Massive Abandoned Truck Stop, Shady Grove Restaurant, and Desert West Motel in Road Forks, New Mexico

Weary travelers passing through Southwestern New Mexico can no longer find respite in the tiny community of Road Forks. An oasis once stood at the intersection of I-10 and Highway 80, where you could pull off the freeway for fuel, lodging, and a hearty meal. The structures remain, but people no longer stop there, except to marvel at what has been left behind. 

Abandoned USA Gas Station and truck stop, Mini Mart, Shady Grove Restaurant, and Desert West Motel in Road Forks, New Mexico

After exploring the desolate town of Willcox, Arizona, I thought I'd seen enough abandoned places for one day. I was mistaken.

I happened upon a fantastic cluster of abandoned businesses purely by accident. Five miles after crossing into New Mexico from Arizona, I exited the freeway, and there they were in all their abandoned glory: a massive USA Gas Station, Road Forks Mini Mart, Shady Grove Restaurant, and Desert West Motel. I'd hit the jackpot. 

Abandoned USA Gas Station and truck stop, Mini Mart, Shady Grove Restaurant, and Desert West Motel in Road Forks, New Mexico

The only business in the vicinity that was still open was a little fireworks shop. 

A thick chain held the mini mart doors closed, so I pressed my camera against the glass and captured a few pictures.

Abandoned USA Gas Station and truck stop, Mini Mart, Shady Grove Restaurant, and Desert West Motel in Road Forks, New Mexico

Abandoned USA Gas Station and truck stop, Mini Mart, Shady Grove Restaurant, and Desert West Motel in Road Forks, New Mexico

Abandoned USA Gas Station and truck stop, Mini Mart, Shady Grove Restaurant, and Desert West Motel in Road Forks, New Mexico

Abandoned USA Gas Station and truck stop, Mini Mart, Shady Grove Restaurant, and Desert West Motel in Road Forks, New Mexico

The fueling area was quite large with plenty of gas pumps in various states of disrepair. I imagine it was bustling with traffic in its heyday. 

Abandoned USA Gas Station and truck stop, Mini Mart, Shady Grove Restaurant, and Desert West Motel in Road Forks, New Mexico

Abandoned USA Gas Station and truck stop, Mini Mart, Shady Grove Restaurant, and Desert West Motel in Road Forks, New Mexico

Shady Grove Restaurant was also sealed up tight. The windows were filthy, but I managed to get a few shots of the inside.

Abandoned USA Gas Station and truck stop, Mini Mart, Shady Grove Restaurant, and Desert West Motel in Road Forks, New Mexico

Abandoned USA Gas Station and truck stop, Mini Mart, Shady Grove Restaurant, and Desert West Motel in Road Forks, New Mexico

Abandoned USA Gas Station and truck stop, Mini Mart, Shady Grove Restaurant, and Desert West Motel in Road Forks, New Mexico

Abandoned USA Gas Station and truck stop, Mini Mart, Shady Grove Restaurant, and Desert West Motel in Road Forks, New Mexico

In the back of the property a little car sat rusting.

Abandoned USA Gas Station and truck stop, Mini Mart, Shady Grove Restaurant, and Desert West Motel in Road Forks, New Mexico

Abandoned USA Gas Station and truck stop, Mini Mart, Shady Grove Restaurant, and Desert West Motel in Road Forks, New Mexico

I'm not sure what the purpose of this contraption was.

Abandoned USA Gas Station and truck stop, Mini Mart, Shady Grove Restaurant, and Desert West Motel in Road Forks, New Mexico

I can't say for certain when the USA Gas station / Road Forks Mini Mart / Shady Grove Restaurant closed, but this blogger mentions stopping at the mini mart for a cappuccino in November of 2010.

Directly across the street sits the abandoned Desert West Motel. The front door was wide open and nothing was locked, so I walked right in. 

Abandoned Desert West Motel in Road Forks, New Mexico

The main building was a lot of fun to explore. The reception desk still had quite a few artifacts.

Abandoned USA Gas Station and truck stop, Mini Mart, Shady Grove Restaurant, and Desert West Motel in Road Forks, New Mexico

Abandoned USA Gas Station and truck stop, Mini Mart, Shady Grove Restaurant, and Desert West Motel in Road Forks, New Mexico

Furniture remained in the dining area.

