Just west of Thoreau, NM is an old abandoned trading post notable for its mural of a flying hawk and pink cliffs.
Continuing west on Route 66 we reach Continental Divide..The Continental Divide also known as "The Continental Divide of the Americas", "Continental Gulf of Division" or the "Great Divide" is a special kind of "Drainage Divide", in which the outlet of the "drainage basins" it divides, are oceans. Therefore, the Continental Divide, is a watershed: from the divide, the waters can flow east into the Atlantic Ocean or west into the Pacific Ocean. The Divide was a place where travellers stopped to fill their tanks and bougth mementos. Jack DeVere Rittenhouse in his "A Guide Book to Highway 66" lets us know how it was in 1946: "... are several establishments: The Top O' The World Hotel & Cafe, Great Divide Trading Co., and the Continental Trading Post and grocery..