Amtrak Across America AdventureTuesday, September 20, 2010Andrea drove me to New Orleans to meet with Vivian at the Hampton Inn. Vivian had already checked in earlier and was waiting for us in the park next door. The room was lovely with a nice view of said park and the downtown skyline. We walked to Mulate’s for a nice dinner and then a long walk along the levy with a good margarita. Watched the people (not many) and ships on the Mississippi (even fewer) go by before walking back and settling in for a nice long sleep. We’re both excited about tomorrow and the adventure begins!!!!
Wednesday, September 21, 2010Gonna be a good day, if you know what I mean! We were showered and ready for breakfast 8ish. They have lots of good food here at the free breakfast bar: scrambled eggs, biscuits and gravy, yogurt, grapefruit, coffee, cranberry juice and a banana to go for me. Took a walk and some pictures and up to the room to pack and re-pack. We are excited and anxious to get moving. Our taxi arrived for the short hop to the train station. He tells us he made more money after Katrina than he ever did: FEMA people would hire him for the whole day for $500 and he would mostly wait around for them. He said things have been slow for a while but will pick up soon because of the nice fall weather coming in. We checked in and were told to wait in the locked first class waiting room until someone came to get us for our car. There was a young boy in there, maybe 12, maybe 14, with his grandfather, sprawled out in a chair playing on his video game. The place was really crowded with lots of older folks standing and I was mad that this kid wouldn’t offer his seat to any of them. But grandpa didn’t seem to notice and it really wasn’t any of my business….They finally announced our train was boarding but we weren’t in any big hurry so we were the last ones on the train. Luggage could be a problem but Sandy White, our trusty steward, got all of us AND our luggage on board. Our roomette is “cutesy” – very small but serviceable. Sleeping might be a problem but I’ve anticipated this and think I’ll be awake most of the trip. Keith is our across the aisle neighbor. He tells us he’s traveling around the country by rail; this is on his “bucket list”. He is a nice guy and very personable. Lunch was great: salad for Viv, burger for me. And then we discovered the sightseeing car: it was the upper part of the lounge car. They had studio seating along with tables and chairs. The top is mostly glass like a sunroof and offers a panoramic view on both sides of the tracks. I take my crocheting and camera with me and spend most of the rest of the afternoon there. We do have some annoyances: loud talkers and cell phone users, a Flaming Gay who keeps asking, “Are we in Texas yet?” and a very talented artist who apparently sketched me although I didn’t get to see it. But most of them depart in Lafayette and I love the moving countryside: cane fields, small towns, and beautiful blue skies with puffy white clouds. We have stops in Lake Charles and Beaumont where there was not a station but several firemen checking some suspicious 50 gallon barrels: don’t know what that was all about but happy to get moving again. This was our first stop to switch out personnel: there’s a company that apparently drives them to a wide spot in the road near the railroad tracks where the engineer and conductor both switch out with new ones. I didn’t see anyone else getting on or off at this stop, just the train personnel. This is something I observed thru out the train trip: the same logo on the van and I hardly think he was following us thru-out the country.
We had a late reservation for dinner and ate with Keith and an unpleasant woman named Helen. That’s the thing about the train – you are seated with whoever happens to come in at the same time as you. We met many different people this way – all of them interesting in one way or another: Helen was memorable in the fact that she was so unpleasant and that made her interesting! She was a complainer – complained about everything, mostly traveling. Keith finally told her that the key to traveling was flexibility and if she didn’t have it, then she should stay home or at the very least, quit complaining! The food is very good on the train: I had a wonderful vegetarian lasagna, succotash, small salad and roll. Keith is quite a personable guy and is enjoying his trip. He’s also not afraid to speak his mind and with that said, Helen didn’t linger at our table after dinner.
We had an hour layover in Houston after dinner so we all got out and walked around. Flaming Gay was put in his place by Vivian when she told him in no uncertain terms: “you’re in Texas now!” We all noticed he stopped swishing right after that and Sandy wondered what happened to him. The beds were made up when we got back onboard. Viv took the top bunk and it’s a good thing she’s small. It was a tight squeeze getting settled in; I would never have fit. I’m afraid if I had been able to get up there, they’d still be trying to pry me out…..Has anyone ever used a train car for a casket??? Anyway, Viv fell asleep pretty fast (I’m sure she took a sleeping pill). I, on the other hand, wanted to savor every minute so I got myself comfy and dozed a little as I watched Texas roll by. At some point, I somehow pulled our cabin door off the hinges and Sandy wasn’t too happy about that. She had a repairman come in at 2:30 AM when we got to San Antonio. He had it fixed in a flash – although he had to come inside the little room to do it – three is more than company….. We now have about a three hour layover in San Antonio. Maybe I can get a little sleep before the sun comes up. But no, that didn’t happen since the electricity is off. It doesn’t seem to bother Vivian as she is snoring loudly in the top bunk. I watch out the window as we pull forward, stop, back up, hit the train behind us and do it all over again – 10 or 20 times. I can’t figure out what is going on and there’s no one to ask. I suppose I could get up and wander the aisles – maybe even go to the sightseeing car – but I’m pretty comfortable here and decide to just stay put, watching the sun rise over San Antonio in the meantime. I think we are taking on cars here in SA – another sleeper and another coach. Maybe they got them mixed up somehow in the lineup. We finally leave for good sometime after 7 and they announce the dining car is open for breakfast. Of course, Vinnie in the lounge car is also open although he announces that he will be closing in 15 minutes for his morning meal break. He has quite a distinctive way of speaking = New York brash I think - and we all have a mental picture of him closing up shop for his meal breaks! When we finally see him, it’s not at all what we expected….. He’s short, thin, and wiry, with gray hair and dark-framed glasses (like a Halloween disguise) and always wears a teen’s black backpack/purse. I finally figured it must be the money from the lounge car that he’s carrying around; he couldn’t leave it there while he is having a meal break…… He entertains everyone on the train with his announcements of taking his morning, afternoon and evening “meal breaks” and by the time we get to El Paso, everyone just laughs and speaks right along with Vinnie as he announces the lounge car is closing for the evening. We get up and Vivian goes to the dressing room to change. I was trying to move things around for Sandy and spilled Viv’s Coke all over me, the bed and everything Vivian had dumped onto the bed before leaving. My pants got a tad wet but I cleaned up pretty good and didn’t ruin the mattress or blankets. However, I felt like a kid being called to the principal’s office having to tell Sandy what I did. I just know she’s put it on my permanent record. We make our way to the dining car and have breakfast with a couple from Deming: very nice but also very large and I want to ask, “Where did you sleep?” but that would be very impolite! They lived in Mexico for five years and have only recently moved back to the states for better medical care for his health. She told the story of being on a train years ago when drunken Indians attacked the train from pickup trucks, shooting guns and rifles into the side of the train. She said everyone tried to deny it the next day but couldn’t explain the bullet holes. It must have been quite an experience. I had spinach quiche which was very good. I went back to the room and tried to nap but Viv’s phone just buzzed and buzzed. I went thru her bags trying to find it but I couldn’t. I couldn’t help but think it was an important message from Katie, or Jack or even Jon in Australia, so