We got a late start leaving Santa Fe (noonish) so this was a short day. When I first planned I guessed this would happen and booked the Gallup RV place. Then I changed it to Holbrook (which looked like a nicer town to stay in) by the Petrified Forest National Park, but when they day came we realized we would get in way too late to see the Petrified Forest before reaching Holbrook, so we switched back to Gallup so we wouldn’t have to double back.
Our first stop was the Petroglyphs National Monument. There is a Visitor Center in a different area from the Petroglyphs that is accessible and has a gift shop. The trails themselves are not wheelchair accessible unfortunately. Some of the trails are very short though, and there are some things you can see from the parking lot and from where you can get a chair to. I used my cane to get about 20 feet in on a couple trails and was able to see quite a bit more. The first image is taken from the lot to give you an idea of what you can see from there.
There was construction on the highway so we got off for a bit and took Route 66. Much more scenic, and at that moment just as fast. Lots of little ghost towns.
The Indian Market trading post on the Continental Divide/route 66 had some nice blankets, jewelry, pottery, kitsch route 66 things… Very Route 66 feeling. Exit 47 on route 40, Continental Divide, NM.
Gallup is a complete ghost town on a single strip. Some old route 66 faded signs and things, but when we went everything was boarded up and the only restaurant listed as recommended that was open was Genaro’s Cafe, which was packed (the only humans in evidence in town were all there). Food was ok. My husband picked it up and we took it back to the RV park to eat. Another time I would have liked to see the strip in the dark to see how much neon still worked, but we were tired and settled at the RV park.
USA RV park in Gallup was way nicer compared to the town. Wheelchair on the gravel was a bit rough for rolling on and might thwart some chairs. There was a nice gift shop, a giant chess set, playground, pool (closed), laundry, etc. The people running it were very friendly and helpful.
My Wandering Wheels 