And here is the second day of the Route 66 trip.


Same starting point – sunny Union County – this time even earlier in the dawn.


Button copy in New Mexico is very hard to find. This example, on old US-66, might be the only one left in the state.


What do we have here? Classic state-named US shields … put up sometime between September and November of 2009! In Santa Rosa, on I-40, about ten signs eastbound have the old-style shields.


One more from sunrise.


At this point we figure the reason we got up so early was to hit the road. We’re on US-64/87 on the way to Raton.


Hard-to-find brown destination guide sign. We are going to all of those places, as they are all on US highway 64.


An old hangar just outside of Raton. It’s been repainted several times, and it looks like all the layers of whitewash have come off, revealing just a lot of lines of text on top of each other: Continental Air Lines, the Civil Air Patrol, and you are invited to decipher the rest. Oh, note to self, take an evening shot of this hangar sometime.


View of US highway 64 just past the old hangar.


The Santa Fe Trail split into two branches at Raton, each offering an alternative across the mountains. This is the western branch crossing modern US-64. The eastern branch follows US-85 between Raton and Santa Fe. (There is an even further east branch, that splits off in the middle of Kansas, at the junction of modern US-56 and US-160, and follows modern US-56 all the way to US-85.)


Lots of classic US route shields still easily found in New Mexico. The two toughest ones to find are US-80 and US-85, as one is officially decommissioned, and the other is hidden under I-25, but I believe there is one surviving example of each.


Highway 64 heading towards Taos.


Ominous clouds over Angel Fire. 9100 feet elevation.


Somewhere along state highway 68.


Route 68 follows the Rio Grande.


Fall comes to New Mexico.


We are at the junction of US-84 and state highway 68. (Click for large version on which you can actually see things!)


One of many brightly painted underpasses serving US-285 just south of Santa Fe.


“Relief Route” is the fancy way of saying “bypass” in New Mexico.


Not just a cutout, but a cutout with a purple trailblazer arrow! Several of these signs are found on US-285 in the Santa Fe area.


Extra-large banner? No, extra-small shield. 18×18 inch interstate markers were specified only in the original 1957 signing manual, and were not used by 1961… except New Mexico likes them for some reason.


Speaking of old standards, this shield dates back to about 2002, but has the original 1957 layout, as opposed to the more modern 1970 style that is much more prevalent in New Mexico.


Highway 14 is the Turquoise Trail, heading from Santa Fe to interstate 40 (and US highway 66, finally!) just east of Albuquerque. Alas, we did not find any of the classic Turquoise Trail signs, that were likely last posted in the 1970s.


The closest we get is this small rectangular brown sign.

[Kevin photo.]


Another classic interstate shield. This one is on route 66, on the Edgewood business loop. Like the I-25 above, this sign is not particularly old.


More from Santa Rosa – the route number for which it makes the most sense to have the old layout.


They omitted the crossbar on two of the three 84 signs.


The final 84 sign has the crossbar.


A surviving US-54 sign on a road that is no longer US-54.


The newly designated Business Loop 54 comes in a couple blocks to the east of the old 54 alignment in Tucumcari.


The Blue Swallow Motel, on US-66 in Tucumcari.


And just on the other side of the street. [Kevin photo.]


An actually old I-40 marker.


We stop for the night in Texas, the land of much Clearview.