I went to find her in the sightseeing car. She was talking with Keith so I stayed and talked some with him while she went to find her phone. We were passing thru some beautiful red rock scenery and over the Pecos River on a very high bridge. Viv came back and said her phone was saying “roaming charges apply” since we were so close to Mexico – just outside the window and across the river in fact. By this time, it was lunch and we had another good one: turkey and cheese on ciabatta bread with chips and ice tea and Oreo cheesecake for dessert. Ignacio was our waiter for this and the rest of our meals and he’s quite a character (as is most of the Amtrak staff). I went back to the sightseeing car after lunch – I can’t get enough of the beautiful day and the fabulous scenery – and stayed there for more than 4 hours. I thought I might get in a cat-nap before we get to El Paso but that didn’t happen. Viv got off in Alpine for a smoke break; Keith and I thought she was getting left there as the train pulled out of the station and she’s on the platform talking to an apparent cowboy. We just waved as the train moved on but it seems that the cowboy was getting on in coach and she wasn’t finished with her cigarette so they told her to just get on with him. I didn’t know how I was going to “splain” that one to Jack when we got home but turns out I didn’t have to. As I was watching out the window, I saw a sign for Parking Ahead for Marfa Lights Viewing. Viv had read in the Amtrak guide that we would pass thru Marfa, a place where people have gathered for years to watch unexplained lights in the night sky. There wasn’t much else to do in Marfa but it wasn’t night yet so we didn’t see anything unusual and in fact, didn’t even stop. We had a few more delays waiting for eastbound freight trains and once, in the middle of nowhere, we took on an extra engineer who they said was doing an evaluation of some sort. Keith was worried about missing his connection in Los Angeles and had a running bet with Sandy about being late. She bet him a penny that he’d make his connection. We were already running late by more than an hour so when Sandy said for us to get our things together and that El Paso was about 45 minutes away, we were ready for anything. Well, almost anything: We heard Sandy at the end of our car talking to someone, suddenly yell, “Emergency, emergency! Everyone take your seat NOW!” The train came to a screeching halt. We first could smell gasoline and then the burnt brakes and everyone starts murmuring and jabbering saying, “What’s happening? What’s going on?” No one knows immediately but Sandy who goes thru out our car saying, “We hit a car. Please stay in your seats.” How she knew that no one knows but sure enough that is what happened. After texting Mark to let him know what happened, he tells me he’s already at the station. I asked him to see what he can find out and almost immediately he says we’ve hit a car and it’s a fatality. Sandy confirms this within a few minutes and tells us it was a 38 year old female school principal who went around the crossing guard gate and was killed instantly. Talk about a teaching moment. In the meantime, Mark has posted on Facebook about the accident and Andrea has already texted me to see if we were all OK. She found reference to an accident on the internet involving Amtrak and a fatality that happened within minutes of ours, only in Petal, Mississippi. Talk about weird! And here’s another one: One of the other passengers who had been fairly quiet up to now, said she hoped that everything wouldn’t shut down like the other time. We asked, “What other time?” and it turns out that she was on the same train going east when it hit that cane truck in Crowley the week before we left. That one made our local Baton Rouge news. Apparently when the train hit the truck, everyone felt the impact; people who were standing including most of the staff were hurtled about and had to be taken to the hospital. The train was damaged and they had to bring in another engine and by the time they did that, they just ordered Greyhound buses to come and get everyone and take them into New Orleans. I guess it took quite a while for all this to happen and in the meantime, they closed down everything – you couldn’t get a meal or even a snack – and you had to transport your own luggage to the bus. What a mess!!!!
I don’t think this case is quite the same. No one on the train is injured, although the engineer is pretty shaken according to Sandy. She seems to have a firm grasp on the situation and we just watch patiently as the scene unfolds outside our window. There are tons of police: state, county and city, ambulances, railroad officials, crime scene tape, reporters, photographers, residents, students, gawkers, dogs and all of us onboard. The victim was very well known and this is a small town. It’s hard to sit here and watch everyone come and look, cry and hug, and move on. We can’t do anything or go anywhere; they won’t let anyone off the train even for a smoke. Although we find out later that one belligerent gentleman (I think its Viv’s cowboy from the last stop) is carted away by the police for forcefully requesting just that and another is taken in handcuffs after he feeds liquor to an underage and self-medicated girl who passes out and no one can then wake up. They took her off in an ambulance and that’s the last we saw of any of them. And Vinnie announces that the snack bar will be closing for his evening meal break and upon his return, in approximately one hour, no more liquor will be sold.
Sandy keeps us pretty well informed and at one point asks who’s waiting for us at the station. I tell her my son and I’ve been in contact with him. She says maybe if he comes here, they will let us off the train and we can be on our way to Albuquerque. She says she’ll check and I text Mark. Mark says the station master tells him to stay put – no one can get off the train, Federal Law. Sandy comes back with pretty much the same report as by now, the sun has set on what was once a beautiful day, and it’s very dark along those tracks and too dangerous to let us off. She laments if only she’d thought of it earlier but I tell her it’s OK and we text Mark and tell him to get a motel room for the 3 of us and take a nap until he hears from us.
There’s not much to do except sit and watch and wait, although we did have dinner and talk with a lot of the passengers and crew. It was hours before the medical examiner arrived and by then the rest had their reports done: she waited on the eastbound freight while talking on her cell phone. Apparently she was distracted by the phone call and when the crossing gate didn’t go up, she went around it and directly into the path of our train. She never knew what hit her. Part of her car went flying off down the street and the rest attached itself to our engine. It was quite late by the time the body was removed along with the car and we were finally on our way. Viv’s daughter, Katie lamented how would you feel if you were the one she was talking to?….. Ignacio came by our room on his way off duty and shed a little light on the subject of train accidents. He said if you have ever been in a derailment you know the signs immediately and that’s how Sandy would have known. He also said that a non-fatal accident on average takes two hours to clear; a fatality takes normally three hours. He didn’t know why we were so long on this one. We hear various horror stories of suicides and such and all the train personnel sort of take it with a grain of salt. I guess its part of the job. At any rate, most of the passengers who were going thru to Los Angeles (that would be everyone on this car but Viv and me) settle down in their beds and go to sleep. I’m still sitting with my backpack on my lap waiting to get moving. And finally 7 hours later, we are cleared for take-off: oh, that’s a different mode of transport. But that’s what it felt like. The electricity went off again while we powered up the engine and man, did he take off. I thought something was wrong with the engine as it sounded like it was “missing” or not connecting on all cylinders. But I realized we had never taken off like that before. We were up to speeds of I’m guessing 70 mph, in a very short span and kept that pace until we arrived in El Paso. We got there at 11:50 pm so technically we got there the day we were supposed to. But our original time of arrival was 4:15 so we were a tad late. Before we got off the train, I saw Sandy stop by Keith’s room, fumble around in her pocket and hand him something: a shiny new penny. I think that was very hard for her to do….
