In 2019 our taisteal took us west, heading to remote areas in New Mexico. The Old West, where one feels an electricity, a uniqueness to the air that is not felt anywhere else. Where, yes even aliens may venture. A forgotten 1957 road atlas found in the attic of a home was my curiosity. What was life like before interstates? What was life like before we desired quick travel and the need for immediate gratification? What was it like to slow down, experience what it was to be still?
55 mph. Slow enough to capture scenery but yet too slow for those of us who want to get to the destination. 55 mph, just right for those of us who want to stop and understand the places we travel to. Danyle and I took the interstate between Tucumcari and Santa Rosa, New Mexico and were blessed to venture off the busy interstate to head south in New Mexico. We saw Joseph's Bar & Grill and decided to stop. A cup of coffee and a slice of pie was in order.
Joseph's Bar & Grill is one of few restaurants dotting the landscape of old Historic Route 66. I wondered who was this man on the coffee mug? I was told he is the World Famous Fat Man. Who Is The World Famous Fat Man? The Fat Man is the portrait of of a very satisfied, well-fed gentleman with a friendly smile and piercing blue eyes. He was once the logo of the Club Cafe, founded in 1935 by Phillip Craig and Floyd Shaw.
What was Club Cafe? A quick search on my smartphone provided me the following:
"When Phillip Craig and Floyd Shaw opened their Club Cafe on US Route 66 in Santa Rosa, New Mexico in 1935, the road ran right through the heart Santa Rosa heading on toward Santa Fe before continuing to Albuquerque. Route 66 had been completed through Santa Rose five years earlier and the town was growing rapidly. The two friends saw opportunity in the thousands of travelers driving through every year.
The Club Cafe, known for it home cooking, sourdough biscuits, and blue corn tortillas, was even better known for its Smiling Fat Man sign, the round painted image of a portly gentleman in a polka dot tie, smiling with satisfaction after a Club Cafe home cooked meal. The sign appeared not only on the Club Cafe, but also on a progression of highway billboards, familiarizing generations of Route 66 travelers with the Santa Rosa institution even if they did not stop to sample the fare. But many did stop. For the next 55 years, the Club Cafe served biscuits, burgers and pinto beans to locals and cross country travelers alike." (http://www.redstoneprojects.com/route66/pastroute66eatclubcafe.html)
But who was the original Fat Man? No one really knows. But through the years, the Fat Man came to symbolize American prosperity, confidence and resilience. The Fat Man was America when we found our freedom of travel with the automobile. The Fat Man is the 1940-50's husband taking his wife and kids out on Route 66 towing their camper, taking that much needed vacation from the grind of everyday life. For generations, the Fat Man invited hungry tourists along Route 66 to drop by for biscuits and gravy, chicken fried steaks and other hearty meals.
Our stop made me reflect on John Steinbeck's novel Grapes of Wrath, set during the Great Depression. Grapes of Wrath focuses on the Joads, a poor family of tenant farmers driven from their Oklahoma home who travel west to California in hopes to escape poverty, to escape being a "have-not" in America. This stop made me reflect on their journey and how America still struggles with inequalities, but yet is still one of the only places a man or woman can make their riches with hard work.
Instead of trying to beat your estimated time of arrival on Google's Map, try slowing down and enjoying life, learning a bit from other's who travelled before you. Read a book. Stop and enjoy a cup of coffee with a slice of pie.
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