Travels on the Mother Road, Route 66: Part 10, the Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument

At one time, Route 66 extended between Santa Fe and Albuquerque. As far as I can tell, today there are few 66 remains between the two cities. But my Santa Fe friends told me about a spectacular geological place to visit. A short distance northwest of I-25 (which gobbled up much of Route 66) is the Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument, an terrain of rock pinnacles, cones, and narrow canyons. President Bill Clinton established the Monument in January, 2001. It is operated by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), and if you have a National Parks pass, you can access the rocks without additional fee. According to Wikipedia, "Kasha-Katuwe means "white cliffs" in the Pueblo language."

This rugged terrain of weathered spires and pinnacles was created by layers of volcanic rock and ash deposited by pyroclastic flow ("a dense, destructive mass of very hot ash, lava fragments, and gases ejected explosively from a volcano and typically flowing downslope at great speed") from an explosion about 6 or 7 million years ago from the Jemez volcanic field. Since then, weathering (chemical or mechanical deterioration of rock material) and erosion (movement of rock material by water, wind, or ice) of these relatively soft layers has created the canyons and tent rocks. The tent rocks are cones of pumice or tuff upon which a cap of harder rock has remained, almost looking like some giant hand must have balanced it on the cone below.

The pines cling to the rocks with roots reaching down into cracks to find water.

Yes, the Slot Canyon trail goes through this slot.

There are a number of hiking trails. They are not too rugged: you can do them with running shoes. But better not use flip-flops, as some tourists demonstrate (hint: there are rattlesnakes). Wear a wide-brimmed hat and take water. The Slot Canyon trail makes for a nice 3 or 4 hour outing.

 Uchisar, Cappadocia, Turkey (Rolleiflex 3.5E film photograph)

The only other place I know of with similar cones and spires of volcanic tuff and ash is in Cappadocia, in central Anatolia, Turkey. The Goreme area of Cappadocia was settled by early Christians, who carved homes, churches, and entire towns into the soft rock. First visit Kasha-Katuwe, then go to Cappadocia (but I will admit, I did it in the opposite order). Both are astonishing scenic and cultural wonders.

Dear Readers, this is the last of my 2016 Route 66 posts. Thank you for riding along.

From the archives: Vicksburg's Fairground Street Keystone Bridge

Photo taken on 4 ×5" Fujichrome 50 film, 75mm f/8 Super-Angulon lens.

The Fairground Street Bridge crosses over the Kansas City Southern rail yard at the bottom of the hill below Fairground Street and east of Levee Street. The bridge was open when I first moved to Vicksburg in the mid-1980s and was open as late as 1993.

There was, and still is, an abandoned tank farm at the west end of the bridge. In 1990, I went into the grounds with my daughter and we climbed one of the spiral stairs to the top of a tank. I set up my 4x5" Tachihara camera and took some exposures on Fujichrome 50 film. The tanks had open valves and nasty fumes were venting into the air. This must have gone on for years (this is Mississippi, after all). These 1990 photographs show the bridge when it was in much better condition and the access road on the west side had not collapsed. These are resized to 2400 pixels wide, so click to see details.

View east across Fairground Street Bridge, 1990, 75mm f/8 Super-Angulon lens.

My photographer friend in town let me use his Epson V600 scanner to scan the transparencies. The light platter is just wide enough to hold a film holder for 120 film, so even with the 4×5" sheets directly on the glass, about 1 cm is cut off. But I cut off excess sky, so the important parts of the scenes are present. The 16-bit color TIFF files are 220 mbytes each. Later, another generous friend gave me an Epson 3200 Photo scanner with a light cover large enough to cover the complete 4×5" transparencies.

View west along Fairground Street, 2017. A light leak in the Hasselblad film back caused the flare on the left.

Levee Street view north, 1993, 4×5" camera, Fujichrome 50 film.

At one time, the bridge was going to be moved to the Catfish Row park near the Corps of Engineers Jesse Brent Lower Mississippi River Museum (910 Washington Street), but the plan never came to fruition. So it remains at the bottom of Fairground Street, rusting and decaying. Fate unknown.

April 2017 view of the bridge from the south. Kodak Tri-X professional 320 film, Zeiss Planar 80mm lens.

Travels on the Mother Road, Route 66: Part 9, Albuquerque, New Mexico

Dear readers, it is time to complete the story of my 2016 west-to-east excursion on the Mother Road. 

