Checking Boxes
000 Visiting Some Icons
Wigwam Motel • Holbrook, AZ • Day Three
Standing on a corner in Winslow Arizona? We did that. Wigwam Motel in Holbrook, AZ? Check. Photograph Blue Swallow Motel in Tucumcari, New Mexico at dusk? MISSED IT BY *THAT* MUCH! We were, after all, just tourists touring Route 66, so we HAD to hit the classic locations, and on Day Three, we hit three of the big ones
Winslow
My hat is off to Winslow Arizona. They capitalized on a line from a classic Eagles’ song and turned THAT corner of Winslow into a bucket list checkbox of sorts. The song Take it Easy plays incessantly in all the shops we visited, as well as on outdoor speakers. I suspected that the wall emblazoned with words “Winslow Arizona” was just a wall, and I was right — it is a free-standing wall. Still cool. The statues of the song’s cowriters, Glen Frey and Jackson Browne were also cool. The sculptor himself was out introducing himself to tourists, posing for photos and up-selling his book. Nice guy. We didn’t bite. There IS a flatbed Ford parked in front for show. There was no girl slowing down to take a look at me or anyone else in our group. She had taste, obviously.
Standing on a Corner • In Winslow, AZ
L-R: Mike Tully, Michael Criswell, Rick Louie, me
We had a great late breakfast at a place probably not coincidently named the Flat Bed Ford Cafe, bought tee shirts at one of the corner gift shops, took a few photos, then hit the road.
Wigwam Motel
Driving through Holbrook on the way to the Wigwam we saw dozens of potential photo stops, but we realize we were burning through the day quickly and had other locations to hit before heading to Tucumcari. We decided to hit the Wigwam, and then shoot what we could on the way out of town. That plan didn’t work. We had so much fun shooting the faux wigwam motel rooms, each staged with an antique car in front, we completely lost track of time. We did photograph a couple of scenes adjacent to the motel, but we had other scheduled stops to hit, so we had to make it quick.
Wigwam Motel • Holbrook, AZ
Great stop. I’d welcome a return visit to Holbrook. Maybe stay in Wigwam.
Blue Swallow Motel
After leaving Holbrook, we spend a relatively short amount of time at a couple of other locations before booking it for Tucumcari. Time really got away from us and we realized still had a five hour drive ahead of us and the sun was sinking fast. It would be tight. Golden hour was fading as we arrived in town, and by the time we got to the Blue Swallow Motel, blue hour was waning. We would have explored different compositions and photographed away as the light changes, but we didn’t. We parked, gathered our gear, grabbed a couple of shots of Blue Swallow and moved on to other nearby targets.
Blue Swallow Motel • Tucumcari, NM
Teepee Curios • Tucumcari, NM
In a perfect world, we would have arrived about an hour earlier. Overall, we were happy with our very productive day.
000 About This Series
From April 12 through April 20, 2025, I was on a Route 66 Photography Adventure (The Trip) with three good friends and like minded photographers. This series is recap of The Trip in stories and images.
All of the images were shot on that historic road or within a couple of miles of it. Neither the images nor stories are necessarily presented in chronological order.
Enjoying the series? Drop a comment.