Abandoned USA Gas Station and truck stop, Mini Mart, Shady Grove Restaurant, and Desert West Motel in Road Forks, New Mexico

Abandoned USA Gas Station and truck stop, Mini Mart, Shady Grove Restaurant, and Desert West Motel in Road Forks, New Mexico

The syrup for the soda fountain hadn't even been removed.

Abandoned USA Gas Station and truck stop, Mini Mart, Shady Grove Restaurant, and Desert West Motel in Road Forks, New Mexico

A bathroom contained holiday decorations, which is appropriate because I'm posting this on Christmas Eve :)

Abandoned USA Gas Station and truck stop, Mini Mart, Shady Grove Restaurant, and Desert West Motel in Road Forks, New Mexico

The back office still contained security equipment and files. 

Abandoned USA Gas Station and truck stop, Mini Mart, Shady Grove Restaurant, and Desert West Motel in Road Forks, New Mexico

There was also a large suite, where I assume the manager stayed. 

Abandoned USA Gas Station and truck stop, Mini Mart, Shady Grove Restaurant, and Desert West Motel in Road Forks, New Mexico

Out back is a lovely courtyard featuring a pool collecting tumbleweed.

Abandoned USA Gas Station and truck stop, Mini Mart, Shady Grove Restaurant, and Desert West Motel in Road Forks, New Mexico

The other buildings were mostly guest rooms, which were fairly trashed. It looked like some effort had been made to clean things up, or at least consolidate items in the unused guest rooms. 

Abandoned USA Gas Station and truck stop, Mini Mart, Shady Grove Restaurant, and Desert West Motel in Road Forks, New Mexico

Abandoned USA Gas Station and truck stop, Mini Mart, Shady Grove Restaurant, and Desert West Motel in Road Forks, New Mexico

Abandoned USA Gas Station and truck stop, Mini Mart, Shady Grove Restaurant, and Desert West Motel in Road Forks, New Mexico

The business license hanging in the lobby was valid through 2013, but I can't say for sure whether or not they stayed open until the end of the year.

Abandoned USA Gas Station and truck stop, Mini Mart, Shady Grove Restaurant, and Desert West Motel in Road Forks, New Mexico

They must not have updated their reading material very often because the magazine rack in the lobby contained an issue of El Paso Magazine dated fall/winter 2011.

Abandoned USA Gas Station and truck stop, Mini Mart, Shady Grove Restaurant, and Desert West Motel in Road Forks, New Mexico

Oddly enough, the website for Desert West Motel is still up. According to the "About us" section:
The Desert West Motel and Starvin Marvin's Restaurant and Grill was open March 2009 under new management. We have newly remodeled rooms with amenities to include free hi-speed internet, microwave, fridge and a beautiful outdoor swimming pool.
The few reviews I found online were mostly negative, and the most recent was from 2013. Several guests said there were no other visitors at the time of their stay. Some also reported that the above mentioned Starvin Marvin's Restaurant was closed. With so few guests it must have been difficult for management to justify the cost of keeping the restaurant open.

It is sad to think about the shattered hopes the new management had for the place.

Abandoned USA Gas Station and truck stop, Mini Mart, Shady Grove Restaurant, and Desert West Motel in Road Forks, New Mexico

Thank you for reading, and please come back next week to see and hear about New Mexico's incredible Pueblo ruins and a few other more recently abandoned places.


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90 comments :

  1. I'm always struck with the sadness of these places that people pinned their hopes on. Must be extremely difficult--pouring your money into a place and then watching it all collapse around you.

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    1. So true. It must be devastating. I often wonder what the people are doing now and whether they went on to pursue other business ventures, or if they are still buried in debt and crushed by the trauma of disappointment.

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    2. My family used to live here - I grew up in this community and left after I graduated high school. It is sad, but I didn't think of it as devastating. :) I think it's a way of life in the desert/rural areas. When things shrivel up, you just keep marching on to the next thing.

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    3. My dad had a trucking company. Hes drivers were told to always stopped there on the way through to fuel and eat.

