Tucumcari

Tucumcari is a tumbledown little town with intriguing early- to mid-20th-century architecture. Neat little houses on quiet, tree-shaded streets can keep you peeking around corners and down new streets for quite awhile. Along Route 66—the main, and only, route through town—you'll find low-slung motels in various stages of use and disuse, restaurants, markets, gas stations, curios stores, and, of course, neon. As hard as this town tries to develop itself economically, it's those neon signs and the still-living, old-time businesses that keep it alive.