Our Impressions of Gallup, New Mexico

Gallup is your typical Historic Route 66 town bypassed by I-40. Downtown Gallup has stores, shops, trading posts and restaurants galore. It was an interesting place to visit, where the old and new collide. There is an obvious difference between the two different sides of I-40. One side, the side we enjoyed, was the side where Earle’s Restaurant and the Westend Donut Shop is located. It is the side where western movies with John Wayne were filmed. On the other side of I-40 is Walmart, McDonald’s and all of the other commercial, big box stores. There is nothing wrong with these type of stores and restaurants, but when we are traveling, we really enjoy the more local flavor.

Attractions

Geographically Gallup is on the northwest corner of New Mexico, cut in half by I-40. Half of the town is on Historic Route 66, half on the newer, more commercial side. We spent our time on the Historic Route 66 side!

Gallup Cultural Center is located in the old railroad depot and Amtrak station. The first floor has a small café and the Juniper Bakery. The second floor has exhibits of Native American culture, Native American artists, and a small section about the Navaho Code Talkers from WWII. Reportedly there are plans in the works to build a museum that would be exclusively about the Code Talkers’ contribution to the military. During the first two days of the Battle of Iwa Jima, the Code Talkers sent 800 messages! The Japanese and the Germans never broke the Navaho language!

If you are interested in visiting the Rex Museum, be sure to call the Gallup Library at least 24-48 hours in advance. If they have someone available, they will come down and open the museum for you to explore.

The Richardson Trading Post is one of the few remaining trading posts in Gallup that is locally owned. It has a large selection of saddles, Native American jewelry and Native American blankets.

Downtown Gallup

There are two main streets in downtown Gallup: Historic Route 66 and Coal Avenue. No parking meters here! Quaint shops, trading posts, vendors, businesses, small museums and restaurants.

Food and Drink

Earle’s is one of the few locally owned restaurants in Gallup. Most are the fast-food places you can see anywhere in America. Native American vendors have tables set up outside of the restaurant and will walk through the restaurant showing their wares. While we were waiting for our food, Ralph, the owner, sat at our table and talked to us about Gallup. He told us of places we should visit in the area, and how Gallup has changed in the last few decades. It was a great, informative visit! Thanks, Ralph!

Jerry’s Cafe is locally owned and a local favorite. The tables are always full, the food is plentiful, spicy and flavorful. Always ask for the Christmas chile. Christmas chile is green and red. This is not chili, but chile.

Westend Donut and Deli offers a variety of donuts, cream rolls, and apple fritters. We didn’t try the deli, just the donuts. Fresh, fluffy and flavorful!

Home Base: The Campground

For us, a campground is not our destination. Our RV is self-contained. Except for water, electric and sewer rarely do we use campground services or amenities. We are explorers, not campground reviewers!

We stayed on site 32 at USA RV Park in Gallup. Many options for water/electric/sewer and 30 or 50 amp service were available at different price points. For example, 30 amp water and electric was less expensive than 50 amp W/E/S. The campground was clean and well maintained. Our full hook up (water-sewer-electric) site was on level crushed stone. Our pull through site was long enough to leave the Jeep hooked up and still have both vehicles off the road. There was good cell phone coverage (Verizon) and a
good open southern sky for our satellite. Easy off and on I-40, with no I-40 road noise.

Fun Facts

According to the Visitor’s Bureau, Gallup has the most millionaires per thousand people in the world including New York City, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Boston and Singapore. Gallup has more than 350 millionaires in a population of 21,000.

Gallup is known as the “Heart of Indian Country” because it is in the middle of the Navajo reservation and home also to Hopi and Zuni tribes.

With a population of just over 21,600, Gallup has been named America’s Most Patriotic Small Town by Rand McNally.

Gallup hosts the second largest Balloon Rally in the state each December with over 200 balloons.

The rugged and majestic terrain around Gallup was popular during the 1940s and 50s for the on-location shooting of movie Westerns with stars like John Wayne and Kirk Douglas.

	Gallup, NM
Population:	21,495
Elevation:	6,467 ft.
Founded:	1881
Average income for a single person:	$23,448
Average price of housing:	$210,000
Median age of the population:	33 yrs.

Gallup Website: https://www.visitgallup.com/

Summary

We were glad we visited Gallup. There is obviously a lot of history here.

Since beginning our full-time journey to discover the country, we have found something to appreciate in every city and town we have passed through. We hope you enjoy reading about them as much as we have enjoyed discovering them!

Your partners in travel,
Kathryn and Dave
RVing Nomads

It’s a lifestyle

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No person, business or attraction has paid us for an endorsement. AI has not been used to create any of the content in this blog or website. All of the photos in this blog and website were taken by Dave or Kathryn Harrington.