FIFTEEN YEARS OF EXPLORING ROUTE 66 IN NEW MEXICO: AN INTERVIEW WITH WILLIE LAMBERT

WILLIE LAMBERT AND HIS 500-WORD CROSSWORD PUZZLE, PHOTO BY JIM GAUTIER

Willie Lambert: Route 66 in New Mexico Documentation
An Interview by HSFF Executive Director Pete Warzel

I met Willie Lambert at San Miguel Chapel during the fall festival celebrating the Barrio de Analco this past month. He had two tables at the event of his many years endeavor. After Dave Blackman, of Preserve San Miguel, introduced us, Lambert walked me through the notebooks and photographs displayed for the public event.

Willie is an abidingly polite man. An itinerant worker his whole life he is obsessed with his chosen task now, on his own time — the documentation of every inch of the famed Route 66 in New Mexico.

And the product is nothing short of astonishing. There are multiple notebooks arranged by section of road, with photographs illustrating the road or nearby environment and the hand-drawn maps that take you mile-by-mile along the route. The maps are exquisite, laid out in sections, each section then broken down into detailed subsections with their own hand-created maps that are meticulously labeled with mileage, location, and defining information. This is impeccable documentation as folk art.

Interest in Route 66 is ubiquitous. We think Willie’s work should be more widely known and introduce you here. Willie’s main desire at this time is to publicized the project so he might be able to meet the people who own land that are now fenced so he can complete the research he started so many years ago — for cultural knowledge and the history of the road.

HSFF is so amazed by the scope of this project and Willie’s dedication to his accurate documentation of this historic route. We are assisting Willie in the promotion of the work and helping him achieve the goal of completing the project and to expanding the knowledge of the work. In addition to access to private lands as mentioned in the previous paragraph, Lambert needs the works scanned to preserve the documents in digital form. If you are interested in funding this project, please contact HSFF at melanie@historicsantafe.org.

Pete Warzel: There is a lot to talk about. Let’s start with your prior life – what was your occupation? Retired? Family? 

Willie Lambert: I had an array of what I call survival jobs as I never made a career out of any of them. Worked the railroad, Forest Service, fire fighter, bus driver, poker and blackjack dealer, fly tyer and flea market vendor. That all adds up to Social Security.

PW: So, what led you to this commitment to research? Do you realize how extraordinary this is?

WL: My sister said to me years ago that she would like to take a trip on Route 66 when she turned 66. I thought that was a good idea and I’d look into it. That was 15 years ago and I’m still looking.

Thank you. That’s a very nice and appreciated compliment.

PW: How many notebooks have you compiled? The number of maps you have drawn?

WL: I have 19 binders that include 15 years of photography nearly 500 hand-drawn aligment maps and an odometer reading is to A 1/10 of a mile where needed. So one can located the often hard to find and easy to miss old fragments of the road. I have over 1000 NM Route 66 postcards of which many have a message, stamp and postmark. I recently started a new binder on the roadside wildflowers found along the route. I have been working on creating a crossword puzzle using words associated with NM 66 at the moment it has over 500 clues.

PW: Explain the maps and how they come together in your own words.

WL: It was obvious early that to understand the different alignments would be a huge project. I thought it best to break it down into short sections made up of what I call segment maps. These segments maps are color coded for quick reference as to what alignments were in that area.

PW: How many research trips do you take per year?

WL: That has varied through the years, but it always seems like I’m thinking about the next ride out. The only thing that hasn’t changed on Route 66 is the location of the roadbed itself. So even a ride to Pecos, for example, there might be a roadside change of some sort.

PW: You also have a major collection of Route 66 postcards from over the years. How do you go about collecting these?

WL: Over the years, I’d stop at antique stores anywhere I could. Usually, they would have a box of postcards I could go through now I purchase nearly all of them on Ebay.

PW: What is your purpose for this extensive research?

WL: When I first started researching and driving the route I had quite a few books and notes for the day on the front seat. I needed to organize what I understood and realized that I would need to pay attention to details if I was going to be able to share what I had in order to learn more.

PW: Where is your favorite stretch of road on the route in New Mexico?

WL: After 15 years, I truly have many stretches and spots along the road that could be on top of any list.

PW: Where is the place you would like to know about?

WL: I have a binder that I call Gates and Fences. East of Santa Fe to Texas line the pieces of 66 behind the gates belong to private land owners. West of Santa Fe to the Arizona line those gated pieces are what I’d love to be able to visit and document if only once.

PW: Do you ever conduct guided tours of the Route?

WL: I’ve taken a few friends and family members out for day rides over the years. Recently I took three people that I didn’t know. One of the ladies was very interested and took a lot of photos. I asked if she would give me a few pictures so I could see the trip in her eyes. She presented those pictures to me in a beautiful book.

PW: What would you like people to learn from your work?

WL: That there’s still quite a few pieces of the alignment puzzle that needs to be researched and documented.

PW: What next?

WL: First, I want to say thank you to Pete and Melanie for their help.

PW: Thanks Willie. This work is extraordinary.