I called Mark and he came right over from the Holiday Inn Express to get us. I had a relaxing, well-deserved shower and I can tell you: tomorrow is going to be a GREAT day!!!!!
Friday, September 24, 2010I woke up refreshed at 6:30 and decided to get everyone else up around 7 to get moving. After all, we have a 4 ½ hour ride to Albuquerque and Mark has things to do to get ready for his trip to Ireland. Mark was easy to wake; Vivian not so! I thought she might be dead but it turns out she was just in a very deep sleep. Breakfast in the lobby was sufficient. And so we’re off to Albuquerque on a “beauty day”. We saw the Los Lunas Bookmobile but otherwise had an uneventful ride to Mark’s house except for the horrendous car/truck accident southbound just after the Sunport exit. They were directing all the traffic off the freeway and on to the surface roads – Old Coors would be my guess. I guess Baton Rouge isn’t the only place they close the interstate. Stacey was excited to see us but more excited about their trip. After a brief tour of the house for Vivian, we settle in while they get laundry done and finish packing. Stacey gives me my Mother’s Day gift: a beautifully matted and framed original pen and ink drawing of a tree that she did for me. I love it and it was well worth the wait!
Stacey left some things at her school and so we go with her for a tour – very impressive. It’s downtown in the old federal building. We saw people rappelling down the side of the bank building across the street and a man walking around carrying a pink or light red, very large, at least 3 feet long, lizard like a baby. At first I thought it was stuffed but I saw it move and blink its eyes. Downtowns everywhere attract the bizarre. Her school has lots of marble including a marble circular staircase and a beautiful skylight in the large room that used to be the courtroom. They use it now for assemblies and things. There are a couple of huge vaults they used for work rooms and storage. A lot of the classrooms have glass doors and the building has been rented out to movie companies on several occasions. In fact, Stacey’s room still says “Special Weapons and Tactics Division” on the door from a SyFy movie that was done there a few years ago. She’s an excellent teacher and is well liked by everyone. I even think several of her students have crushes on her.
We stopped by Wal-Mart on the way home to pick up a few last minute items for them and then we were off to Rudy’s for some good old BBQ and to see the gang. Vivian was overwhelmed with all the people and this was only about a one third of those that usually show up: Bruce, Jason, Jade, Kim, Guy, Kaylee, Ken, Danielle, Ryan, Joe, Alexis, just to name a few. We had a good meal and good conversation and made some plans for later in the week. But we were home fairly early to finish packing and off to bed around 10 – it’s been a long couple of days with little sleep and I took full advantage!
Saturday, September 25, 2010 I got up and dressed around 5 in order to take Mark, Stacey and Ryan to the airport. We were all so excited that I forgot to take a picture of their departure. Vivian was up when I got back – actually before we left – so we made plans to go to the Corrales Harvest Festival. It was a very nice, local fest with food, arts and crafts, hayrides, animals, a kid’s area, farmer’s market and a tour of the old church and Guitterez House (which Bruce informs me is kin to Michelle). We get parked just in time for the pet parade and somehow end up in the last “float” (read tractor driven hay wagon) with refugees from Katrina: very nice family of four who said they love it there and would never go back to New Orleans even though their families returned. It’s a small world. We saw weavers, craftsmen, master gardeners, musicians, and lots of great volunteers. I carried around 13 ears of corn and a cantaloupe which was very heavy, pet a wolf, sampled an unusual, wonderful peach, had a breakfast burrito and lost my glasses among other things! We came home tired so I turned on the college football games and just like any other fan, promptly fell asleep. But Ohio State and LSU both won (although LSU wins are still giving people heart attacks). Then we were off with Boo to Bruce’s for dinner with Chelsea and Sean. It was a nice relaxing evening – good food, good company and back home and in bed around 11. And boy, did I sleep well in Mark and Stacey’s bed……..
Sunday, September 26, 2010I was up at 7 and fixed a great breakfast of fresh cantaloupe, sausage and eggs. We showered and were off to Santa Fe. It’s another beauty day and a nice ride up I-25. We visited Viv’s old college which had changed considerably – some good, some not so good. She took pictures, reminisced and talked to some students. She got excited seeing some of her old haunts and nostalgic about others. I’m glad we came on a Sunday morning when there wasn’t much traffic and we could wander around at our leisure. Although the campus was small and the students said there weren’t many students enrolled these days, it was still nice not to have to deal with changing classes or people wondering what we were doing wandering around. Things have changed dramatically in the 30 or so years it’s been since she attended but some of the buildings have remained the same including the Greer Garson Theater and Buddy Fogelson Library. Even the Brothers that ran the college still have a residence near the rear although they sold the school a few years ago. All in all, it was one of the defining moments of the trip.
We came back down the Turquoise Trail, stopping at a Wal-Mart in Santa Fe to pick up some snacks and a birthday present for Jade. We drove thru Cerrilos for pictures and Madrid for a little shopping even though we didn’t have much time. We were due back at Bruce and Michelle’s around 3 and that’s exactly when we got there to find Bruce, Sean and Chelsea picking and packing green chili. Vivian got a crash course and Sean fixed us all a green chili burrito – um, um, good! Stacey and Estefan came along with Larry and Steph and a surprise appearance by Michelle who was thought to be rehearsing for “Red Umbrellas”. We had another wonderful meal at Bruce’s 10,000 Academy Restaurant – cedar plank salmon, brisket, baked potatoes both white and sweet, broccoli salad and corn on the cob along with ice cream cake for Jade’s birthday for dessert. We were home by 9 with a plan half in place for tomorrow – take Joe’s mom, Pauline, to return her U-Haul and then go to breakfast.
Monday, September 27, 2010 And we did just that: we followed Pauline to the U-Haul and then went to breakfast at Weck’s! Fabulous as usual! We dropped Pauline off at her house down the street from Mark and were off to see the Bodies Exhibition at the Convention Center downtown. Fascinating; artistic; scientific; eerie; cool; educational; take your pick! We spent several hours there and then we were off to Old Town for a bit of shopping around the square including the Fiber Chicks yarn shop. The shop was small and cute and had lots of yarn and of course, we made some purchases from the very nice lady working there. We then went down Rio Grande Road thru Los Ranchos so Vivian could ooh and ahh at all the beautiful homes here. We ended up at Fiesta Yarns out near the balloon field where we had a nice conversation with I’m assuming the owner and bought more yarn. He then gave us directions to another shop in the area that just blew our minds! Village Wools is a huge yarn store with probably well over 1000 kinds of yarn. We wandered around but were so overwhelmed that we didn’t end up buying anything – we’ll just have to contemplate and come back another day!
We called Pauline to tell her we were on our way and we went to Sweet Tomatoes for dinner. It was very good as usual – all the soup, salad, pasta, muffins and dessert you can eat. We had a good dinner and good conversation and stopped in for a short tour of her house on the way home. She has quite a view of the city from her patio – you’d never know that her house is just down the street from Mark’s. I don’t know that I’d get much done if I lived there – I would enclose her patio and sit out there all the time looking at the mountain…….
