Blue Swallow Motel in Tucumcari, New Mexico. Credit: Blue Swallow Motel Anyone of a certain age remembers—fondly, no doubt—those interminable hot summer drives across America to the grandparents. You know, when you were just dying to finally spot a Vacancy sign ahead...and, please...the added promise of TV and Air Con flashing in bright neon too. Soon, it would be time to escape your sizzling station wagon prison to dive bomb into the motel pool.