Albuquerque, New Mexico, was always a major stopping point for travelers on Route 66. It was the "big city," with motels, movies, entertainment, groceries, and repair services. Coming in from the west from the Pecos River crossing, Route 66 merged with or became Central Avenue, a major east-west corridor through town. The western outskirts were lined with motels to serve the weary 66 traveler. 

Entering town on Central Avenue, the El Vado was ready to welcome visitors with a comfortable room and a place to park their car. Open since 1936, it had recently closed when I drove by in April of 2016. Had millions really stayed there as per the sign? Regardless, the units looked to be in good condition, so I do not know why they closed. Many of these Route 66 motels were built in Mission Style with tile roofs, protruding timbers, and white painted stucco walls. They were clearly meant to evoke the the "old west" as well as emulate the popular Alamo Plazas, which were America's first motel chain, founded by a Waco, Texas hotelier, Mr. Edgar Lee Torrance. The Mission Revival Style was an architectural movement which was inspired by the late 18th and early 19th century Spanish missions in California.

Other lodgings, like this 21 Motel at 2411 Central Avenue, were still in business, but had a distinctly dive ambience (I passed). 

 

Route 66 continued east into downtown, In my short stopover, it looked like much of the inner core of the city is pretty dumpy, but Central Avenue has been partly revived and gentrified. The merchants were certainly capitalizing on the Route 66 theme.

Some of the stores have spectacular examples of western art (OK, western kitsch) in their architecture.

The famous KiMo Theatre at 423 Central Ave. NW is restored and operational. It was built in 1927 in an extravagant "Art Deco-Pueblo Revival Style" (I did not know such a style existed). As an example of the decorative elements, look at the handsome door handles. The KiMo is a popular site for paranormal investigators. The KiMo is reputed to have a ghost.

Near the KiMo, you see traditional 1920s office blocks interspersed with newer construction. Along Central Ave., they have been cheerfully painted and adorned with plenty of Route 66 signs.

Dear Readers, we will have one more article, and then that will be it for my 2016 trip on the Mother Road. Thank you for reading along. Next road trip: the Mother Road in the Great Plains. And next time, I will use black and white film.

Noses of the Greats: Detroit Iron in Havana

Almost no one can fail to be impressed with the monstrous 1950s American cars trundling around Havana. We forget what exuberant styling, chrome, and just plain mass was built in these examples of the American post-war economic boom. (Of course, many of the bulbous contemporary SUVs that clog American cities and gated McMansion communities have almost as much mass, but they totally lack creative styling and paint schemes; black, gray, and white seem to do it for the contemporary suburban poseur.)

Oops, a Morris. A rare example of old English iron instead.

The majority of older cars we saw in Cuba were Chevrolets and Fords. There were a scattering of Buicks, Edsels, and Chryslers. I was surprised to see almost no Volkswagen Beetles and maybe one Mercedes. Also, I only saw 2 or 3 Peugeots in three weeks. Russian (or Polish?) Ladas were just about the only "modern" cars we saw. By far the worst polluters were old Soviet trucks. Recently, the Cuban government has imported Chinese minibuses for tourist transport, and some of the recent taxis are from Korea.

Her are some of the Fords. Considering Havana is a seaside city, the preservation of the chrome is impressive.

Aha, an Edsel. What a styled machine with its odd vertical radiator grill clashing with the horizontal bezels for the twin headlights. A friend in Massachusetts owned one, and I recall the push-button transmission buttons in the middle of the steering wheel, where most drivers are used to seeing a horn button. Ford had to install a safety interlock system.

A Chrysler 300. I hope it retained its original engine. The blue headlights are a bit odd.

Some of these cars have their original engines. That has become a tourist draw. But because of the 60-year embargo of trade from the USA, Cuban drivers have been innovative about parts and mechanical components. One of those "innovations" was installing 4-cylinder Lada engines in place of the original Detroit engines. From what I could see (and smell), the Lada power plants spewed more emissions than the US engines.

The Buick Eight. These were big bruisers. They would have been perfect for cruising Ike Eisenhower's new Interstate system.

