Shirley Rose Higgins of the Royal Gazette in Bermuda has provided a pretty good travel guide about the Navajo Nation and its history.
It includes this excerpt about the Route 66 town of Gallup, N.M.:
If you approach through Gallup, New Mexico, you'll want to stop at the tourist information office in the old train station on Route 66 in the heart of this interesting town. In addition to helpful staff with lots of information, a large room is dedicated to those brave Code Talkers who utilised their once-forbidden Navajo language so remarkably, it was never deciphered by the Japanese in the Pacific war front.
As mentioned last week, Kayenta, Arizona's Hampton Inn owner, also has a display in his Burger King honouring those extraordinary men.
Visitors will want to linger in Gallup a bit, browse in shops, and stay on for free evening Indian dance performances held in a special outdoor arena next to the old train station beside an historic railroad display. (Memorial Day through Labour Day) Gallup's main centre remains very unchanged and is home to August's widely acclaimed Inter Tribal Indian Ceremonial.
Many westerns were filmed around here starring Spencer Tracy, Barbara Stanwyck, Ronald Reagan, Errol Flynn, Katherine Hepburn, Joel McCrae, Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas, so scenery may look familiar.
The article is recommended reading.