I also drove the old Route 66 that ran from Cuervo to what is now the Love's truck stop in Santa Rosa. It was a very broken up road at the time, but still passable. Now, it is finally been fenced over by the individual owners who got the right-of-way back and nothing but a scar on a map is all that is left of that.
I am told that the major issue with Cuervo is a lack of water and I saw evidence of a big cistern for the school (looked to be poured just a few years before it was abandoned in the 1950s).