This week I had a wonderful Sunday afternoon.  In an effort to combine photographic and exercise goals, I drove down to Central Avenue to wander and to photograph the art and architecture of Route 66.  This historic highway is an important part of Albuquerque’s history and there are many relics of the motels, restaurants, and businesses of its heyday.  Some are repurposed, some are derelict.  This stretch of the old highway goes through Albuquerque’s downtown and Nob Hill districts and there is also much public art from the present era on the buildings.

It was a beautiful day, mild temperatures and those unsurpassed New Mexico blue skies with just enough clouds to make it potographically perfect.  And a photographer’s dream: few people or vehicles.  In fact the traffic on the drive down and back and on Central Avenue was eerily sparse.  This, of course, is the two-edged sword of the Covid-19 restrictions.  The businesses were closed.  The ART busses weren’t running. It was a rare opportunity for uncluttered photographs, but sad and ominous.

As an added bonus, I listened to classic country music on the drive – windows down, excellent stereo in the new Prius. I do love the older country music, although some of it is a little culturally dated, like Willie Nelson singing Good Hearted Woman, followed by Johnny Cash and June Carter’s rendition of It Ain’t Me Babe.  Now if it the “me” in the latter song were June instead of Johnny, that one would have been fixed.

The photos below represent only the few blocks that I walked.  I plan to do this again on another section of the road.