One Dusty Track

If you follow the pre-1937 route of Route 66 south of Albuquerque, you will pass through sparsely beautiful country with a number of old towns and pueblo's. Past Los Pallidas, Isleta, Isleta Pueblo and Bosque Farms, you will come to the town of Los Lunas, home to almost 25,000 people. There are a few Route 66 reminders along here, but nothing really of note. However, just a few miles west of town, you will enter the Rio Puerco Valley. Famous in archaeological circles for being home to more than 10,000 historical sites dating back to the Puebloan cultures of the ancient Anasazi Indians, it also contains more than 50 volcanoes, one of which is Cabezon Peak which climbs to 8,000 feet high.

The Mystery Stone

Just 18 miles beyond Los Lunas on the western side of the Rio Grande River is New Mexico's Mystery Stone. Also referred to as Inscription Rock, it is an ancient petroglyph which has cast doubt on whether Christopher Columbus or the Norse were actually the first explorers in America. Although nobody could read the words on it at that time, the local Indians back in the mid-1800's claimed the rock had been there since before their ancestors came to the area hundreds of years before. The name of the mountain had been handed down to them from the ancient one's - "Mystery Mountain."

The rock is located on what the locals still call Mystery Mountain or Hidden Mountain as it is named on some maps. Near the bottom of the 5,500 foot hill on the right side of a mound of lava is a large, flat-faced boulder weighing approximately 100 tons. Nine rows of characters or letters resembling ancient Phoenician script are chiseled into the north face of the boulder. Some of the symbols have eroded away due to the effects of weather and water rushing past the boulder which attests to the age of the writing. How it got there is anybody's guess, but it certainly wasn't carried there. Nobody has any idea who inscribed the letters or why it is where it is.

Most scholars agree that Stan Fox, a linguist and Bible expert from England made the most accurate and complete translation of the rock in 1999. According to his interpretation, it is an ancient version of the Ten Commandments and reads:

"I am Jehovah your God who has taken you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of slaves. There must be no other gods before my face. You must not make any idol. You must not take the name of Jehovah in vain. Remember the sabbath day and keep it holy. Honour your father and your mother so that your days may be long in the land that Jehovah your God has given to you. You must not murder. You must not commit adultery. You must not steal. You must not give a false witness against your neighbour. You must not desire the wife of your neighbor nor anything that is his."

Another interesting mystery is that on the south rim of the summit at the highest point of Mystery Mountain is another stone with "YHWH Eloheynu" inscribed on it. More Hebrew script meaning "God our mighty one." And on the eastern rim of the summit are symbols which, according to the positioning of the stars and constellations, have been interpreted to be describing a solar eclipse which occurred in 584 BC. That sure seems to be a bit before Columbus sailed the ocean blue in 1492!

Who were these people and what were they doing in this remote location in what today is New Mexico? Just one more of the world's many mystery's.

Go to the first Route 66 entry here.

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Cline's Corners

For almost 80 years, Cline's Corners has been pumping gas, selling souvenirs and feeding travelers. But where its at now isn't where its always been. Roy Cline first opened in Lucy, New Mexico, but soon picked up the building and moved it to the junction of Highway 6 and Highway 2 along the original layout of Route 66. Then in 1937. Route 66 was realigned north of his business so Roy simply picked up his building again and moved it to it's current location. It sat way out in the middle of nowhere and did a brisk business because of it. In the early years, Cline's Corners sold gasoline for 10 cents a gallon and water for $1 a gallon because water was much harder to come by than gasoline. It is still in the middle of nowhere with no above ground water to be seen for miles, but somebody had a sense of humor when they named the road in front of Cline's Corners "Yacht Club Dr."

Youngest-daughter shopping at Cline's Corners - she had fun.

High-heel Shoe Tree

Sometimes things you come across on little side roads can add to the pleasure of a good road trip. After making our way west beyond Cline's Corners, past a number of ghost towns and near ghosts, we came to the city of Albuquerque. After gassing up and grabbing a meal at one of the local Mexican food places (and no, it wasn't the same thing!), we drove a few blocks off Route 66 to see one of those interesting, odd little things - The High Heeled Shoe Tree. Located at 299 Gallup Ave, the "shoe tree" is in front of a private residence, the home of an artist and the creator of the shoe tree. The piece consists solely of dozens of pairs of lady's high heeled shoes nailed from bottom to top of a telephone pole. The whole outside of the well-kept home is covered in strange things, such as flower beds enclosed by bowling balls (some with railroad spikes embedded in them, others with no spikes) or half-buried bottles of different colors; a huge ball of colored cloth strips, a home-made telescope made of cast-off wood and various other objects; bleached animal skulls and sculpted wire figures.

While we were there, we were fortunate enough to have the lady of the house drive up after getting groceries. I spoke to her for a couple of minutes and found her to be very nice and charming. She said she didn't mind at all if I took pictures - "If we didn't want people to stop and see, we wouldn't have put all of this outside!" When I asked her where the idea's come from, she just smiled and said, "From the mind!" "Sorry, but I gotta get these groceries in. Take your time and enjoy!" And with that, she bounded up the steps and disappeared inside.

High-heel shoe tree

That type of stuff doesn't flow from MY mind, but I sure do find it interesting. It took a while before we were able to pull ourselves away from this weird, but engaging display. Eventually though, we made our way back to Route 66 and continued our journey west toward a sad story in Budville and a really interesting mystery stone in Rio Puerco.