When we got home, I found the computer frozen up. After several phone calls (Ben and then Jason), I hit a button that powered it back up only to find I needed the password to get back in. I felt like a detective in a cheap paperback as, with a little help from Ben, we figured it out and things came roaring back to life. But I was so tired from concentrating, shopping and talking all day that I was in bed by 9:30 for a fitful night’s sleep and another big day tomorrow.
Tuesday, September 28, 2010 I’m sitting on the Old Town Square in Santa Fe watching people go by and waiting for Viv to find a bathroom to take out her contacts. We came up by train – RailRunner – a wonderful experience at the bargain price of $8 roundtrip. The scenery was beautiful, the ride very smooth. There were shuttle buses waiting for us at the depot to take us to the square or any of about 5 other places in town – all included in the price of your train ticket. We ate at the Burrito Café with lots of other people, most of them off the many bus tours that were there. Viv decided that there should be an age limit on travel: we are the perfect age right now. You shouldn’t be allowed to travel alone if you can’t understand the directions! The food here was excellent and we’d recommend it to anyone. We thought we’d have the time for seeing museums and churches and such but we just shopped and shopped. We got some really good deals and I did a lot of Christmas shopping: we can always mail our clothes back….. We saw some interesting people there: I thought I saw the Grim Reaper coming down the street: he was a tall, tall man dressed all in black with a large black hat and cape. Guess he wasn’t looking for me just yet as I’m sitting here writing about him! Everyone was very friendly; of course, they’re all trying to sell you something. It’s another beauty day and I’m in 7th heaven. We have an “encounter” with a very large woman in a wheelchair: I only smiled at her and said “hi” and she stopped and talked to us for about a half hour. It was a mumbo-jumbo of stuff, telling about her life and her near death experience and a lawsuit she has going against the hospital. Vivian finally waved to the rickshaw driver she’d secured for our ride back to the train station (since we missed the last shuttle or so we thought) and he came riding up to our rescue or I think we’d still be there. I can’t recall the driver’s name but he was a nice guy, not too bright but personable – what do you want from a rickshaw driver???? We ate dinner at Tomasita’s at the Station. It was actually in the old station and the food was wonderful: I had a chalupa and tortilla soup and a fabulous Margarita. We had to wait for quite a while on the last train so I made about 10 “scrubbies” while we did. I somehow lost the copper golf ball marker I bought for Ben. Guess I’ll have to go back and get another one. We arrived back at the Los Ranchos train station at 9:30: on time, tired and happy!
Wednesday, September 29, 2010 We had a leisurely morning: Viv did some laundry and I caught up on the computer. Bruce was supposed to meet us for sopapilla burgers today and then take us for a drive thru northern New Mexico on Friday. When I called him, he apologized for missing both but he’s needed at work – go figure! So with that, I decided to do it on my own. Viv was very impressed with Casa Benavidez and I got my fix. I even think the owner recognized me from my occasional visits. We headed out Unser to the end passing by Mark and Stacey’s old house on the way – my, how things have changed out there in Rio Rancho – I barely recognized it and that only because of the fire station at the beginning of the subdivision. We drove up to the Stone Tunnels. Bruce informed us later that the movie 3:10 to Yuma was filmed there and Vivian was impressed. Before we got there, she asked if I would stop so she could take some pictures and I said flatly, “NO!” and kept going. I think she understood once we reached the tunnels and the turnout and she decided to hike all the way to the bottom and the river. I took many pictures like I did with Ben and Andrea and if you didn’t know better, you’d think I was with her….. Well, I guess you won’t now.
We left there and did the “loop” drive, passing by Jemez Monument, the Soda Dam (where she also hiked to the top), Valle Calderas, Battleship Rock for a potty break, Bandolier, White Rock and Los Alamos. It was a beautiful day and I never tire of that drive. We were hungry again on the way home and so we stopped at Mimmo’s for Italian near Mark’s house. We made the mistake of eating off the pasta bar and about killed ourselves with carbs in the process. We headed home to wallow in front of the TV and in bed fairly early. Another successful beauty day!!!!!
Thursday, September 30, 2010 We headed out fairly early to pick up Pauline and go up north again to Chimayo and beyond. Vivian wanted to walk down to Pauline’s: I think to smoke a final cigarette and make some calls. So I went on ahead in the car. Pauline was ready and raring to go and we had to wait a bit on Vivian to get there. She was walking funny and had a strange look on her face as she approached us. I said, “What’s wrong with you?” and she answered, “I think there’s a burr in my panties….” Well, that cracked us up cause where would she have gotten a burr in her panties in the 3 minute walk from Mark’s to here??? Apparently when she was hiking yesterday she walked thru a burr patch and had them on her socks. She thought she got them all off before she did a load of laundry but she must have missed one and it landed in her panties. After a quick trip in to Pauline’s bathroom, she came out with a much better disposition and the offending burr in hand and we were on our way, still giggling over the whole thing.
We drove up to Chimayo thru Santa Fe, Cuyamonga, Camel Rock and some beautiful country. We visited the Sanctuario de Chimayo where we took lots of pictures. Mass was in session so we visited the gift shop and bought a few items before going into the church. However, we were stopped at the door of the church by a little old man saying to everyone who passed, “Ware jew fromme? Ware jew fromme?” He was Father Roca and has been there since 1954: not always at the door but there nonetheless. He’s 92 and according to him they don’t let him say Mass anymore because he forgets the words. But they let him stand there and greet people and talk to them to see where they’ve come from. He was originally from Spain but was ordained in Italy and sounds like Father Romano. He has written an autobiography and Vivian had purchased one in the gift shop. He showed us pictures of his family and when he was a young man and autographed our book before moving on to the next people waiting to get in to the church. He was quite a character and I’m sure he sells lots of books by just being there and being so personable. We went on into the church, lit candles, said prayers, and made our way to the back room where the dirt and the water are said to have special properties. So I dug up some to take home and blessed myself with the holy water before heading off to Rancho de Chimayo to beat the lunch crowd. We did, sort of….there was a bus tour there but we got seated and our orders taken fast by a wonderful waitress who gently hurried us along in the process. As usual, the food was excellent and the ambiance unchanged since the first time I came here more than 20 years ago with Phil MacNutt and the ballooning gang. The waitress chose three desserts for us to share and they were each better than the last. During lunch Pauline told about her RailRunner experience of yesterday. There were 9 of them going to Santa Fe for lunch – 4 of them got on the southbound train at Los Ranchos and ended up in downtown Albuquerque instead of Santa Fe. They quickly got someone to take them to their car and met the train and the rest of the group in Santa Fe in time for lunch: talk about Wrong Way Corrigan…..
