Who'd have thought?

"You'll see Amarillo, Gallup, New Mexico..." What famous song has those lyrics? Those of a certain generation will readily recognize the song made famous by a young Nat King Cole when motoring out to the west coast was all the rage as airline travel as we know it today was still but a dream.

The stretch of highway, once known as the 'Main Street of America', made famous in the song has seen its best days come and go and a lot of sections are looking more than a little forlorn. Towns lucky enough to be located along the highway saw boom times that have now faded in the glimmer of times long gone. From 1926 up through the '50's and '60's generation after generation of Americans heading out to explore the U.S. of A traveled the route that was the first completely paved highway in the U.S. Highway system.

My recent travels took me through Gallup, New Mexico. Normally I just spend the night in Gallup on my way to and from Spring Training Baseball in Arizona but this trip I had the chance to spend a couple of days in the area and got the opportunity to check out some of the local hikes. I never knew Gallup offered such great venues for stretching out the legs and wearing out shoe leather. One of the hikes, up Pyramid Peak just outside of town, is featured in the video below. Most folks stopping in Gallup quickly get back on the Highway (now I-40) and head on their way so the trails are almost empty which is a rare treat in today's busy world. They are also well-marked and well maintained. One of the things I most longed for when I dreamt of retirement was having the time to slow down and stop wherever I wanted and Gallup is one of the places where if you stop and stay a while you might really like what you see!

Still can't place the song mentioned at the beginning? It was written by Bobby Troup when he and his wife Cynthia loaded up their 1941 Buick and took the ten day trip out to California where he wanted to try his hand at becoming a Hollywood songwriter. Here's Bobby performing his song... Nat King Cole recorded his version, which went on to top the charts, in 1946. Here's his take...