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Glenrio Glenrio was mentioned in the previous post and I came to the realization that of all the ghost towns that I have been to this tiny town along an abandoned section of Route 66, straddling the Texas-New Mexico border, is probably the most complete example of abandoned roadside architecture in its natural state of slow decomposition. Glenrio was a town that existed because the road was there and ceased to exist when the road was gone. This link from the National Park Service gives a much better summary of Glenrio's history than I ever could. https://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/route66/glenrio_historic_district.html My two visits to Glenrio where of two extremes. The first time was in the month of May and it was pouring rain. The old dirt road to the west was a slippery mess and would have been impassable without four wheel drive. I mean it was off the road, slide into a ditch, impassable. At various time I could feel the back tires of my 4x4 lose traction, or sometimes it was the front, and there were brief moments of panic when both would lose traction and my truck felt like it wanted to swap ends before regaining traction and straightening out. The mud that splashed up along the running boards, into the wheel wells, and throughout the undercarriage might have been slippery to drive on but it hardened into concrete. Ten dollars in tokens later at a truck wash in Santa Fe and I got most of it off. Even today, 4 years later, my drive shaft and rear axle are stained with the color of the New Mexico mud, which my truck wears with pride. In the town the skies were dark on that first visit and the air was quiet except for the sound of the raindrops ricocheting off the asphalt and soaking my pants below the knee. It wasn't hard to imagine a 54' Chevy Coupe from Texas pulling into the newly built Texaco station for a fill up, it's wipers leaving streaks along the windshield. The driver, perhaps a traveling businessman on his way west with a load of his product in the trunk, might stop at the Longhorn Cafe for a bite to eat and to wait out the storm before getting back on the road headed towards Albuquerque, or Gallup, or maybe even Los Angeles. My second time through Glenrio was 4 months later in late August and the feeling couldn't have been more different. The air was already stifling even at the early hour of 9:00 am. I grabbed my water bottle and camera and began walking the 4/10 mile length of the town working up a sweat in the process. Broyles Gas Station, the Longhorn Motel, the State Line Bar all looked like they longed to have the clock turned back to before that morning in 1975 when the barriers were removed and traffic was now riding on the brand spankin' new interstate, bypassing the town. It was hard to imagine anyone ever living there. State Line Motel and Cafe Broyles Gas Station. The wood and adobe building was built in 1925 as a Mobil Gasoline franchise. The Little Juarez Cafe. The Art Moderne-style diner was built in 1952 and remained opened until the town was bypassed in 1975. A 1968 Pontiac Bonneville waits for a fill up at the Glenrio Texaco station next to the Little Juarez Café on the Texas side of town. Roadhound http:\\rick-pisio.pixels.com

MGA707, I have a few photos from Glenrio that can be seen HERE. A true Interstate Ghost Town. It's definitely worth a stop and a quick look around if you pass through the area again. Be careful though, there is one residence on the east end of the town that does have dogs. Made me think twice about poking around too much. Rick

Exit O Along Interstate 40, at the state line between Texas and New Mexico, sits "Exit 0." On the south side of the Interstate sits the Route 66 ghost town of Glenrio but at the exit itself there are 2 abandoned service stations on the Texas side of the state line. It was 1980 when the Interstate bypassed Glenrio and shifted traffic north of the town. It is also likely that sometime around that time period that the two service stations were built. Not sure when they serviced their last customers but today they are left abandoned and exposed to the elements. Abandoned Standard\Chevron station in Glenrio, Texas Pump islands at the abandoned Standard\Chevron station in Glenrio, Texas. Wild sunflowers at the site of an abandoned Texaco station in Glenrio, Texas. Abandoned Texaco station in Glenrio, Texas. Roadhound http://rick-pisio.pixels.com