After lunch, we toured the town museum and a couple of weaver’s shops before heading up to Taos on the low road. We passed Embudo Station and many scenic points along the way. Another drive I never get tired of. Our goal was to tour the Taos Pueblo but it was the end of a very long day of some sort of feast day and even though the public was invited and encouraged to come, we couldn’t find a parking place within a mile of the actual festivities. Plus, some of the attendants said that things were winding down so we just drove on thru the pueblo, gawked at the houses and people and left by a very different road. We headed north and to the Earthship Village where we would have liked to spend a little time. But they were about to close so we decided to save that for another trip. Earthship Village is the community that uses re-cycled items to build houses and renewable energy to power them. Some of the houses are pretty strange looking, made out of tires and old bottles and such but some of the newer ones are pretty. All are interesting and I’d like to learn more about them. I think I could live here – it’s not far from Taos and they have plenty of grocery stores and a wonderful library…… We continued on thru some more beautiful scenery – stark, high dessert, with mountains in the background – until we came to the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge. Time for a little walk, more photo ops and more shopping as there were vendors set up on this side of the bridge. I picked a gorgeous blue stone and watched while a Tom Selleck look-alike fashioned the ring right before my very eyes. I was still trying to replace the turquoise one I thought I’d lost and I supposed this one would fit the bill. He said it was a type of feldspar but was not of this world. (Subsequently when I've researched this, feldspar is found in 60% of the earth's crust, is more often white, pink or grey opaque but was also brought back from the moon and is thought to be on other planets. Mine is a gorgeous aqaumarine color and when held to the light is transparent.) He had told me $100 when we started and I was surprised and happy when he changed his mind to $75 by the time he finished as that is how much I paid for the turquoise over 20 years ago. It is quite unique and I have received many compliments on it since my return. Pauline bought a ring also; hers is a small pink stone that is also transparent in the sunlight: very pretty also. This is where Vivian, after watching the making of the ring for a while, turned to his partner and asked, “May I touch your shoes?” Everyone just sort of looked at her in awe – what a weird question….. But upon closer examination it appears that the shoes are made from sisal or twine and bear touching to figure out what the heck that material is (and it was neither). And after some explanation, we find out that they are some sort of perhaps rafting shoe that is sold in one of the local Taos sports gear shops at a pretty reasonable price ($25) and are extremely comfortable. Too bad we don’t have time to go back to Taos and look. We finally moved on and saw a spectacular sunset outside of Espanola. Hungry again, we stopped at a reluctant Burger King (three u-turns before I finally found the entrance – remember I’d lost my glasses last week….) where Viv was indignant about getting a cup for her drink and she was already holding one. We laughed over that and headed back down to Albuquerque arriving around 10. It was a long, fun, fruitful, and fulfilling day but I’m ready for a nice long rest. I think Pauline is enjoying our company and I know we’re enjoying hers. I hear Joe when she talks, isn’t that funny?
Friday, October 1, 2010 Vivian wanted to go back to Santa Fe on the train to see the things we didn’t see on the first trip. I felt like I needed a rest day – all that driving someone else’s car has taken a toll on me. At trip’s end, we had put over 1500 miles on Stacey’s little Subaru…. So I opted to take her to the RailRunner station and stick around Albuquerque. I put her on the train and headed to Balloon Fiesta Park to pick up some pins and calendars and what-not. I didn’t realize how expensive it is to attend Fiesta – I’ve never had to pay. And what with the wonderful “all-access” pass Ryan secured for me last time, I don’t think I’ll be able to go again. But I heard someone in line ahead of me arguing about the tickets they’d purchased: seems it’s $5 every time you enter and $10 every time you park. So if you go once in the morning with two people that’s $20 before you even get a cup of coffee. Then if you go back in the afternoon/evening for Balloon Glow, that’s $20 again. They had some kind of Park and Ride special going on but I think that was $12 a person so you didn’t save much if any by going that route. I know Vivian wants to see the balloons but you can do that from outside the fence and I think that’s just what we’ll do. I just have to refuse to pay for this privilege – where does that money go to???? Anyway, I bought my pins and stuff still thinking about the admission charges and left there and went all the way down 2nd Street to Old Town to finish up some shopping. I thought I might pass by the Fruit Basket and see how much ristras are costing these days but I found out later it’s on 4th Street so I never found it. I found a fabulous parking space and headed to the Square to get my gifts. I passed a Peruvian band on the way, stopped for a listen and found myself buying one of their CD’s. There were so many tourists there that I found myself not being able to even get in some of the shops that were empty earlier in the week. It doesn’t look like the economy is hurting here, regardless of how much they’re charging to get into the balloon fiesta. So I stepped off the beaten path and visited some of the shops that were less crowded finishing up some Christmas shopping in the process.
I had called Bruce earlier asking if he’d like to come for dinner since this was Michelle’s opening night performance. He said he’d love to and I also invited Jason and Jade for Shrimp Creole, rice, salad, French bread and lime sherbet. I knew what I was fixing for dinner and didn’t want another Mexican meal so when I spotted a Long John Silver’s on the way to the grocery store, I pulled right in. We don’t have those here in Louisiana – too many local fish places is my guess – and fish and chips tasted real good!!!!
I came home loaded with groceries, started preparing dinner, did some laundry and took a much needed and well deserved nap. Then had a leisurely shower, wrote some postcards and started re-thinking the packing situation – maybe USPS is the way to go. Bruce picked Vivian up at the train station since it wasn’t too far out of his way (and a long way out of mine). We had a wonderful dinner, great conversation and a really good night looking at Mark’s pictures from Ireland. Somehow, he’s been able to stream them to his computer and they appear in a random slideshow with a lot of his recent pictures of trips, weddings and beautiful scenery. They all left fairly early as Jason had to be at work at Big Lots at 5 in the morning. I appreciated the day off from driving and touring and really enjoyed the down time while still getting a lot done on my own. Vivian had a most enjoyable day in Santa Fe visiting museums and shops. Maybe we just needed that break from each other. That’s not to say we’re not getting along because we are. But sometimes you just need to go your separate ways so that you have things to talk about when you get back together again!
We talked over the Balloon Fiesta situation: cost, crowds, and earliness of arrival. We decided that maybe we would get up, turn on the TV coverage and make a decision from there.
Saturday, October 2, 2010And that’s exactly what we did. There were lots of balloons in the air and they were heading south, an unusual direction. So we decided to go get breakfast burritos and watch. We saw a few balloons coming our way near Coors and Central so we just followed them. We found a great viewing area where we watched a few commercial balloons land and switch out passengers. We didn’t see any more coming our way so we decided to head back towards Mark’s house and found a good viewing spot near the power station under singing electric wires. None would be landing there but quite a few flew overhead and we got some good pictures. Plus it was nice and peaceful there watching the balloons near and far until the green chili burritos started to work their magic and we had to head on back to Mark’s house. We watched the festivities on TV until the football games came on and then switched to that. I fixed tomato rice soup and cheese and tomato quesadillas for lunch by just rummaging around in the pantry and fridge. I still think I should propose a TV show whereas I go to someone’s door and ask them “Would you like me to fix dinner for you tonight?” Then I would just fix something from whatever I could find in their house. I think I could always come up with something.
