Bowlin’s Flying C Ranch

Stopped in during my trip and I just wished I didn’t! It was that bad! this place deserves a negative 5… Really! The place is a mess and the restrooms were horrible! Where are the workers??? The Dairy Queen that is at the far end so you need to walk thru the store and all the BS they have for sale. Well the service at the DQ is extremely bad! Gave them my order and it took them several times to get it down… WTF come on! The employees here are either extremely slow or just done care… I would say they just done care… Please pass this place by if at all possible and insure your self of bypassing a really bad experience!

Horrible stop! I had been craving DQ unsweetened tea since stopping in Claude, TX and having one at the excellent DQ there. Flying C was out of ice tea at 3:00 in the afternoon!!!
Really!!! How do you run out of ice tea?
MAKE SOME MORE! It is a pretty easy thing to do!
I never have luck stopping at this place! They are slow! The line is always long because of their slowness! Bad service!!! Low energy! Stuffy!!! Overpriced souvenirs! Dirty bathrooms!!!
Keep driving!!!

I discovered Bowlin’s many years ago. I’d moved to Austin, Tx in 1983 and had one occasion or another come up where I’d traverse New Mexico, going by or through Albuquerque and Gallup. I initially stopped at Bowlin’s to get a snakeskin wallet — I think I’m on my third one in 20-​some-​odd-​years. I’m in Colorado right now and plan my return to Tx by way of Bowlin’s — it’s a cool place to visit and to buy some NM trinkets. And a new wallet. They last a long time and the snakeskin is way good.

The restrooms were disgusting. The mens restroom had an accident all over the floor and it was smeared everywhere. The women’s restroom apparently you can see straight through to others stalls (says my wife).
We bought a coffee at the adjacent DQ and it was cold, but luckily they brought out a hot pot for us and loaded The pump carafe.
The gift shop was loaded with stuff. Didn’t even look just wanted to get out asap!
Staff was nice enough.
Do not stop here for coffee or the restrooms! Keep going! There is a big stop not far up.

Staff at the front were nice and the gift shop had interesting pieces although it seemed pricey for what they were selling. They didn’t have as big of a selection of authentic native American goods as the billboards make it seem. Also, the parking lot smells like urine.

People were nice, but unfortunately we were sold an «authentic Native American knife» with a lovely story to go with it… that ended up being a $ 10 knife from Pakistan.
I like to think the woman who sold it to us didn’t know, since the man who «made» the knife has a nice tag on it.
They had other nice things, just be careful.

The authentic stuff is overpriced, the other stuff was crap made in China. Not worth the time.

I’m on my way home to California where my daughter had already arrived for a visit. I was hoping to get her some gifts here. Unfortunately, I arrived at 8:03 and the doors were locked. A guy showed up to let some customers that were already inside get out. I asked him if it was possible to get my daughter a gift. His response was very rude. That was the last time I’ll ever stop here!

There was a person was clearly racist and homophobic and wouldn’t serve any people of color, resulting in me and my Mexicaness with my queer friend waiting nearly 30 minutes to but our two items and we were clearly there in front of others. Some great trinkets but never coming back due to horrible service.

Some beautiful dream catchers that won’t break the bank but obviously needs to work on customer service. Waited for a while for someone to help me while my white friend walked up and they asked if they could help her instead. Like clearly I’m buying stuff and she’s not but you only talk to her? Smh obviously the cashier was a person of color too so racism at its finest much? Take your money somewhere else my friends.

This gift shop is very unique. LOVED everything about it. They have rattlesnake skin with the head… belts. you dont see them in your local Dillards store. ha!
Bear décor, deer décor, horse décor, mexico décor, cow décor, owls… you name it… they have it. Cowhide rug… it was cool.
The jewelry is amazing!!! Some handmade by local indians… beautiful!!!
Shirts, lots of great fireworks!!!
Love it. They even have an awesome Dairy Queen. Make sure you stop on and see all they have… you’ll be in there alittle while.
Clean restrooms.
A must– do stop!

A small number of difficult to access gas pumps, combined with credit card processing problems and supremely over hyped expectations (thanks to about 100 billboards) make this an epicly disappointing pitstop.

Lots of fun stuff! From fireworks to geodes to Dairy Queen and more! Nice people work here too. Big truck parking, but no diesel; only gasoline. I’m gonna stop here again to buy one of those cool multicolor knit sweatshirts.

This place is SO hyped up.
I thought about all the crap I was gonna buy, moccasins, weird souveniers, snacks for the road… then we get there and it’s pretty much just a gas station with fireworks and trinkets and moccasins for 50 something dollars. They should really spend less money on all of those billboards and more money on more food/​drinks for their store.
After the hundred billboards we saw anticipating this crap store, it was a giant let down.

This is a pretty funny pit stop. You should not leave without some entertainment. The buildup to this place is pretty intense– as the billboards let you know all the reasons you should be stopping in for. There are stuffed dead things, fireworks, jewelry, T shirts, guns, odd toys for the children, snack shop and a Dairy Queen. Both this and another I-​40 rest stop have signs dedicated to telling you how clean the bathrooms are. I am not sure the bathrooms are actually that clean, but it was a great spot to take a leak, stretch and walk around and stare at stuff. Good people watching too! We sat in DQ and had a Blzzard. The food here is pretty abysmal, stick with ice cream like products. Service was slow, you could tell the souls of the people working here had already been crushed. The man delivering the Blizzards was mesmerized by the fact you can turn them upside down and they do not fall out of the cup. I guess it shows how depressing working at DQ is. Somehow the soda machine does not actually make ice here. They had to refill it with buckets of ice.

Mostly junk souvenirs, a very slow, poorly run DQ, and the grossest bathrooms on I-​40. The knobs were missing off of the sink, no soap, and a soggy roll of toilet paper to dry your hands. Sick.

Clean bathrooms funky things they sell some demonic but glad I could relieve myself

For anyone who’s ever driven I-​95 through the Carolinas, this is the «South of the Border» of the Southwest.
Flying C was advertised a billion times on the highway and we were in the market for some souvenirs, so we thought, «Why the hell not?» There’s a gas station here, a small restaurant, and a large gift shop with a ton of stuff. Now some of it is flat-​out crap, but some of the items are actually pretty nice. It seemed like the majority of the good stuff was at the counter (expensive turquoise, authentic dreamcatchers, Native American pottery, and legit cowboy hats/​boots are all near the register). I thought it was worth the stop so we could pick up a few things for family members, but that’s about it. You can also stock up on fireworks and stuffed animal carcasses if you feel the need to be completely creepy.

Most terrifying place to stop topee off of I-​40? Not exactly.
Best place to buy a taxidermy coyote? Definitely.

Stopped in to find some postcards and it’s got some pretty neat stuff in there. Ended up getting a postcard and a shirt. Staff were friendly.
Stop in and have a look.