Lots of interesting tidbits to be found in that link. Thanks Dave

Michael, Congratulations on your election victory! Rick

Slots Motel, Schellbourne, Nevada The only scenario that I can see where I would consider stopping at a place like this when it was functioning as a motel would be because all the motels in Ely were full and no rooms were available in McGill either. It's getting late as you drive through the darkness northbound on US93 towards Wendover, kids asleep in the backseat, and your looking for anywhere possible to sleep. Your wary when you find a motel in the middle of a dark desert landscape but the 6 room motel with the roadhouse next door will have to do. Wendover was still at least an hour down the road, if not more. It was one step above pulling onto the side of the highway and sleeping in the car. And what's with wooden railings in front of the rooms? Did they think I was going to hitch my car to it? All it did was make it impossible to back the station wagon up in front of the room and do a straight in unload. We were back on the road before the sun was up. Unfortunately, I don't know much about the life and times of what finally ended up being called the Slots Motel. It is located in Schellbourne, Nevada, where the Tippets Route of the Lincoln Higway\Pony Express Trail intersects with US 93. I do have vague recollections of it looking open on either my 2007 or 2011 trip through that are but neither the 2006 or the 2011 google images show any cars in the parking lot. We didn't explore it either time. To me it looks like a motel that could have been built in the 70's, or thereabouts. There were still some fixtures in a couple of the rooms but most of them had been vandalized with at least broken windows and doors off the hinges. One room was filled with mattresses and a few of the others had mattresses leaning against the wall. Looking through the screen door of the building to the left I could see a bar just inside the door but not much behond that. I didn't enter the building. It may have had a dining room of some sort, probably a few gambling machines or even a small casino. Photos taken Sept 2018 Roadhound http://rick-pisio.pixels.com

Sometimes you get to see the change as it is occurring. Wells Nevada was once a railroad stop, a town along the Victory Highway, a stop for the night along the US 40, and now a gas stop along Interstate 80 before driving to Elko or Wendover for the night. Prior to the earthquake on February 21st, 2008 the row of storefronts along 7th St that dated back to the time of the Transcontinental Railroad were a premier example of western railroad towns. In 2007, when the photo below was taken, many of the shops were still open. In the case of the Meat Market it wasn't open but still had meat grinders and slicers on the countertop with the meat cases still in place. Wells Nevada, July 2007 When the earthquake hit it damaged nearly all of the historic buildings to the point that they could not be repaired and had to be torn down. When I visited again in Sept of 2018 the row of stores along 7th St. was completely gone. Photo below was taken at approximately the same location as the 2007 photo. Wells Nevada, Sept. 2018 The smoke in the background? Another building gone forever. The building was next to the El Rancho Hotel on Lake Ave. The firemen didn't even try to stop it from burning, only making sure that it didn't spread any further. I'm not sure what the building was built for originally, or used for prior to burning, but it certainly looked old. Image is from Google Earth. Roadhound http://rick-pisio.pixels.com

Hutchman, Thanks for pitching in. I wonder if that Shell station was ever that clean while it was in use? Back in my past I often had to travel to Chicago for business, specifically the Skokie area, but unfortunately it was before I knew much about road history or Route 66. Before one of the last trips to Chicago I picked up the "Route 66 Traveler's Guide" by Tom Snyder at the newstand before boarding the plane and the spark was lit. All the weekends that I was stuck in Skokie and could have been out exploring Illinois if I had only known. The Motel in Durkee is one of those I always hope to find while traveling along the road. Such character in the design and what time has done to it over the years. I hope it sticks around long enough for me to find it. Dave, I though you might appreciate that note from Betty. It was a first and certainly a welcome surprise to me. Rick

Thanks mga707. Of the half dozen or so times that I have been to Death Valley I have always approached from the west side and never made it as far east as Death Valley Junction. Looks like it is worth checking out. Rick

The Henning Motel in Newberry Springs Whenever I am exploring an abandoned piece of property I always wonder what life was like for the people that used to live there, like I am sure a lot of us do. Sometimes I leave with an impression based on something I've read or knowledge I might have but more often than not I leave with nothing more than a few photos of what a place looks like at the time. The rest is a mystery. The photo below was taken in November 2009 on a journey to the Mojave Desert. The Henning Motel was located in Newberry Springs which is roughly 20 miles east of Barstow along Route 66. It was a crisp November morning when we stopped, looked around, and took some photos before continuing east. When I got home I edited the photo and posted it on my website. On a trip along the same route a few years later I noticed that the building had been razed. This morning I got an email in my inbox that made me glad I took the photo when I did. Now I have a glimpse of what life was like when the Henning Motel was in its prime. Roadhound http://rick-pisio.pixels.com