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  2. I used to live there years ago when it was booming truckstop my dad had a shop there

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    1. Do you have any interesting stories from when you lived there? It must have changed quite a bit since then.

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    2. Roy? what year did you live there?

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    3. I was stuck there in 1990 on a road trip with my grandparents. We were there 10 long days.

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    4. I lived there in the early 70's. I went to school in Lordsburg and worked in the restaurant after school. My mom, Jewel Lindsey was also a waitress there and my step dad, Don Lindsey, worked the fuel desk.

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  3. And I have a "vase" for a Person that used to live there. I was to hold it for her until she returned to Mesquite Texas. Have had it since 1988 and I have had not luck finding her, I wonder where the county seat is and then they might be able to locate her.

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    1. Any leads can be sent to wilsonperformanceparts@hotmail.com family or person will know the trucking company which no longer exists today.

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    2. Hey my name is Scott McKinney i lived there in 1988.

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  4. Hey Jim, that little car is Renault Dauphine and it was the best-selling import car of 1959. They were pretty cheap and comfortable but very unreliable. In fact, so many of them were breaking down so often, that the manufacturer was apologizing for this whole model line a few years later. The glass bottle you see in its trunk (the engine sat in the back) is a brake fluid reservoir.
    Keep up the great job!

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  5. I used to stop there on my way to Texas in the mid to late '90s, but haven't been by there in years. I was stationed in Arizona at the time. Maybe the Love's truck stop in Lordsburg was too much competition. BTW, the motel still has an operating website.

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  6. I used to live in Road Forks with family who owned a portion of the truck stop, bar and motel. It was a fun place to live. I swam in that pool as a kid, hung out in the bar and worked shortly as a waitress. I still have a Shady Grove Restaurant Menu I saved. Inside the truck stop was an arcade, gift shop, salon (for a bit), shoe shine, post office, store in the back for truckers and of course the restaurant. I loved their salsa and chips and they had great corn bread. Last time I visited there back in 1999, I stayed at the Desert West. I had fond memories of that place. It was a bustling back in the 90's. I will miss you Road Forks.

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    1. Thank you for sharing your memories of Road Forks. I wish I could have seen it during its heyday. It sounds like such a nice place. I'm glad you held on to a menu from Shady Grove Restaurant. It's nice to know that you're helping to preserve its memory.

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  7. I've been there. I remember when it was still a functioning restaurant.

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    1. Nice! I would like to have seen it when it was still open.

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  8. I was stationed with the border patrol in the national guard that area 2006-7 timeframe. It was still open and doing a good business in those years. Oversize /permit loads may not take the interstate accross there to or from El Paso, so they have to detour down state route 80 thru the backwoods desert. So that's a natural stopping/ fueling point. Also at that time the deeming truck terminal in deming was still open and doing a good business.( halfway point between El Paso and Tucson supposedly) when the new petro travel plaza/ stopping center opened up just outside of deming, it put both of these older more traditional/ independent truck stops out of business.

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    1. Thanks for the info. I wasn't sure what might have caused this place to close. It's sad when big businesses come in and out-compete independent businesses.

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    2. It was a good place to live. I liked the Grahams Jane, Judy and Johnny They were good people. I had a lot of fun living there from 1970 to 1973. I hope they are doing well. I miss living there.

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    3. What's your name? We would have known each other. My name is Bobbie, my mom was jewel and my step dad was Don, he worked the fuel desk.

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    4. Hey Bobbie that post you were asking about was from my brother Jeff;he passed away a couple years ago I remember Don and jewel

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  9. I lived there from 1970-1973 the owners. Were the grahams i remember my brothers worked on the fuel. Side my parents worked in the restaurant

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    1. Cool! Thanks for sharing your memories.

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    2. Hi P.J., my name is Jody, I was friends with Tina your sister. Where is she and how is she doing? My mom is Jane.

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    3. I too used to work there..... it was my first job right out of high school and I worked in the restaurant, c-store and helped in other areas. It was the most amazing job I ever had..... the people I met, helped, waited on..... AMAZING!

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    4. I knew Mike Wagner. He was my boyfriend for a minute.

