Good People:
A gentleman I scout with is driving back from Tucson (U of A) with his daughter (so to be sophomore) and is making a road trip of it thru the SW on the way back to the KC metro. Gallup is apparently a logical stop relative to the route and other sights.
Re Gallup specifically:
Things to see?
Places to stay?
Places to eat?
Places to shop?
Places to avoid etc.?
Feel free to post in the thread and/or pm.
Thx in advance.
I am not your attorney. I am not giving legal advice. Any and all opinions expressed are personal and my own and are not those of any employer-past, present or future.
Specific to Gallup, had a one night stay there on a road trip awhile back. We enjoyed our stay at the El Rancho:Originally Posted by vcdgrips
The Navajo Code Talker museum was closed for Covid restrictions but was at least worth a stop for the memorial statue:
Not Gallup but depending on his route the ghost town at Shakespeare, NM was cool and our way back from Tucson:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shakespeare,_New_Mexico
no one sees what's written on the spine of his own autobiography.
It’s been awhile since I’ve been through Gallup. I just remember it being a hole. If it was me I’d stay in Holbrook, and get up early to make up the time the next day. IIRC my wife has a friend who teaches/lives there. I see if she can reach out and ask those questions.
ETA are they taking SR77 from Tucson to Globe and the 60 to I-40 or the I-10 route? The 77 and 60 takes you through some Arizona scenery.
I’d say a stop at the Painted Desert park is mandatory if you’re going that route.
Last edited by Coyotesfan97; 04-13-2023 at 04:32 PM.
Just a dog chauffeur that used to hold the dumb end of the leash.
Based on a mention of the painted desert, I strongly suspect SR77 to US 60 to I-40 to Tucumcari. IDK if the go US54 the rest of the way or I-40 across and hit OKC etc.
I am not your attorney. I am not giving legal advice. Any and all opinions expressed are personal and my own and are not those of any employer-past, present or future.
Mrs CF hasn’t talked to her friend in Gallup for a long time but she did say I thought Gallup was an armpit when I asked her.
Just a dog chauffeur that used to hold the dumb end of the leash.
Best friend and roomate from college was from there. Several current friends are from there. Go through there 3-4 times a year to see the inlaws in PHX.
It is a shithole. Literally a place we stop for potty breaks...but the Code Talker Museum is very interesting, since we have, like, only a few left...
About a dozen according to a 2021 USO article....
pat
Last edited by UNM1136; 04-13-2023 at 11:02 PM.
I’ve been to and through NM many times, but have never stopped in. Maybe for gas once? I don’t recall anything particularly noteworthy about Gallup, to be honest.
Pains me to say this as another NM native, but yeah - Gallup is someplace to avoid IMHO. Friends who were born & raised there all say the same thing.
The last time I stopped there for anything other than gas & toilets was a heck of an interesting MUC-athon experience, in all the wrong ways.
Our tow rig had blown its transmission, and we were stuck overnight waiting for parts to literally rebuild it in the hotel parking lot. As the afternoon turned into the evening we started getting really random lookie-loos because of the really attention-grabbing race livery on the trailer and truck.
Almost all of them seemed drunk or on drugs, and usually were babbling unintelligible nonsense. It'd take 5-10mins to convince them something more interesting was happening up the street or otherwise get them to move on.
By 10pm it was basically The Walking Dead. One of us had to stand watch so the drunk weirdos didn't start trying to get in our truck, or our trailer, or come up and babble nonsense to us. Around 2am, as I'm talking to 5-6 of these 'zombies' trying to get them to shuffle off, a totally unmarked and beat-to-hell Chevy 2500 long wheelbase van pulls into the lot. A linebacker-sized Native dude gets out. 1 of the 'zombies' says the first intelligible phrase of the night 'muh ride is here'. Two others just start shuffling toward the van. The huge native dude grabs the other three by the collar and beltline, one at a time, and literally hauls them into the van and throws them in the back of the van. The talker and the other two walking toward the van were allowed to just get in the van. Inside of the van was bare with a rubber mat except for the driver's seat, which was walled-off like an armored car.
Then without a word from the big native dude, the van drove off and we were left wondering WTF had just happened.
We got to a stopping point, locked everything up, and slept. One of us slept in the truck. When we got down there at 8am with McDumpsters breakfast sandwiches, he was up and trying to coax some passed-out drunk guy out of the bed of the truck. We later learned that hotel was pretty close to most of the bars and liquor stores in town.
So yeah, stop and see the Code Talker Museum if it's open. But don't stay the night.
That is a legendary post!
Welcome to Gallup
It sounds like that van was picking up drunks to take to the detox center.
“The CSA officers, non-certified police officers, pick up “inebriates” and take them into protective custody. In New Mexico, public intoxication is not a crime. But state law allows law enforcement to take individuals into protective custody if they appear incapacitated, under the influence of drugs or alcohol, unable to care for themselves, or may be harmful to themselves or others. Protective custody also means individuals are not arrested, but transported to a treatment facility where they can be held up to 72 hours.”
Just a dog chauffeur that used to hold the dumb end of the leash.
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