A few months back I was planning for a road trip through Nevada and was researching the Golcanda Summit and found this thread. I had recalled a challenge that was placed by Keep the Show on the Road back when this topic was originated and contacted him to see if the the prize had been claimed. I was amazed to find that in 11 years no one had claimed the prize. It was with great anticipation that I left Interstate 80 at the Golcanda exit and backtracked to the summit. Reaching the summit I drove through the cut, turned my truck around, put it in park, and hiked to the top of the cut to get the classic Stewart shot. Surveying the area from above I picked out the likely spot of the old fencepost and made my way down the hill. Finding a fence post at the expected location I did a sweep of the area to make sure that it was the only one around. Seeing no other fence posts in a 20 foot radius I knew the odds were high that I had found the right post and that in a minute I would be taking a selfie to prove that I had found the treasure. My confidence level was high as I cautiously grabbed one side of the post and gave it a quick flip exposing the bare earth underneath. Nothing but dirt. Had somebody beat me to it in the preceeding 11 years and failed to report their find? Had rodents found the crisp piece of cotton and linen and used it as nesting material? I suppose we will never know and the prize money, such as it was, will remain in Keep the Show on the Road!'s pocket. Roadhound http://rick-pisio.pixels.com

Hamilton, Nevada For a few short years Hamilton was the prominent mining town in Nevada's White Pine County until the ore ran out. Founded in 1868 the town was already in a state of decline when most of it was destroyed in 1873 by a fire that was intentionally set to collect the insurance money. Hamilton hung on after the fire as its population declined and for first couple of years of the Lincoln Highway it was a place to stop before a bypass was cut over Antelope Summit 10 miles to the north. The Hamilton Post Office finally closed in 1931. Today, piles of brick, scraps of tin scattered in the sage brush, and a few remnants of brick walls are all that remains of the original boomtown. The State of Nevada promotes the path from US 50 at Ilipah to Hamilton as a scenic drive and is well worth it if you don't mind a little bit of dust on your tires. The road is easily passable by a passenger vehicle during good weather but a high clearance vehicle is recommended during rainy season when the dirt & gravel road is wet. The road is closed during the winter months. Since my previous visit to Hamilton in 2007 there has been a noticeable decline in the number of free standing rock and brick walls. Back then there were a few archways plus some almost complete walls still standing. Today most of those structures have all collapsed. There is a 1950's era, maybe 1960's, mining operation set up at the southern end of town with a steel shed that is still standing but it too has been vandalized with doors ripped open and bullet holes in the steel walls. Photo from Ghost Towns: How They Were Born, How They Lived, and How They Died by Tom Robotham (Running Press, 1993) gives an idea of what the main street in Hamilton once looked like. This photo of the remains Whitington Hotel was taken in July of 2007 during my first visit. 2018 view of the Whitington Hotel from approximately the same position as 2007. One of the few remaining walls along the main street that is still standing. Piles of bricks where a building once stood. Roadhound htttp://rick-pisio.pixels.com

Carrol Station On my first, and only previous, drive on Nevada Highway 722, eleven years ago, I passed by Carrol Station without even seeing it. I was looking for a spot on the actual summit when in fact the building at Carrol Station lies east of the summit by about 3 miles. I'm not sure if it was the foliage surrounding it or I was distracted by the road itself but I totally missed it. This time around I made sure to have the GPS coordinates locked in and my eyes open. There's not a lot of history to be found regarding Carrol Summit other than it was once a Texaco station and also the local watering hole for the nearby mines, which were not very successful. One report speculated that in the early days of auto travel it would have been a good place to stop after the long climb over Carrol Summit when heading east and also a good place to stop and let the engine cool before the final 600 foot climb to the summit when heading west. The station itself likely didn't last much past the re-alignment of US 50 that took place in 1962. It's difficult to imagine a gas station staying profitable when the highway traffic has be rerouted 23 miles to the north. Today the Texaco colors have faded and, all the window glass and doors are missing. Many of the floorboards are missing and interior walls have been stripped away. I always like to check the condition of the roof as once that protection is gone the degradation of the building itself seems to accelerate. In this case the shingles on the roof are mostly still present but extremely worn and crumbling. Undated photo of the Texaco Station at Carrol Station (photo from http://www.onlinenevada.org/articles/highway-50-carroll-station) Approaching Carrol Station from the west. Carrol Station Texaco with concrete sign foundation. No sign of the gas island. Roadhound http:\\rick-pisio.pixels.com http:\\www.rwphotos.com

Dave, I'm very sorry to hear about your wife's health and hope that it improves soon so that The Rose can get back on the road. The house at Eastgate is still standing and it looks to be in good repair. I'm not sure if it is occupied but it does look like there has been recent work done inside, although I couldn't tell how recently. Roadhound