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  10. It used to be a "goin' jessie" for a while. People would holler "Watch out the cow haulers are comin' in".
    Get 3 or 4 us together & it was a wild time in Shady Grove.

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    1. I'd never heard "goin' Jessie" before. What a fun expression :)

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  11. I stopped at this exit to visit the phantom fire work shop and immediately noticed the abandoned motel and is gas station. I love places like this. I wondered what the history of this place was and I googled the name and found this site. After reading the posts in here I was able to learn the history and read lovely stories about this place. Thank you all for the history and unforgettable memories you share with people like me. I do have one question: on my way back into new Mexico I wanted to roam around and maybe go into the motel and motel tavern to take pictures. Is this illegal to do and could I get in trouble if I entered the buildings. For some reason I feel connected with this place. Thank you for your time.

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  12. I lived and grew up in cotton city about 14 or so miles from road forks. I remember my mother worked at the restaurant as a waitress. Oh my the fun those waitresses had.. I remember Freda another lady waitress they all joked around it was constantly hopping back in the days. With the arcade game room, shoe shine, hair cuts, gift store, big place where it was a truckers dream to go buy everything it had anything they ever wanted, a radio shop and of course the wonderful restaurant. They had a bar across the road didnt ever seem it was empty either. Constant semis gasing up and convenience store there on site plus another store across the road. Semis and cars parked everywhere people sleeping or enjoying the views. Not far away is the beautiful mountains. Had a tire shop also... What a dream it would be to reopen it.... Love it back then.

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    1. Sounds like it was a great place very full of life. Thanks so much for sharing your memories!

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    2. Any idea that Freda is still alive? AND I just saw Glenna Salyers name in Google, but nothing on Facebook. WHILE the poor workers and their lively hood is something to cry about, Except for Johnny Graham who was nice to me, his DAMN sisters Judy and Jane were quite the bitches. AND I wouldn't go that route except I just ran into that DAMN son of Janes on All About Lordsburg group. WAS so happy to get in, chat with people about my years at Steins rebuilding it and up pops that DAMN Mike Coogan and starts crap with me because I said his mother and aunt WOULD NOT ALLOW me to get water, ever though Johnny had said I could. I think the demise of Road Forks is nothing but Karma, hope Johnny didn't lose.

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    3. Johnny is doing well and lives in Safford Arizona

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  13. Stopped there in April 2017 and took pictures outside, didn't take any inside. Nice to hear some of the history from people that were there when everything was still open.

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  14. I lived there From 1970 until 1973. I worked as a bus boy in the restaurant for Jane (Graham) Coogan. My brother Mike worked for Johnny Graham in the truck stop.

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    1. damn sure hope you didn't turn out to be the asshole your brother Mike IS today. I'm sure I saw or run into you guys, Mike for sure because I was at Steins RR town from 76 to 88, and then 90-94. Plain and simple Johnny was great with me, just great. Gave me permission to get water over at his corrals but as soon as Jane and Judy saw it, now only did they stop me, but damned if they didn't want to BAN me from the truck stop completely. NOW that's just about as fucked up as you can get. NO damn wonder Road Forks is trashed, KARMA do work in mysterious ways, I sure hope Johnny didn't suffer. BUT, as I went into the group All About Lordsburg the other day it was great until Mike popped up and took offense that I simply said I had problems all the years I was at STeins getting water. THAT had Road Forks worked with me, 2 1/2 miles but I had to go to San Simon Fire Dept. 18 miles., and Mike went bananas for that comment. Asshole should have simply said, "damn Warren, sorry about that, not sure why Mom did that". AND I have wanted to talk to Johnny for years and I asked him for Johnny's phone number and he refused to give it to me. A real genuine asshole.

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    2. I was "in love" with Mike Coogan' at age 14. Lol... I loved the Grahm girls, Judy and Jane. The one I didn't like was Johnny Grahms wife. She was a bitch

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  15. I also lived there as a child must of been mid1980s was a bustling little town i remember the grahams played alot of games in that game room. Scott

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  16. Anyone that lived there during this time can contact me at mybirl@aol.com, would be interesting to find the kids i played with i cant remember their names i do remember one little blonde haired girl i think she was related to the grahams somehow. There was also a little boy i played with his dad was a mechanic i think and mother or stepmother was mexican. we used to crush cans together lol

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  17. When I was young we traveled from our home in Kansas to New Mexico and Arizona often. My Dad trucked through there a lot and had many stories of the people and places along that Highway. Interstates don't compare to the roads from that era because you just fly by and don't stop to smell the roses.

