Blue Swallow Motel acquires new owners May 12, 2011
Posted by Ron Warnick in Motels.8 comments
The historic Blue Swallow Motel in Tucumcari, N.M., has been sold to a couple from Michigan who will take over full operations on July 1.
Kevin and Nancy Mueller of Brighton, Mich., came to an agreement in principle with previous owners Bill Kinder and Terri Anderson in early April, and closed the deal later that month.
The Muellers will move to Tucumcari on June 20, where Kinder and Anderson will show them the ropes of the operation until the handover on July 1. The Blue Swallow Motel will continue to be open until that time.
Kinder said he and his wife will move to western Arizona, near the border town of Laughlin, Nev. Bill and Terri bought the Blue Swallow in 2006 and greatly improved the motel’s revenue and occupancy rates. However, Bill has been battling cancer in recent years, and those health issues prompted him to put the business up for sale last year.
“We’re going to miss it,” Kinder said. “We’ve met a lot of good friends during our time here.”
Kevin Mueller was employed for 20 years at Valvoline until the Michigan economy cratered and he lost his job. Nancy, who has a background in business and music, lost her job as in the real-estate field not long after that.
Unemployment, Kevin said during a phone interview, led to a lot of soul-searching. Kevin noted his interests included history, old cars and motorcycles. They considered the possibility of owning a business. “How do I make a living with something I enjoy?” Kevin recalled thinking.
The idea of owning a Route 66 motel was planted during the couple’s first Route 66 trip in 2007. While driving through Tucumcari, they noted the Palomino Motel was for sale. They wondered about owning a business on Route 66, but dismissed it because they had one child in college and another starting high school.
Jobless and now empty-nesters, the Muellers in early 2011 reconsidered buying the Palomino Motel. It had long been sold, but noticed the Blue Swallow was for sale.
“This was the coolest place I’d ever seen,” Kevin recalled. “It appealed to me romantically and emotionally.”
Nancy said she initially thought her husband’s idea was “crazy,” But she came around after talking to friends and concluding “we have nothing to lose.”
This led to another Route 66 trip, where the Muellers eventually struck a deal with Kinder and Anderson about buying the property.
“We’re excited to get in line to preserve this place like others have,” Kevin said. “The Blue Swallow is considered the crown jewel of Route 66. It’s hard to believe we’re going to own one.”
Kevin and Nancy think their differing talents will be complementary in running the motel. He said he’e eager to try a few ideas for Blue Swallow, and thinks his “natural sociability” will serve him well.
In June, the Muellers will load up a trailer that’s newly decorated in Blue Swallow Motel colors and images, and head southwest to New Mexico.
“It’s pretty exciting to think we’re going to be our own boss,” Nancy said. “We finally have a chance to do this. I think the sky’s the limit for us.”
(Photos courtesy of Kevin Mueller)
Oklahoma Route 66 Bike Trail signed into law May 11, 2011
Posted by Ron Warnick in Attractions, bicycling, Highways.7 comments
Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin today signed into a bill that creates a 90-mile Historic Route 66 Bike Trail from Sapulpa to Edmond.
House Bill 2049, introduced by Rep. Lewis Moore (R-Arcadia) and co-sponsored by Sen. Andrew Rice (D-Oklahoma City), passed by wide margins in both the House and Senate.
The law goes into effect on Nov. 1, although when the trail will be actually created remains unclear. Building a new bicycle shoulder along Oklahoma Highway 66 is “contingent on funds available.” However, a committee report noted that in the coming years, the Oklahoma Department of Transportation already is planning on shoulder improvements along that stretch of highway.
Moore also said private donations would defray the initial cost of the signs.
Moore, a cycling aficionado, said in an interview he wanted more bicycle trails in Oklahoma, and thought Oklahoma Route 66 would be an ideal spot for one.
UPDATE 5/13/2011: The Associated Press has a story about the new law. The story claims the bicycle trail will go from the Kansas state line to the Texas state line. However, the bill says the Historic Route 66 Bicycle Trail covers only Oklahoma Highway 66, which starts in Vinita and ends in El Reno — a distance of about 200 miles.
UPDATE 5/18/2011: An e-mail from Rep. Lewis Moore clarified that the Historic Route 66 Bike Trail does indeed go from the Kansas state line to the Texas state line. Earlier versions of the bill weren’t that extensive, but he was encouraged to expand its breadth by other legislators.
Moore added that he’d like “an organized, sponsored group ride take on the entire route. Could be great publicity. I am very excited about what we can do with the trail in the future.”
Tucumcari resumes gas station face-lifts this weekend May 11, 2011
Posted by Ron Warnick in Attractions, Gas stations, Preservation.add a comment
Volunteers in Tucumcari, N.M., who dressed up two long-closed gas stations last year with attractive paint jobs will start their efforts again this weekend.
The face-lift target this time is the gas station at the Paradise Motel on the city’s west edge. Volunteers will paint the station so it looks like an old Gulf or Sinclair station.
In case you haven’t seen the group’s previous efforts, here are two abandoned gas stations they painted last year:
As I’ve said, this is one of the best ideas on the Route 66 corridor in a long time. Dozens of towns along the Mother Road suffer with closed gas stations that are deteriorating into eyesores. A few gallons of paint can rectify that and provide eye candy for tourists.
The Main Street Association will also paint an old building in the downtown Main Street area as well — all as part of a Great American Clean-Up project in town.
If you want to help with the effort, you’re welcome to do so. They’ll start bright and early on Saturday morning, and paint on Sunday as well.
