Inspired by Route 66
In 1959, when I was nearly four years old, my family went on a road trip from Los Alamos to El Morro and over to Zuni Pueblo. My dad was a backroad kinda guy, but it seems likely that some of that trip was driven on Rt. 66. Interstate 40 was just a dream then. I bet I slept most of the travel time in the old Plymouth as I don’t have much memory of the roads and views from the car. I do remember camping at El Morro and seeing the inscriptions made in the rock by Onate in 1605 and those of other travelers including Native Americans. I remember being told that in 1605 there were no roads at all, and the trail past El Morro was the East/West highway. Until 1937, Rt. 66 ran through Santa Fe and then west over and down La Bajada hill. That part of 66 is still dirt and still there on National Forest land just to the north of Interstate 25. For a few yeas in a row, I accompanied seventh graders from Santa Fe Prep on history hikes on that stretch of old 66 using my two donkeys to pack in their lunches. Before it was 66, that piece of road was the Camino Real from Mexico City to Santa Fe. Many, many donkeys have trod that road. Oh, and it was a Native American trail before that. One of my favorite things about Rt. 66 was the various ploys the roadside businesses would use to attract customers. Lots of great signs, but I think my favorite one was putting some old junk cars on blocks in the parking lot to make it look like a popular place.
Route 66 has now been replaced by Interstate 40, which means that nearly all the cars and trucks that drove on it have gone to the scrap yards. Bringing scrap metal into the form of a new artwork ties the work to the road itself. The form I’m envisioning here is a vehicle that has the front end half of a late ’50s car with the rear built out as a rocket with fins. There will be one or two occupants of this vehicle and they will be made of scrap metal bits and gears. The whole thing will be elevated on a steel post, but not so high as to make getting snapshots with it difficult. I see this as having some bright areas of color mixed with a rust patina. As for inspiration there is just so much to choose from, here’s a sampler: Jim Glaser singing The Lights of Albuquerque (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBvuXz2zPs8), the actual lights of Albuquerque when you come over that hill at dusk, the real sense of adventure that Rt. 66 evoked (you could DRIVE to California), getting a flat fixed in Tucumcari, joking around with Navajos selling fry bread in Gallup, the sort of eternal bleakness of Grants, Central Avenue downtown before the interstate made it into a city street, lowrider culture.