Old run down motel, Gallup, New Mexico, Mad and Magic Raving April 2013. Leica M6, Tri-X
After a long day of driving and then a search for a cheap place to stay in Gallup, we ended up in a very old motel that provided a smorgasbord of surreal and funny experiences. Every item in the the entirely brown room with woodpanels on the walls told a tale of time standing still for decades. The room heater was a highly effective big toaster mounted on a wall. The bathroom had clearly reached it peak in the 1950s. And staring into the parking lot was a never ending source of fun, as some very diverse characters and vehicles arrived or departed this pocket of time.
From stretches of sunny straight roads mixed with unexpected dark, twisted turns that change the journey – life on the road is a funny creature and it is supposed to be. Always, onwards and forwards, as Tolkien said: “still round the corner there may wait a new road or a secret gate” – or a random and hilarious time-traveling motel room.