Sunrises and Junkyards
March 30, 2026 — Day 6
KOA, Tucumcari, NM — Junkyard on 66 Brewery, Grants, NM
Our friend Ann had made awesome waffles when she was visiting a couple weeks ago and made extras for freezer road food. Since we were at a real campground, with a some morning time to spare because we were done with Beast Mode, we had her Waffles for breakfast. They were so good and thanks for making us extras!
Our secret destination is too far away to make it today, it would be our longest day ever, we’re tired and tired of Beast Mode. But this part of NM doesn’t have too many options. The Cracker Barrel in Gallup has reports of panhandlers and people sleeping on the ground next door at the Walmart. Uh, no thank you we’ll pass on that one!
We’ve seen trucks delivering trucks before, but we finally got a good look at the towing mechanism.
The silver truck was also towing another truck.
This train has a locomotive in the middle!
The practice is called Distributed Power, and that mid-train locomotive is known as a Distributed Power Unit (DPU). On long freight routes through mountain terrain, a single locomotive at the front can’t generate enough force to pull the entire train uphill. And one at the back risks pushing cars off the rails on curves. So railroads place engines strategically throughout the train. The DPU doesn’t have the visibility of the lead locomotive or the pushing leverage of the rear—but it delivers benefits that make the whole operation possible. (https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-railroads-put-locomotives-middle-your-should-too-david-homan-kjm8c/)
This train was going really slowly, and just down the track were two different train repair or inspection cars. Here’s one of them. Notice the thing sticking way out in front.
We stopped for gas, and saw some cool Route 66 things. Sorry, about the bugs. Can’t escape it. Big windshield + lots of cows (flys) = Constantly dirty windshield.
Susan was amused by this sign. The Terminal was Terminated!
We were right at a rest area, those are few and far between out here, and it was lunch time so we just pulled it. We got the rig almost leveled and opened a slide so we could have some space and had a lunch. Paul noticed these holes in the ground, some sort of critter lives in them, we didn’t see any heads popping up.
Centennial!
Horses need to sleep, right?
That’s the Aluminum Yucca by Gordon Huether.
Aluminum Yucca was made from salvaged hollow aluminum fuel tanks from F-16 military aircraft. The hollow forms were sliced vertically to resemble the scooped shape of the Datil Yucca leaf, which is native to the area. At night, the sculpture is illuminated by a slow-moving, solar-powered color wheel that recreates the hues of the Albuquerque desert landscape.
The exaggerated scale celebrates the romance and nostalgia of western Road Culture in the 20th century – evident all along Route 66 in wigwam-shaped hotels, five-foot Mexican sombreros and giant cowboy boots. It is located on I-40 in Tijeras Canyon, Route 66 gateway to Albuquerque.
Did we mention we’re not in New England?
Midway through the day Susan checked her email, our reservations for tomorrow we canceled, we guess she never completed the web form. She called them, was making a payment, but it was so noisy Paul found a off/on ramp and Susan got it done in the quiet of a not-moving RV.
We pulled into our Harvest Host destination, the Junkyard on 66 Brewery.
There were 5 rigs there already and we parked with them, put the generator on to run the AC. I mean, it was 90 degrees this morning. We didn’t want to bother people with our noise so we moved to the far side of the parking lot. Maria, who was running the show that night, asked us to move back to where we had been.
It was actually chilly outside, not ice cold, but not 90, it was in the mid-70s and the wind was blowing which made it feel colder than it actually was. We sat down to chat with Maria and get some of their beers. Paul headed back to the RV to turn off the generator and get a hoodie!
This place was a real hoot inside. The tables were made from pickup truck tailgates, I’ll bet they sell more beer because these tables were not flat. The bar was part old truck.
The beer was very good, Susan had an IPA and Paul had an Imperial Stout. We chatted with other RVers until 5 then had dinner. Susan had the pulled pork, Paul had the brisket and both were exceptionally good. (susan here: I think that’s one of the best if not the best I’ve had.) We chatted some more, everybody else there was pulling a 5-wheel or bumper pull, we were the only drivable. And most were starting their first season. We were treated like royalty, Beast Mode seemed impossible to them, until we pointed out that we both drive. We gave them the usual talk, Susan had gotten sick on one trip and Paul had to drive the whole way back, but what if Paul had gotten sick and Susan couldn’t drive back? That really got them thinking.
There were 12 rigs expected this night. You can barely see us in the way back. It’s a big parking lot!
Our view… Yes, the fan on the pole next to the propane tank is welded to an alternator which is charging a car battery on the ground!
Sadly, no refunds on parts.
We were curious and Susan did some duck duck go search the next day. It still is an active junkyard! But I think they make more money on beer and food. They even had a stage set up out back for live music. Oh, and then there was the “secret” room next door.
It was one of the nicer Harvest Host experiences we’ve had. We’re only 6 days out from being on East Coast time so we went to bed when our bodies, not our watches, told us it was time.
Daily: 252 miles
Total: 2,342 miles
Driving miles/Day: 390 miles/day
Overall miles/Day: 390 miles