Anyway, a short nap after lunch before getting ready for Michelle’s big performance tonight. Bruce had invited us for green chili meatloaf which was fabulous, baked potatoes and broccoli for dinner. Sean and Chelsea were there and Sean kept me apprised of the LSU game – down and out when Tennessee came up with 13 players on the field and we get another chance with no time left. WOW! Dinner over, we load up the vehicles and go to Michelle’s play: Red Umbrellas. It’s held in an unusual venue called AirDance ArtSpace: a large open room that could be used for most anything. Michelle greets us in the foyer, the doors open and we go in to select a seat from the folding chairs on either side of the room. The play is a locally written, produced and directed PhD dissertation about prostitution, abuse and the slave trade. It’s not a subject that one would normally associate with singing, dancing, poems, rap and the occasional trapeze act. I thought the subject matter was based on the apparent murders of twelve prostitutes found in shallow graves on the outskirts of Albuquerque a few years ago as this was mentioned in the play. But Michelle tells me later that it really came about as the female PhD candidate was in Venice at the time that the prostitutes staged a demonstration demanding social equality and better working conditions. It was very artful, perhaps a little too much for my taste. But having said that, Michelle was wonderful in her portrayal of Ghita, an aging former prostitute who now owns a hotel in Venice. Her soliloquy, “Pick Me” was excellent and had me close to tears! It tells Ghita’s story of sitting in a window in Amsterdam waiting to be bought by a customer. At first, it’s playful as she is young but as the years go by, it becomes more of a plea to “pick me, pick me….” I told her after the performance, “I don’t know if I’ll ever believe another word that you say…..” She had a lovely accent and played her character with charm and compassion. She was by far the best of the bunch. Of course, I could be prejudiced…..
After the play, we said our goodbyes to Larry, Steph, Stacey, Estefan, Sean, Chelsea and the rest of the group which included Jade’s mom (who looks more like her sister than her mom…). We probably won’t see them before we leave on Tuesday but who knows? We came home to find that Ohio State, LSU and Alabama had all won. And off to bed.
Sunday, October 3, 2010 We got up at 7 to watch balloons on TV. I didn’t think they’d fly because of the rain, clouds and wind that blew in last night. But this morning was beautiful and there were lots of balloons – many of them coming out our way again. But we had made plans earlier to take another one of our excursions, so we had some breakfast and picked up Pauline and headed west to the Zuni Pueblo out past Grants and Gallup. It was another beautiful drive and someplace I’d never ventured to. We thought there was going to be a Harvest Festival of some sort but when we arrived at the Cultural Center, the woman there told us the printer made a mistake on the date on the flyers. And also that most everything was closed on Sunday. I think they are not as tourist oriented as the Taos Pueblo. Vivian bought a camera tag and she and Pauline went on outside to look at the vendors items in the parking lot. I stayed inside and once again couldn’t help but think of the similarities between hearing the Thai language and some of the native dialects when an old man came in and they started speaking in their native tongue. So I mentioned this to the woman there. She was a “storyteller” and asked if she could tell me one of their stories. Naturally, I said yes and she told me that many years ago, the People were asked to choose between two eggs. One group chose the beautiful egg and the other chose a more common looking egg. When the eggs hatched, the People were to follow the hatchling. The beautiful egg produced a magpie and led the people to the West where they still live today in the harshness of the high desert.This was her people. But the other egg produced a macaw and led those people to the East where they live in a tropical land of endless summer. I got goosebumps when she finished the tale and said, “So you see, what you observe could be true….” And how often do you get such a personal encounter? And of course, I bought more things that I didn’t need including another t-shirt, earrings and even a loaf of oven bread at the local grocery store. We didn’t find many shops open and after a brief tour of the town, we decided that maybe Vivian had spent the $10 on the photo pass in vain. We took just a few pictures and headed on to our next scheduled stop: The Wolf Sanctuary.
Its address is actually Ramah, New Mexico but it is located so far out into the country that I thought we might be lost. I suppose if you have 50 or so wolves and wolf/dog hybrids, you can’t be in the middle of town. (It actually is not against the law in this county to have a wolf or wolf/dog hybrid here; that’s why the sanctuary is located here.)We paid our fee and started out on our tour. At some point during the tour, the wolves heard something that made them start howling which was pretty cool. And the owner was there showing a family around; they were prospective donors, volunteers or maybe even family. He was a tall well muscled man, I’d say in his mid 30’s with long blond hair and lots of tattoos – mostly of wolves. I think you could honestly call him a wolfman, in fact. At any rate, he put a leash on a beautiful white wolf and brought him out of the large enclosure. He lumbered around just like a huge dog sniffing at people’s shoes and letting everyone pet him. He spent a long time sniffing my leg. I thought maybe he smelled Boo, Mark’s dog, (he reminded me of her) but the man just happened to say at that time, that they are sometimes sensitive to people’s illnesses. And he was smelling the area where I had a skin cancer removed 18 months ago. Now, this could be a big coincidence or not. I’m thinking of having that area looked at again…..
We had a really great tour and learned a lot about wolves and wolf-dog hybrids. They take in unwanted animals from people and zoos around the country. And they had some adorable puppies that someone was trying to sell as “dingo dogs”. They even had a pack of hybrids that were removed from somewhere in New Orleans after Katrina – 5 of them I think, living together in one of the larger enclosures. They all seem happy and content and well fed.
We were hungry after our tour so we opted for a hamburger and chips at the Howling Café set up in the courtyard. We made friends with the un-caged animals while we waited for our food: two dogs and two cats who seemed content to just sit with us and watch us eat. We bought more souvenirs in the little gift shop deciding that we had gotten a bargain last week when we purchased our tote bags at the Corrales Harvest Festival for $10: the same ones were $12 and up here. Plus, mine had certainly come in handy during the week……And all the proceeds actually go to funding the sanctuary and not lining someone’s pockets.
We packed up and were on our way once again, this time to El Morro just a short drive away. On the way, I slammed on the brakes in the middle of the dirt road, starting backing up and said, “Look out your window down at the road….” It was a tarantula crossing the road. I got out and took pictures with all three cameras since neither Vivian nor Pauline wanted to get very close to it. We drove on to El Morro where it was close to closing time. The Ranger told us we had 40 minutes to walk up the trail and back before closing. I knew that I couldn’t make it in that time so I told Viv and Pauline to go on ahead and I would just catch up on my diary in the car. They did and as I was sitting there writing and watching people, I happened to see another tarantula crossing the parking lot. It was another photo op. One of the Rangers came out and said she had heard that there were tarantulas in the area but had never seen one – this was her first. I told her about the other one we had just encountered and she said she thought they were seeking winter shelter and that it was their winter migration. He was sure in a hurry to get somewhere: it didn’t take him very long to cross that big parking lot. Maybe he was meeting up with the other one down the road. I’ll never know.