Eastgate Station Today Eastgate Station sits on Nevada Highway 722 and between about 1924 and 1962 was the route of the Lincoln Highway and US 50 through the area. In 1962 US 50 was re-routed to the north through New Pass and Cold Springs, bypassing Eastgate. Keep the Show on the Road! had previously posted some excellent historic photos of this site in the Lincoln Highway forum. https://www.americanroadmagazine.com/forum/topic/1116-rediscovered-lincoln-highway-gas-station-in-nevada/?tab=comments#comment-12491 I have been to this site twice now with an 11 year span between visits. On my most recent visit in Sept 2018 the building looked about the same as it had on my previous visit with the exception of the roof. However, on my previous visit the shingles were, for the most part, intact. This picture by Russel Rein was scanned from Brian Butko's "Greetings From the Lincoln Highway" and looks to be from the late 50's. Today the form of the building is recognizable, the slope of the terrain has been altered, the gas pumps are long gone, and the shingles have departed the roof but the flagpole still remains. Roadhound http://rick-pisio.pixels.com

Nice ride Hutchman, but those tires have to much shine on them. You need to get off the highway and get a little bit of dust and dirt on them. Rick

Hazen Market along US 50A in Nevada I was traveling east on the Reno Highway, US 50-A, having just passed through Fernley headed towards Fallon and points east when my eye caught the Hazen Market sitting on the north side of the highway. The building looked to be no longer in use but in good shape overall with the exception of some weathering on the facade. After taking a few pictures I moved on, postponing any research on the building until after returning home. The information found on Wikepedia is fairly basic: "The Hazen Store is a small complex of buildings in Hazen, Nevada, listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The store provided a stopping point in a remote portion of U.S. Route 50 and served as a focal point in the small town of Hazen. The store was built in 1944 to replace an earlier store that was demolished to make way for a realignment of Route 50.[2] The property comprises the main store, a garage, and a bunkhouse formerly used by the Southern Pacific Railroad. The central portion of the structure dates to about 1904, operating at a different location as a saloon called Shorty's Bar until it was relocated in 1944.[2] The Hazen Store was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on January 28, 2002, as an illustration of a commercial property on the Reno Highway" I also found this article from the Lincoln Highway News from 2008 that shows the building all shined up and looking for new occupants. https://lincolnhighwaynews.com/2008/07/15/road-changes-close-classic-hazen-market-in-nv/ Hazen Market along US-50A in Hazen, Nevada Building that I assume to be the garage mentioned in the Wikipedia article Gas pump in front of the Hazen Market It's a shame that after 70 years of business the Hazen Market has sat idle for the last 10 watching watching the traffic pass it by. Roadhound http://rick-pisio.pixels.com

Thank You mga707, my proofreader and fact checker must have been distracted. And yes, I agree, the entire park is a wonderful place.

That is great info Dave. My road trip to that area is still off a bit in the future, and a bit fluid in regards to timing, so I still have time to research the routes and locations. The White River Falls area looks very interesting and hiking down to the power plant looks worthwhile. Thanks! One unusual thing I did notice was east of Grass Valley off of Hwy 97. That's a nice looking road course out in the middle of nowhere. Build it and they will drive?

Dave, That is outstanding and exactly what I had in mind. If one picture is worth a thousand words then your sense of history and skillful writing multiplies that by at least a factor of 10. I can see the scene exactly as you describe it. The photo itself has such depth with the wide open desert surrounding it and Mt. Hood standing tall behind it. The structure looks forlorn and forgotten, the echoes of laughter, fiddles, and accordions long since faded away. It's also very timely that you would choose that location and subject. I have been researching and planning a trip to that area in the (hopefully) not to distant future and finding this building would be an objective of that trip. I hope that the building is still standing for me to find. Rick

Perhaps a glimmer of hope for the Painted Desert Trading Post. http://www.route66news.com/2018/04/08/group-buys-painted-desert-trading-post/ 