(Photos courtesy of Richard Talley)
Music artists for “Cars 2″ soundtrack announced May 11, 2011
Posted by Ron Warnick in Movies, Music.add a comment
Country-music star Brad Paisley, British pop singer Robbie Williams, rock band Weezer and Oscar-winning composer Michael Giacchino are the artists enlisted to record the soundtrack to the Disney-Pixar movie “Cars 2,” according to a news release today.
Other music artists featured on the soundtrack are the Japanese pop band Perfume and French superstar Benabar. The “Cars 2″ soundtrack will be available June 14. The film will be in theaters June 24.
This is the second go-round for Paisley, who wrote and recorded “Behind the Clouds” and “Lose Yourself” for the original “Cars” movie in 2006.
This time, he worked with Robbie Williams.
Says Lasseter, “Brad and I became close friends during the making of ‘Cars.’ For ‘Cars 2,’ he and Robbie [Williams] have teamed up to do this really cool rock ‘n roll song. It’s something very different from what Brad normally does, but he and Robbie have created a fantastic song that captures the friendship of McQueen and Mater over the end credits.” Adds Paisley, “The song is a rock vocal event with one of the most talented people I’ve ever met, Robbie Williams. It was John’s idea to bring these two worlds together – combining the English and American takes on music. We’re both out of our comfort zone, seeing what happens when you’re forced into going new places, which is really what ‘Cars 2’ is about. It’s totally parallel to the story.”
The song, “Collision of Worlds,” is written and performed as a duet with Paisley and Williams, the talented, award-winning singer/songwriter who has achieved incredible fame as a solo performer and as a member of the group Take That. Williams has sold more than 57 million albums worldwide, and is one of Britain’s all-time top selling recording artists. “It’s an international kind of song that’s inspired very much by the film–it wouldn’t exist if it weren’t for the story,” says Williams. “Brad turned up with his guitar and a basic understanding of what he wanted the song to sound like. He played me a few chords and we noodled and twiddled our way into forming this song. It’s back and forth colloquialisms between two different countries speaking the same language and not understanding each other—until now.”
Here’s Robbie and Brad working on the song:
Paisley wrote a second song for the film:
A second song, “Nobody’s Fool,” is written and performed by Paisley. “It’s inspired by the most heartbreaking scene in the movie,” says Paisley. “Mater realizes that everybody thinks he’s playing the fool and he becomes sort of enlightened and realizes that he’s not playing the fool—he is one. But Mater realizes he is who he is and that was inspiring to me.”
Weezer recorded a cover of the 1984 hit by The Cars, “You Might Think,” which you can hear in this clip:
Giacchino won an Academy Award for Best Original Score for the Disney-Pixar movie “Up.” This marvelously conceived and moving sequence from “Up” probably won him the Oscar:
Wind farm being constructed near Kingman May 11, 2011
Posted by Ron Warnick in Businesses, Towns.add a comment
Western Wind Energy began construction last week on wind turbines on land behind Nucor Steel on Route 66, southeast of Kingman, Ariz., last week, reported the Kingman Daily Miner.
The turbines’ tall columns can be seen from the top of El Trovatore Hill. It’s a combined solar and wind farm, and its the second such project in Arizona.
The company hopes to complete the project by July, Boyd said. Once completed, it will produce about 10-megawatts of power, enough to power around 4,000 homes, that will be transferred onto UniSource Energy’s grid, Boyd said. The company signed a 20-year agreement with UniSource in October 2009.
If the project the project is successful and UniSource needs additional energy, Western Wind might purchase additional land to the east of the existing site and add another five wind turbines to the project, Boyd said.
It wouldn’t be surprising if other energy companies build solar and wind farms around the Kingman area. Between its blustery mountain ranges and desert sun, it’s well-suited for both.
Nowadays, there are no shortages of wind turbines near the Mother Road. Weatherford, Okla.; Vega, Texas; Tucumcari, N.M.; San Jon, N.M.; and other places I’ve forgotten.
UPDATE 5/16/2011: Here’s another report about the wind farm by the Havasu News-Herald.
The project’s five 1.8-megawatt turbines —and the site’s half-megawatt photovoltaic solar system — are expected to begin producing an average of 10.5 megawatts of power later this year.
The wind farm is on 864 acres, which is a portion of a larger 110,000-acre parcel owned by Western Wind. There is the possibility of erecting an additional five more turbines on the site, Tepp said.
Monrovia’s Aztec Hotel goes into foreclosure May 11, 2011
Posted by Ron Warnick in Motels.1 comment so far
The historic Aztec Hotel along Route 66 in Monrovia, Calif., is being foreclosed and will go on sale later this month for an asking price of $2.4 million, according to the Monrovia Patch.
The hotel is currently being run by HTL Hotel Management and a sale by the appointed trustee, Stewart Default Services, is set to be held at the Pomona Superior Courts Building on May 16 at 10:30 a.m.
Chester Reed and Chris Ott of HTL are managing the building until a new buyer purchases the property. Currently, about half of the 44 rooms are either rented to tenants or available to overnight guests.
“We do pretty much everything we can to maintain the building and clean up what’s here,” Ott said. “We’re trying to rebuild the reputation of the hotel.”
According to the Patch, owner Kathryn Reece defaulted on the mortgage payments, and HTL took over after the foreclosure in January.
The hotel, which was built during the 1920s with its distinctive Mayan-like architecture, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. With a foreclosure sale looming, the building’s fate remains cloudy.
Grease the wheels May 11, 2011
Posted by Ron Warnick in bicycling, Food, Restaurants.add a comment
This is an enjoyable program called “Greaseweek,” where our intrepid cyclist starts on Route 66 from Pasadena, Calif., all the way to the end of Route 66 in Santa Monica.
I also learned a few things. For instance, I didn’t know the Arroyo Seco sported a bicycle trail, and I’ll have to investigate the Lucky Boy and Big Dean’s restaurants.