New Mexico Route 66 - Tucumcari

TUCUMCARI, NEW MEXICO. Opened in 1942, the Blue Swallow Motel is stunning 1940's Americana, with its wonderful neon sign and tourist court garages. The most famous Blue Swallow owners, Lillian and Floyd Redman, purchased the motel in 1958, and Lillian became one of the legends of Route 66 by running the business for the next 50 years. (Floyd died in 1973.) She made an awful lot of 66 friends in those years, and ran a successful operation even after the interstate bypassed the old road through town. I have no images of Lillian, of course, as I was a prisoner in my office and buried in paperwork throughout the 90's.