world.
What a fabulous adventure Kelly. Congratulations for being so flexible and competent at meeting the challenges of being alone on the road!😍
Great read Kelly! Keep the story rolling!!! J
Love this ❤️❤️❤️
What a wonderful story painter you are! Good for you for givin’ ‘er gas to get ahead of the snow, yay!