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    1. I agree wholeheartedly. Road trips are so much more fun when you have the opportunity to experience places up close. Freeways are good for if you're in a hurry.

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  18. Who's the owner of the restaurant now .?

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  19. I’m always seeking Abandon places to explore. Back in 2005, I Stopped at that gas station for a Soda, and it was pretty nice then. Sad to see these places go out of business, and seems to be more of it happening.

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  20. Yes, the newer chain travel plazas put most of these kind of places out. Truckers changed and a new breed of 'people driving trucks' wanted fast food and all the comforts of gaming and such that old-school truckstops did not offer. You readers can visit the Doswell Truckstop over in Doswell, Va (exit 98 on I-95) and you can see the same happened to them. Another is the Stateline Truckstop up on I-90 in West Springfield, Pa, and so on. I always stop at Flash Foods at Harriets Bluff on I-95 about exit 7 in Georgia. Its not visible from the interstate, but still open and has lots of truck parking. It was a beautiful truckstop when it opened and had friendly people with hot 24 hour full deli meals (meatloaf, mashed potatos, pies, hot vegetables et). When the mega chain plazas came on the scene it went downhill. Partly because the stockholders don' want to put any money in it. Theyhave free showers but the Cat Scale is gone and its junky looking because they allow a repair shop to operate in the back and it ruined the look of the place. Anyhow, it was a nice quiet place back in the late 90's. I prefer the small dirt lot and ma and pa stops simply because they are not full most of the time and I am not tied-up with unprofessional 'people driving trucks' that can park and cant drive getting into them.

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  21. Anyone remember Carl's down in Carl's Corner,Tx.? Ted's out in Arizona? The Big K up in Kingsville, Ohio, the Green Shingle in Sterritania, Pa.?

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    1. I remember Carl's. They had an awesome bar there with truck parking.

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  22. I loved reading the 08/24/2017 posting because the waitress Freda (actually spelled Frieda) was my mother. She worked there for 17 years and I have many fond memories of going there as a kid. My very first job was working as a dishwasher in the restaurant. It was a bustling place in its heyday.

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    1. I remember you Hank,Henery,and Debbie and your mom.I'm Tiner,I worked there 1979-80.

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    2. Tiner I remember you.... you and my brother Jr

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    3. Andy, is your mom still alive? Hope so. I was at Steins from 76-88 and then 90-94. A gal named Betty Metlicka popped in with her daughters there Danielle and Michelle, Danny about 8, Michelle about 14. We hit it off and Betty was good friends with your mom but had always been nice to me when I went down. When she heard Betty and I were getting married she pulled me to the said and said No No No Warren, this woman is psycho, but I had been up there for about 4 years, working by myself, lonely and thouoght she might help me, Ha ha ha, what a damn joke. Your mom was right, she was a psycho maniac. Talked with Danny a year or so back, said her mom was killed on a motor cycle, biker momma bit the dust.

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    4. Hi Tiner - I remember you. Hope all is well.

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    5. Hi Warren: My mom passed away in May 2018 from COPD. Dad passed away 3 months before that. I'm glad you have fond memories of her. I miss her every day.

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  23. I trucked from the east coast to California all through the 80’s 90’s and into the 2000’s and would stop there just about every trip. It was a good place to fuel up, eat, shower or spend the night. If I had the time or ran into a truckin friend we might park there for the night and go across the road to the bar and flirt with the waitress if it was a weekend. Spent a few nights in the Desert West motel over the years it was a nice place back in the day. I spent most my life trucking all across America and have fond memories of other places just like Shady Grove. Tucumcari Travel Plaza in Tucumcari,NM is another shut down truck stop that in its heyday was a great place to stop . There are a lot of other good o’l places that are gone forever.

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  24. I lived in Road Forks back in the 70's.I was 15 years old. I worked as a waitress during the summer. I met my future husband there. He also worked there. It was always busy there especially at the restaurant. There was also a mobile home park there for the employees. Its hard believe it's all gone.