I would like to start a thread that captures those buildings along the roadside whose days of glory are in the past and now wait for time to take it's ultimate toll. During my road trip travels I am always on the lookout for those buildings that were once part of the road trip experience but are now likely relegated to a distant memories of road trips past. Whenever I pass through a small town, or along what was once the major thoroughfare through an area that is now bypassed by the Interstate, I always keep an eye out for that former gas station, diner, or motel. Sometimes they have been repurposed to fulfill another roll, others are in a state of suspended animation, but many times they are abandoned likely to never be a stop along the highway again. In the 15 or so years that I have taken an active interest in the history of the American road I have had the opportunity to visit sites multiple times seperated by a few years and have witnessed the accelerated decay of some of these buildings, some are even gone completely. The "Kamp"ground office at Two Guns is an example that comes to mind. Each time I pass through that area east of Flagstaff I pull off the Interstate and take a look. Each time there is more grafitti, less of the buildings siding intact, and more of the interior exposed to the elements. I'm sure there are many more examples out there and I hope you will share some of what you've seen. https://fineartamerica.com/featured/painted-desert-trading-post-at-sunset-rick-pisio.html I'll start with an iconic building that I have attempted to reach 3 times, once successfully, but don't expect to see the next time I pass through Arizona. The Painted Desert Trading Post stands in the middle of nowhere, east of Painted Desert National Park, and nearly inaccessible. The section of Route 66 that this building sits on was bypassed sometime in the 50's and like many Route 66 buildings that lost traffic to the Interstate it eventually was abandoned. It has survived the 70 or so years since it last saw customers only because of its remoteness. Time and the elements have taken their toll however. When I was last there the east side of the building has started to slip, the stucco was flaking off, parts of the walls are gone, massive cracks are present in the foundation, and you can see the sky through the roof. There may be hope for the old gal yet. As I was writing the draft for this post I was looking online for some information and came across this article. It would appear that a group has purchased the land and the building with an eye to preserving the structure. I wish them the best of luck! http://www.route66news.com/2018/04/08/group-buys-painted-desert-trading-post/ Roadhound

Gee Hutchman, thanks a lot. I mean seriously. You had to bump it up. I was all set for my usual Friday routine of paying my bills and editing a few photos but thanks to you I instead spent the last 3 hours doing google searches of the Oregon Trail, placing pins in Google Earth for every interesting location I can find, planning a route there and back, estimating miles and expenses for 3 different route scenarios, and determining if this will be a solo trip or I if I will be able to convince a traveling companion to come along. Later I am going to have to figure out how much marital capital I am willing to expend to make it happen. I hope your happy with yourself. (/sarcasm) 😉 Sarcasm aside, this post inspired me. Oregon Trail has been on the back burner for a long time and its high time that I push it a litle higher on the destination list. I've traveled western sections of the Pony Express and Transcontinental Railroad and I think the Oregon Trail would complete the holy trinity of pre-automobile western migration routes that haven't been completely covered in asphalt. While I've got you here, can you recommend a good, informative, and entertaining book on the topic? Also, I'm glad you took your grandson along. I'm certain it will be a time that he treasures later on in life. Roadhound

Dave, a few weeks back I was doing the research for a road trip I was planning across Nevada. As I traced my way westward on I-80 using Google Earth I came to a pin that I had placed a number of years ago on Golcanda Summit and recalled a challenge that had been issued on the ARM Form regarding that spot. Not recalling the details I began searching the ARM Forum and after finding what I was looking for spent the next few hours reading all the various threads and postings. So much road information captured there. I was an early adopter of Facebook, back when it had a "the" at the front of its name, but recent revelations have turned me sour to the whole idea and I deleted my account at the end of last year. Facebook is fine if you want to share a photo of what you're eating for dinner or find out if an old girlfriend got fat, but it is not a good repository for information. Basically, it's 1.5 billion narcissists screaming "look at me." I've lost a few real world friends because of Facebook. What the ARM Forum provides is a record of history. It is a bit sad to see the way that usage dropped off, and yes, I was part of the problem, but I hope that as people begin to realize the downside and limitations of Facebook they will come to the realization that a topical forum, especially one as well organized as ARM is, is a better way of sharing specific information and preserving it in a way that others can benefit from it in the future. Rick

Hutchman, I hope you get the chance to visit Death Valley sometime soon. I've been there 7 times that I can recall and each is a unique experience. You wouldn't think that a place that appears to be so desolate would have so much to see, much of which is within reach of the asphalt and even more if you're willing to get onto the dirt. One of my most memorable experiences was a solo camping trip to the Racetrack Valley. During the course of the day I only saw 3 vehicles pass through and at night it was quite possible that I was only living soul, or at least one of only a handful, in a 20 mile radius. Roadhound