Here are the handsome and roomy 1950s Chevrolets. Back in the 1950s and 1960s, they offered a lot of transportation to young families. That was the brilliance of the General Motors marketing machine: sell them a nice but basic car when they are young, then offer increasingly upscale cars such as Oldsmobile and Buck when they get more prosperous. And ultimately, move them into a Cadillac so that they can demonstrate that they "have made it." The model still works: the grotesque luxury SUV is the contemporary "made it" demonstration device for the pretentious poseur set.

Dear Readers, we have finished our tour of western Cuba and Havana. If any of you are interested in visiting, do it soon, before the commercial interests start building vacation condominiums, erecting nasty fast food restaurants, and pillaging the environment. Maybe the Cuban government can balance development with retention of the best aspects of their nature and culture - I truly hope so. And what if the embargo ends? As Joe Klein wrote in Time Magazine, Dec. 1, 2016:

"The Castros needed the American Satan and its embargo as an excuse for their socialism-induced poverty and martial law. They would never be able to withstand the tide of freedom--and commerce--that would wash over the island." 

Well, that tide may be about to overwhelm.

As of 2017, the Cuban people are gracious and welcoming, travel is easy, food is OK, accommodations variable, and toilets terrible. Don't let any of that scare you, just go and have fun.

These are digital images from my Fuji X-E1 digital camera.

Trinidad, Cuba - an explosion of color

Iglesia Parroquial de la Santísima Trinidad (Church of the Holy Trinity), Plaza Mayor, Trinidad.

I wrote about Trinidad in my previous post. Although the setting worked well with black and white film (like much of Cuba), the tropical colors and brilliant Caribbean light really do justice to color photography. The following vignettes around town are from a Fuji X-E1 digital camera.

Calle Cristo, near the Plaza Mayor.

Hanging around in the evening, Eliope Paz.

Hanging around, and on the phone.

Hanging around, also on the phone

On the way downtown.

More water heading downtown on Santo Domingo.

Avoiding the water on Santo Domingo.

How to avoid the water: drive in a Lada.

We were surprised how wet the streets were in the evening. It was more than puddles but rather gushing streams. Was it from leaking mains? People washing their porches and balconies? We never learned, but it made for wonderful reflections.

The Dulcinea Cafe and Internet shop.

We found an old-fashioned Internet Cafe. This was the type of place with older PCs along a table, and you paid the nice lady at the desk a modest fee for an hour of service. The connection was slow, so I assume it was some sort of dial-up via phone lines. We had no restrictions on email or web pages. I have no idea if this policy applied to tourists only. You could also buy ice cream and pastries.

Quiet in Rosario.

The domino champions. They avoided the running water.

View from the top - the Palacio Cantero

Selfie from the Top.

The tower at the Palacio Cantero was popular with school groups. As I noted before, the school kids wear neat uniforms, they are well-behaved, and are alert and intelligent. Education has certainly been emphasized by the government. If we could do as well in USA....

Trinidad, Cuba - the Perfect Spanish Colonial Town

View from Plaza Santa Ana

Trinidad is one of those impossibly interesting towns if you like old architecture, cobblestone streets, and a sleepy ambience. Lonely Planet said it better than I could:

Trinidad is one-of-a-kind, a perfectly preserved Spanish colonial settlement where the clocks stopped in 1850 and – apart from a zombie invasion of tourists – have yet to restart. Huge sugar fortunes amassed in nearby Valle de los Ingenios during the early 19th century created the illustrious colonial-style mansions bedecked with Italian frescoes, Wedgwood china and French chandeliers.

Calle Santa Ana

We spent a few nights in a Casa Particulare - a private home that takes in visitors. It was Hostel Casa Gil on Eliope Paz (Virgia), near the Plaza Santa Ana. Addresses are a bit confusing because many streets in Trinidad have two names. Is one the one is historic and common name while the other is newer and official? I bet the postman has fun.

As we found in other towns, in late afternoon, people sit out and enjoy each other's company. Social interaction happens out in the streets.

At the Plaza Major.

As Lonely Planet noted, the tourist Zombie invasion was in full force. We did not see many Americans, but saw plenty of Europeans and Canadians. The chubby ladies in the photograph above were Germans.

Calle Santa Ana

Trinidad is a visual treat, and it appears to be resisting the inexorable influence of the developers more successfully than Havana. Still, if you are interested, visit soon.

I took these photographs on Kodak Tri-X 400 film with my Leica M2 rangefinder camera (with 35mm and 50mm Summicron lenses). The film was developed in HC-110 developer and scanned with a Plustek 7600i scanner.