#san jon

Western Motel, San Jon, New Mexico, 2012. Neon fading fast.

This image is available. Find it in my Route 66 Collection: http://frank-romeo.pixels.com/

The Cedar Hill station (and motor court) just west of San Jon NM on 66 has always perplexed those of us intrigued by abandonment. It is the only building I have seen that used flat steel oil cans as shingles on the two buildings. The service station once sold Enco gas; the motor court on the west side of the property had...wait for it...three units.

Having been a beer can collector for 40+ years, I knew that the owner (Otto Collins) either had to painstakingly cut and flatten used oil cans, or...better yet...have a friend at the can factory who could get him uncut/unrolled sheets of the oil cans.

I'm betting on the latter. A person could go nuts trying to cut, unroll, and flatten thousands of oil cans. I don't care if it was a service station. That he used steel shingles, though, was genius. They were cheap, and impervious to the sun and hail prevalent on the high plains of eastern New Mexico. Those steel shingles are still doing what they were intended to do, even if the rest of the place is starting to fall down.

One of my favorite views of the building, though, is not on the outside, but rather on the inside. It is only in looking *up* that it becomes obvious what an obsessive recycler/repurposer the proprietor was. He even used as roof decking a plank he had previously used as signage for his station. Farther to the right (out of frame in photo below) are more painted letters indicating he at one time offered free camping.

I doubt we would see such ingenuity today. But a hard knocks life breeds invention. And necessity can be a mother.

San Jon, New Mexico

Arriving in San Jon, New Mexico.  The pavement has returned.  There are signs of life, but there are also numerous reminders that the world has passed this town by: the ruined motel signs, the forgotten cafe, the long-abandoned garage. 

No need to stop in San Jon, or even get off the interstate to see it...twenty-four miles further west lies Tucumcari.  There will be chain motels and chain restaurants.  There will be some ghosts of the bygone days of Route 66 there too, but also some success stories of old businesses with new owners, like the Blue Swallow Motel or Tepee Curios.