https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-qf2y9-19044bd

Viva Las Vegas! You won’t find Elvis impersonators, white tigers, and glittering casinos in the original Las Vegas. But you will find a very special version of small town America peppered with one of a kind diners and cafes, and nearly 1,000 buildings on the National Register of Historic Places.

You will also find the last drive in theater in New Mexico. Hot springs. A tale of political eccentricity. A connection to Theodore Roosevelt, the Rough Riders, Edsel Ford, Emily Post, and Doc Holiday. There is even a renovated Harvey House hotel and an 1882 hotel on the historic Santa Fe Trail. 

On today’s episode of Coffee With Jim, with Kathleen Hendrickson as our guide to another shared adventure, we discover what makes the original Las Vegas a destination for Route 66 travelers, for movie buffs, for fans of western history, and for folks who prefer authenticity over glitz. 

Today’s program is sponsored in part by patrons on the Jim Hinckley’s America Patreon page. It is also sponsored by Two Lane America, the Roadrunner Lodge Motel in Tucumcari, RouteTrip USA, Enchanted Trails Trading Post and RV Park in Albuquerque, Gilligan’s Route 66 Tours, the iconic Wagon Wheel Motel in Cuba, Missouri, and the Cactus Inn Motel in McLean, Texas.