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  25. i use to stop and get my story straight before going thru the port in arizona.

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    1. Always stopped there for cold beer and quiet parking. And yes it was a good place to study logbook 101 going either direction. Remember the NM port was just east of there too.

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  26. In 1970 I was 18 and ran double with one of my mentors in trucking, J.B.Adams. We always stopped here going and coming from NC to Cali. and home again. Always fueled there for free showers and we were on the bed lining exchange feature they had for regular truckers. Their sheets 1 fitted 1 flat and 2 pillow cases were a Salmon color and always seemed cool and fresh scented. Had the best Mexican food too. Always packed full of drivers. Hate to see it go to hell like this.

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    1. such a cool anecdote!! i already miss it from when i visited a couple weeks ago. i wish i could turn back time and stand in one spot to see how it developed and was destroyed. just the development and innovation of humanity

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  27. I RAN AROUND WITH MIKE I LIVED AND WORKED AT JOHNS TRUCK SER HAD A TRAILER DOWN BELOW THE SHOP IS MIKE STILL AROUND OR DID THE PARTY LIFE GET WE USTED GO NITE HUNTS VETT DID DO SO WELL JUST CURIOS JAMES PARKS

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  28. WELL LETS SEE WHAT COMES OUT OF THIS

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  29. I used to work there but most of all I loved my shady grove family. I dated Ernie vreeland for quite Some time. I love his parents sisters and nieces and nephews. The grahams were also family johnny and all the kids. So sad that place closed down after so many years.

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    1. Big Ernie was kool. It was big Ernie and little Ernie wasn't it? Or Ernie Jr.? Back when I was rebuilding Steins Judy's husband AL DIXON put in a bid on the property. HE told me, No problem Garrison, you can stay as long as you want. Ernie came up later and told me, "Warren you better do something dude, Dixon is saying the minute the deal goes through he's going to kick you odd and turn it into an over night park". I got the money and bought it. Any idea how Belia is doing?

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  30. Replies
    1. Seth Graham is on Facebook. He might know. I ran into him in Lordsburg about a year ago, so he's still in the area

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  31. That would be great if someone from the TV shows would purchase this property and refurbish it!!

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  32. I remember ditching school back in the 80’s and we would always go to roadworks to play the cool games in the arcade and to always grab a great burger and check out the trucks! It was always a great time!! We did numerous road fork trips

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  33. I CAN REMEMBER THE ORIGINAL SHADY GROVE LATE 1940'S 1950'S...WHEN THE HIGHWAY WAS HIGHWAY 86...WHERE I-10 IS NOW...THERE IS ONLY CEMENT PIECES WHERE THE ORIGINAL WAS. THE GRAHAMS HAD IT THEN, JUDY, JOHN, JANE, AND IT WAS ROAD FORKS THEN TOO. QW LIVED JUST DOWN THE ROAD AT A SHELL STATION ON THE NORTH SIDE OF THE HIGHWAY, AT THE GARY EXIT. MY UNCLE USED TO WORK THERE. THAT FUNNY LOOKING PICTURE HE DOESN'T KNOW WHAT IS, USED TO WEIGH THE TRUCKS WHEN THEY CAME THROUGH. GOOD MEMORIES!

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    1. Definitely a hell of a story how Mr. And Mrs. Graham had their little Cafe on the North side of what became I10. Then when they sold out to the State the moved over and began to build the Road Forks Metropolis. I got no use for Jane and Judy, Johnny is as cool as they come, ALWAYS good to me but not Jane, Judy or their dad. Their mom was a sweet little lady. NOW a couple of days ago I go into the Facebook group All About Lordsburg, I'm kicking along sharing photos. Everyone is happy and we're swapping information and old times and up jumps the devil Mike Coogan, so he takes after his mother and Grandfather. Maybe he's an alcoholic as well. Right now i'm as pissed as could be, just a repeat of what I went through 30 years ago with the more uncooperative Grahams.

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    2. Damn Warren, this stuff is still bothering you 30 YEARS later? Time to forgive and forget.

