Just half an hour from the Arizona border, 65 miles west of Grants, the famous Route 66 town of GALLUP is a handy but uninteresting I-40 pit stop. A five-mile line of the old Route 66 frontage contains some of the least expensive motels in the US, ranging from the Ambassador , 1601 W 66 Ave (tel 505/722-3843; up to $35), and the Blue Spruce Lodge , 1119 E 66 Ave (tel 505/863-5211; up to $35), to the pricier national chains. Unless you're falling asleep at the wheel, the only place really worth stopping for in Gallup is the lovely El Rancho Hotel , 1000 E 66 Ave (tel 505/863-9311 or 1-800/543-6351, ; $35-75), built in 1937 by the brother of movie director D.W.Griffith as a home away from home for the many Hollywood stars filming nearby. Nowadays you can ogle their signed photos in the spacious Spanish Revival lobby, grab a bite in its decorative restaurant or spend the night in the Ronald Reagan Room , the Marx Brothers Room or the Mae West Room . Some guestrooms are in the original ranchhouse, the rest in a two-story motel building alongside.

The Navajo and other local Native Americans come together in Red Rock State Park , four miles east, on the second weekend in August for the Inter-Tribal Indian Ceremonial , the largest such gathering anywhere. Four days of dances and craft shows have as their highlight a Saturday morning parade through the town.