“It’s about challenging commonly held beliefs, so that our guests walk away feeling enriched and with more respect for the tribes,” Mitchell concludes, before I return to the road.
Reclaiming the narrative
Further west, rugged red hills give way to ruler-flat grassy plains as I cross Texas to reach my final stop in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The crescent-shaped Indian Pueblo Cultural Center, founded in 1976, celebrates the culture of the 19 Pueblo tribes who call this region home.
I refuel at the museum’s Indian Pueblo Kitchen with a steaming bowl of green Chile stew, a brothy New Mexican staple made with chiles harvested by Pueblo communities for generations and traditionally served on feast days. Revived, I venture on to explore the galleries, where exhibits trace a rich cultural arc of the Pueblo peoples: spiritual practices, dry farming, adobe architecture and the 1680 Pueblo Revolt against Spanish colonizers.
Anthony Tekala, the centre’s cultural events coordinator, explains how Route 66 reshaped Indigenous economies. “Pottery was once made to store water or seeds,” he says. “But after introducing the railroad and then Route 66, Pueblo artists were encouraged to craft smaller, travel-sized items.” Miniature figurines and teacup-sized vessels became not just souvenirs, but cultural ambassadors; portable art shared across the country. “If someone took a piece home and told a friend, it was like word-of-mouth advertising,” he adds.
Indigenous-owned businesses along the route offer a view of the road that goes beyond neon nostalgia.
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