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  34. GOOD MEMORIES FOR SURE...I WAS BORN IN LORDSBURG, RAISED 9 MILES WEST AT THE SHELL STATION. SO SAD THAT SHADY GROVE IS GONE..WE HAD AN EXCELLENT MEAL AT THE RESTAURANT IN 2000......

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    1. so it was still up and running? I've only been over 2 times since leaving Steins in 94 and even though I had bad blood with Jane, Judy and their DAD, as I keep saying Johnny was great, their mom was cool but even at that I just could not believe my eyes when I went over in 2015 possibly 14 I thought I had steped into the twilight zone. I didn't offer to go in to any of the structures, just pulled up on my bike right in front of the Entrance to the restaurant and set there for a moment. Shocked as hell that there was a guy over at the building where the Bar use to be, looked like a Mechanic. I had on a ball cap turned back wards and Sun Glasses, had not been over in just about 20 years and he says, "how you doing Warren". WOW!

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  35. Stay tuned. We are bringing this station back on line

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  36. In 1974 I hauled cattle out of El Paso. On every trip to California I would stop at Shady Grove. It was a great truck stop in part because it wasn't one of the cookie cutter chains like Union 76. Great memories.

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  37. IT was a cool place I'm sure for DRIVERS, kind of an Oasis in the desert. Quite the story of how Mr. And Mrs. Graham had their first little cafe, were bought out by the Highway Dept. and had the incentive to move across the road and start what was their own little empire. Freaky as hell to go there a few years back and see it totally destroyed, BUT you DO NOT treat people as Mr. Graham and his daughters treated me and not pay a price. That old bastard attacked me the first time I stopped at the gas station, got a tank of gas and was getting a small container of water. NOT sure how he knew me already but he says, "what are you doing?" I said just getting a little water. "He says, get the hell out of here, and don't be getting any water from here. AS I've said before, Johnny Graham treated me much differently and helped when he could, but THOSE damn sisters of his, just selfish as hell. Mighta been the water, because Lordsburg was like that, they fought me every day I stayed at Steins and tried to save what was left of that little town. YOU know there's a problem when town has OVER 5,000 in 1977, and 2019, 2,408.

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  38. Resurrection has begun

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  39. We are proud to announce Shady Grove Truckstop is now open. Stop in and share your stories of days gone by.

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  40. stopped at the truck stop and used the restroom. the desert west hotel has been burned to a crisp and even more abandoned now

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  41. My husband was a trucker. We always stopped there running California. They had everything there. I bought a vactus set there once. They had a trucker's museum that was nice. Saw but avoided my paternal grandmother whom I did not like there once. She lived in NM in the 40's. Some of my grandfather's family and her sisters lived there.

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    1. If you went through there in the early 70's, I probably fueled your truck!

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  42. The truck stop has reopened and I stop here often. As a matter of fact, I'm here tonight. The hotel has burned to the ground as previously mentioned. As of a couple of weeks ago, the tire shop across the street was set on fire as well by people lighting fireworks near the old gas pumps. I attempted to assist a woman to put it out, but tires against the structure were on fire and it was too hot so we waited for the fire departments of various small towns nearby to put it out. Much of the interior has burned, but the structure still stands, like the hotel next door.

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    1. oops... unlike the hotel next door.

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  43. I spent about 6 months at 'Road Forks' back in the early 70's.
    It was a place to make a little money while hitchhiking from southern CA.to MI. I place to 'winter over' while waiting for warmer weather back home in Michigan.
    I worked as a fuel attendant at the truck stop, working graveyard shift fueling semi trucks.
    There was a small trailer park across the street where the workers lived. As a 17 year old young man I lived and learned a lot in that little corner of NM. I still think back on it often.

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  44. I worked at Phantom Fireworks during holiday season in '17 or '18. It always made me sad seeing the abandoned places,wondering about the lives of those who once lived or worked there. Warren if you come back to read comments- I lived in Lordsburg for 3 years and you're right, that place is disturbed. I feel bad for the few good people I met there.

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  45. I was a Schwan man from 94 - 2000 . I spent many a night there at the motel and of course the bar .Seth , Johnny , and Eyes the bartender were all fantastic . They were all good customers also .

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