It turns out that Viv was the only one who hiked; Pauline stayed in the visitor center and watched a movie. I shouldn’t have been in such a big hurry to get outside (although seeing the second tarantula in one day was pretty impressive…). We decided to start heading back to town as it was starting to get on near sunset and we were getting hungry. We had planned on stopping at both the Ice Cave and El Malpais if nothing more than to take pictures. But as the chains were across the entrance to the Ice Cave and the parking lot of El Malpais when we passed by, we thought we would just concentrate on dinner. Surely there will be something in Grants. We cruised the main highway – Route 66 – but found that if they were still in business, they weren’t open on Sunday evening. So we thought we might have to go all the way back to Albuquerque for dinner. Just then we all saw a Denny’s and said, “OK, that looks good!” and headed off down the road…..which turned out to be a dead end with a ditch between us and Denny’s parking lot. OK, turn around and try to find the entrance: Hmm, another dead end. Finally someone saw the way into the parking lot and I made a mad dash for it. Of course, losing my glasses over a week ago didn’t help my driving ability any…..It was really good once we got there and probable one of the few places in Grants to eat on a Sunday night! A cool front has moved in and the weather is deteriorating: cold, windy and lots of interesting clouds. It makes for a beautiful sunset but there may not be any flying tomorrow. We had another wonderful day but I’m glad to be back at Mark’s safe and sound and sleeping in that comfortable bed.
Monday, Oct. 4, 2010OMG!!! I love watching people. I’m sitting in Old Town Albuquerque amid lots of tourists in for the Balloon Fiesta. They are young, old, fit, frail, fat, skinny, rich, poor, foreign, domestic. We’ve pack up and mailed things back to ourselves and now we’re here for our last souvenir shopping. We’ve been to the US Post Office, Weck’s for lunch, Village Wools, the Fruit Basket, and now here. I had to get Audrey Jones, my neighbor, something after this morning’s broken sprinkler fiasco at home. (Audrey: “Baby, you home?” Me: “No, I’m in New Mexico”. Audrey: “I didn’t think so. You’re water is flooding the street.” Me: “What???? Did you try to turn it off?” Audrey: “Yeah, Baby, but it won’t turn off”. Me: “I’ll call Jaime and see if she can come over and turn it off”. Audrey: “OK. I’ll go try again”. Hang up. Ten minutes later. Audrey: “Baby, we got it fixed. There was Jaime, me, Mercy, Brandon, Bill and Sue. I was turning the wrong faucet off. Brandon’s patio was flooded when he took his dogs out and he came over and turned off the right one. I just wanted to let you know.”I thought I should get her something for her trouble.) I bought some last minute things that I thought would fit in my suitcase. We’re going to El Pinto tonight for our last hurrah with Pauline and whoever else shows up.
Some things overhead in Old Town:
“I’m getting the BIG one!”
“Tomorrow won’t be as crowded….”
“What the hell did you buy????”
“Why do they have to fly so early and not now in the middle of the day???”
“I’m DONE!”
“Where’s that store I wanted to buy that thing in?”
“I’m still thinking I might get it….”
“What y’all wanna do now?”
“Where we gonna eat?”
I thought I saw Bill Cosby wandering around and the last time I thought I saw a famous black comedian in Albuquerque: Flip Wilson, it was him. It turns out he was a balloon pilot. So maybe it was Bill Cosby. Yeah, I’m just gonna go with that!
We did stop on the way home and buy the ristras since the Post Office was right in back of where I was sitting listening to music and writing this. The mailperson assured me it would be safe and legal to mail them back in one of those one price boxes for $14.50. So we got two nice ones that fit in the box but it’s too late to mail them today; we’ll have to do it on the way to the train station in the morning. It was really too late to go home and pick up Pauline since we were close to El Pinto so we called her and asked her to meet us there. Instead, we went to Big Lots because Jason told us they have yarn for only $1 and who could pass that up????
We arrived at El Pinto and got a table on one of the patios. Pauline, Bruce and Michelle, Sean and Chelsea, Stacey and Estefan, and Stephanie met us; Larry had to work late. We had margaritas and our last Tex-Mex meal for a while plus good conversation and great company. Vivian and I were laughing about something on the way out of Big Lots and I mentioned this to everyone telling them that we’re 10 days into this trip and still laughing and we haven’t killed each other yet. Of course, we’ve got the two day train ride ahead of us so wish us luck!!!! We said our tearful goodbyes in the parking lot and came home the roundabout way (no glasses remember, plus I missed the turn to get on Paseo…..) We finished packing and went to bed around midnight for a good night’s sleep.
Tuesday, October 5, 2010I woke up to the sound of ice clunking into Vivian’s glass at 7, so I showered, cleaned up the bathroom, did some laundry, changed the bed clothes and stuck my last minute items into the luggage. We saw a few balloons high over Albuquerque from both Mark’s front and back yards – it was a competition day so no one was flying this far away from the field. It looks to be another beauty day. I’m a little anxious about getting back on the train for two days, most probably without sleep, a shower, or proper digestive patterns if you know what I mean….. Wish us luck!!!
Pauline brought us to the station. She insisted on mailing my ristras for me and wouldn’t take no for an answer. So I let her and after a bit of a mix-up with the GPS (NW versus SE), we found it. The station is beautifully restored and serves as the Amtrak terminal, the RoadRunner terminal, the Greyhound terminal and the local bus station. We checked in and found that my suitcase that I wanted to check on thru was overweight by 1.9 pounds. Vivian’s was underweight and the station master suggested I take a few things out of mine and put them in hers. After some deliberation, it was decided that if I could carry it, then I could take it on the train with me; which is what I did. Vivian decided to go ahead and check hers thru. Hers was a bit dusty when we got it off the baggage cart in Chicago and mine sat undisturbed and clean in the rack near the door of our car. Sometimes being overweight isn’t so bad…..
The train arrived early so we made our way to our car to meet our attendant and climb on board. Hak Tu was an older Asian man who took a liking to Vivian. We heard various reports that he was from China, had been in the Olympics, had worked for the railroad for a very long time and was in his late 70’s. He sure didn’t look it. At one point he told us that his wife had a very bad form of cancer and was close to certain death when she was asked to participate in a drug trial. She is now cured completely and he is very happy about that. He tells us we are the only ones on this particular car who are not part of a group and the group is getting off in Kansas City. They are all elderly and seem to stay in their rooms all of the time, ringing for “room service” meals and such. The journey will be quiet once they depart early in the morning.
Viv buys a Coke before we leave and pours it into a Styrofoam cup. She dropped it a little and poked a hole in the side of the cup when she tries to catch it. It’s leaking all over and she has to run to the trash bin to deposit it – so much for that. So she decides to go out on the platform to get another one and see what the vendors are selling. I tell her I’ll just stay right here, I’m already overweight and don’t need anything else. She gives me a big hug and says “but we love you anyway”. I said, “But what I meant was: my bag was overweight!” We both laughed over that one. She does buy a few more items (an aluminium go cup - no more accidents yeah!)at what seems like reasonable prices – maybe Amtrak regulates them – and I’m sorry I didn’t go out. But I really don’t need any more “schitt”.
Pauline is our hostess in the dining car. She’s from England and quite a character, singing, joking and telling stories most of the time. Most of the Amtrak attendants have been wonderful characters. I suppose it takes a certain amount of “character” to stick with this job. I would guess it would be a lot like a plane attendant – what someone once told me was a “glorified waitress”. I’d think you would meet all kinds of interesting people on this job: some likeable and some not so likeable. And I’m also surprised at the different nationalities of the employees – we’ve met black, white, Hispanic and Asian, male, female and fairly obviously gay, pretty young and very old, from China, England and Picayune, Mississippi. We had a female Conductor at one point (probably the best one in my opinion) and it was a very young engineer that struck the car in Tornillo. Several that we talked to had 25 or more years service; I think Sandy White said she had 32. Now, that’s loving your job!!!! But I digress…..
