Pure Route 66 Since 1936

December 7, 2014December 7, 2014 Timothy Price12 Comments

If you are in Albuquerque during the holidays, and go to the River of Lights at the ABQ BioPark, you will drive by the El Vado Motel at 2500 Central Ave (Old Route 66). A brief history provided by the Nation Park Service states that it was built by Daniel Murphy in 1937, but a sign on one of the buildings reads “Since 1936”. It was considered “Swanky” with its two rows of single-story rooms, and carports stuck in-between some of the rooms.

Originally named “El Vado Auto Court Motel”, it was built on Central Ave close to where the old Route 66 bridge crossed the Rio Grande, which was the site of a “ford” (crossing) before the bridge was built, thus the name El Vado — “The Ford”. The El Vado was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1993, and while it probably is “the purest Route 66 Motel surviving”, it hasn’t been “Open 24 Hours” for many years. Since it’s a national historic place, it can’t simply be demolished, so its buildings sit abandoned and boarded up.

But not all is lost, the City of Albuquerque put out a request for proposal for development and architectural services for The El Vado Redevelopment in July, and unveiled the plan October 1st. A controversy has arisen over the company chosen to redevelop the El Vado, but whoever ends up doing the job, the planned $16 million redevelopment is expected to be completed by 2016 — the year the El Vado turns 80.

Driverless

December 6, 2014 Timothy Price25 Comments

Passed by a driverless car — vintage, nonetheless!

Did Walter White Eat Here?

December 5, 2014 Timothy Price23 Comments

I heard the Dog House was in “Breaking Bad”, but I have never seen the show. I drive by the Dog House quite often, but I have never eaten there. So while I’ve seen the Dog House, I’ve never been there, and while the Dog House is in “Breaking Bad”, I’ve never seen it.

Troubleshooting Cyberspace

December 4, 2014 Timothy Price22 Comments

I got home very late from an evening of troubleshooting various issues, and updating email configurations on all the desktop computers at the office after we upgraded and migrated the mail to a new server. After nearly 18 hours of messing with everything from medicating kitties, working on plumbing, negotiating road construction, and avoiding car crashes on wet streets, spending the evening troubleshooting email issues left me wanting to just plain shoot cyberspace.

You Say You Want Evolution / Well You Know…

December 3, 2014 Timothy Price14 Comments

I believe this well hung young woman has gone well beyond the revolution strait into evolution.

Skinny Cows

December 2, 2014 Timothy Price29 Comments

We have your skinny cows here in the southwestern world!

Sixty-Six, 666, More 6’s

December 1, 2014December 1, 2014 Timothy Price28 Comments

I just got my 666th follower, 633 days after I posted my 666th blog “666 Route 66”. The 666th follower came 33 days short of giving me a straight run of 666’s, but as they say “the Devil’s in the details” or maybe not, in this case.

The Finch Connection

November 30, 2014 Timothy Price31 Comments

I captured the Finch Connection after I noticed Spunk looking out the window, watching the finches that were flitting around the branches and pulling seeds out of the many pods hanging from the leafless trumpet vine.

Cranes Close Up

November 29, 2014January 25, 2020 Timothy Price16 Comments

Lots and lots of Sandhill Crane are flying over our house every day. Many of them are staying in the area and hanging around in the orchards and along the river.

Speed Graphic

November 28, 2014 Timothy Price14 Comments

Continuing my adventures in film, I purchased a 4X5 Speed Graphic, Press Camera with money I got for my birthday. I wanted a 4X5 that was more portable, but since field cameras are still pricey, I started looking at press cameras, and decided I liked having the choice of using either the leaf shutter in the lens or the focal plane shutter in the body, and having the option to hand hold the camera.

I ended up with this particular camera because the seller guaranteed that everything worked, and he accepted my offer for the amount of the money I received for my birthday. I got it Wednesday, checked the shutters, the movements, the rangefinders, and indeed everything worked. It was pretty dirty, including the lens, so I took the camera and lens apart, and cleaned everything inside and out. Spunk helped and then participated when I photographed the camera — he wanted to point out the camera’s features and how it works. I looked up the serial numbers on the lens and the camera and it’s a Wartime model produced in 1945.

Thursday morning I went out and took four photos, processed them, and then printed two of the negatives before we went to Thanksgiving dinner at Laurie’s parent’s house in the early afternoon. I used Kodak Tri-X 320, but had the light meter set at ISO 400 and processed the film at ISO 400. I used the leaf shutter in the lens set at 1/400 sec and hand held the camera for the shots. The lens, at 127mm, is fairly wide-angle for a 4X5, therefore, in each photo I was trying to get as close to a group of cranes, and then a group of ducks as possible. The cranes and ducks flew so I snapped the photos of them taking flight, producing my first 4×5, hand-held actions shots.