Grand Canyon Project:
Day Six
Saturday May 13, 2000

We've gone 1527 miles!

Click on a picture to view it larger - Rick

We stayed in the Blue Swallow Motel in Tucumcari, NM. It is Jane's favorite motel because she had studio space in a garage next to our room. She worked on one piece inspired by the Blue Swallow and the abandoned gas station we'd seen the day before. Meanwhile, Amy blow-dried dirt samples for one of her pieces. We both loved the motel's turquoise and pink color scheme that matched the sky.

There was an abrupt change in the landscape as soon as we left Texas and entered New Mexico. The earth in Texas curved up to the sky like an upside down bowl and there were small trees, but in New Mexico it was if the bowl had been turned over, with mesas jutting up into the sky. The old path of Route 66 was different, too. It was very difficult to find sections that were in good enough shape for us to drive on.

One of the things we'd hoped to do during our trip was to find a local newspaper in each state to photograph us with the banner in their town and print it. They would also send a copy of the paper for the children at Patchwork to read.  Newspapers from Oklahoma and Texas took us up on our offer, but unfortunately the office we stopped at in New Mexico declined us and missed its opportunity.

We forgot our disappointment at the newspaper office when we got to Tinkertown, near Albuquerque, NM. Tinkertown is the 40-year project of Carla and Ross Ward. It features walls made of glass bottles and hand-carved figures arranged in scenes that come alive at the push of a button. Their motto is "We did all this while you were watching TV." It was overwhelming and inspiring. They knew immediately by our unbridled enthusiasm in the gift shop that we were "The Travelers" who'd written to them last week about our upcoming visit. They ushered us into the museum and even gave us quarters to use in the displays.