We have a 12:30 lunch reservation and have already ordered lunch before leaving Albuquerque. Then I’m off to the sightseeing car to do a little sightseeing, writing, crocheting and just generally see who’s on the train. I hear lots of religious talk – what is it about trains that brings out religious fervor? These people are speaking English but the ones on the other train were Spanish and I didn’t really know what they were talking about except for the Bible on the table and the occasional “hay zeus”! And they all talk too loud – like they are hard of hearing or something. Even when they are talking on their cell phones which is a whole ‘nother story………So I try to block them all out and write. Viv thinks I’m writing about her but I think I’ve learned my lesson on that one. I’ll change the names this time to protect myself, not the innocent…. There’s beautiful scenery once again as we go up thru northern New Mexico – Lamy, Las Vegas, and Raton. There are storms off in the distance – lightning flashes and I’m sure thunder, if you could only hear it over the noise of the train. In fact, rain is hitting on the glass roof and clouds are obscuring the mountains in the distance. We pass by some herds of both elk and antelope grazing in the grasses. And there’s lots of “nothingness” out there. There were several interesting small towns we went thru: no idea where we were other than New Mexico.And the conductor informed us when we went thru the Raton Tunnel and into Colorado. We saw an old Pullman car where someone was living along the tracks in Lamy. I thought of the “Boxcar Children” and would like to have seen inside. We had great steaks for dinner and the dining car pretty much to ourselves. We were missing Keith about this time. And we noticed that this ride was not nearly as smooth as the Sunset Limited. When we inquired as to why, someone told us it has to do with the tracks: who they are leased from, who maintains them and the ground under them. It makes perfect sense. Haktu did up our beds and I was very sleepy and started dozing at 9:30. I thought I was going to fall out of bed or that the train was going to derail. Viv couldn’t sleep either – she was very restless and finally climbed down from the bunk and into the empty roomette across the aisle. I did manage to get several hours of sleep this time as we headed out thru Colorado and on into Kansas and Missouri.
Wednesday, October 6, 2010I got dressed in our car and we had breakfast at Kansas City where the all the rest of the group on our car got off. We’re pretty much alone in this car which turned out to be a good thing as when we got back from breakfast, I fell asleep and was snoring loudly. The storms had passed in the early evening and it was another beauty day outside the window. There were lots of stars last night and no clouds, then or now. They announced a short lunch from just 11 – 12 so we opted not to eat on the train and maybe get a snack before we reach Chicago. Michael is no Vinnie but he does have plenty of food down in his little snack bar basement. We arrive on time without any delays in Chicago around 3, just in time for the afternoon rush at Grand Central Station. Since we didn’t partake of Michael’s hospitality (he closed down early I’m guessing to count his inventory and his money), we get our bags and try to find a place to eat. We were told on the train that there were plenty of nice restaurants – sit-down restaurants – to choose from. But we don’t have luck in finding one. So we opt for a place that sells soups and Panini’s, kind of like Panera Bread and I can’t recall the name of it. But I do know this: my order took very little time to fill and I had mine almost done by the time Vivian got hers. Her order wasn’t much different from mine. The manager came round to see how things were going and in the course of the very long conversation, we couldn’t get rid of him. We didn’t really want to leave: I was enjoying the rush of the commuters trying to get home. But he just wouldn’t quit talking and we were tired of being polite. At least, I was. I think he had a thing for Vivian as I kind of quit talking in the middle of the conversation and it didn’t seem to faze him. I thought for a while we were going to be talked to death. I really wanted to stay as we were in a perfect place to watch all those rushing people. I saw a man that looked like he was ready for a funeral – his own, I mean. He was dressed perfectly in a lovely dark blue suit with white shirt and some coordinating tie. Nice but the thing that got me was how there was not one hair out of place and he looked like he was wearing make-up: the kind that funeral homes put on you to make you look like you’re sleeping and not with a deathly pall about you. It was weird and I can’t put my finger on it – there were plenty of other people nicely dressed with makeup but he stood out like a sore thumb! And then there was this white man. Now, when I say white man, it was like one of those commercials where everyone is in black or white or gray and then something comes on in color. He was white – not albino – but deathly white with white hair, white beard, white skin and black and gray clothes. Perhaps there was such a stark contrast to the funeral man who had passed by right before that I noticed him; perhaps not. I think I would have noticed him anyway, anywhere. And then I saw a flat woman. I don’t know how else to describe her. She looked like she had run into a wall and was just flattened, like a cartoon character. I noticed her from the side and her face was flat – no protrubance of nose or lips or eyes or hair – just flat. And she had no shape – no boobs, no belly, no butt – just flat! Maybe if you looked at her from the front, she was really wide or something but from the side she was just, well, flat! And shortly after that I saw a cartoon bear mascot of some sort in full costume. I didn’t see anyone with him/her; just the bear rushing along with the crowd. And no one was even looking suspiciously at him/her. He wasn’t carrying a briefcase or purse but I guess he was just going home also after a long day at whatever job cartoon bear mascots have in Chicago. It is football season, after all. Chicago Bears…….hmmm!!!! There were lots of business people rushing to their trains; some foreigners but not many. It’s a big huge place and Vivian has gone outside to smoke and take some pictures. We settle on a meeting place and I sure hope she finds her way back to the train platform. They say this is going to be a full train – no extra rooms to lounge around in. We’ll see. I was able to check my bag here – they didn’t worry about being overweight or else it lost 1.9 pounds between New Mexico and here. And the big news is: I actually pooped on the train. It wasn’t such a big deal after all. However, wiping my butt and then trying to get the toilet to flush was. But I managed! Sorry you had to read that, but it was a big deal after all the great meals we had on the train…..I think I actually lost 1.9 pounds.....
We did find each other and waited in the coach lounge before realizing we should be in the first class lounge which was WAY nicer – less crowded, more comfortable, better lighting, TV’s, internet access, free drinks and best of all: private bathrooms! I checked my email and made a Facebook post before boarding around 7. We were underway at 7:59. Our attendant this time is Mark, a very nice young man, late 30’s I’d guess with some aspects of Sandy and some of Haktu but really laid back. They served dinner shortly after we got underway and in order to get our money’s worth, we ate again. On The City Of New Orleans train, we have a different menu and are able to get a salad for dinner along with some other more interesting choices such as southern fried catfish, shrimp and crab chowder, and a po-boy with Mississippi Mud Pie as a featured dessert. “We goin home dahlin!” We were seated with Gloria and her nephew David: she’s as old as Methuselah and he’d be even older. As always, your table mates are interesting. At first she told us she was a Katrina refugee but as the conversation went on, she said she was a native of Baton Rouge, an SU graduate and had lived in Wisconsin for more than 30 years. I don’t know how that qualifies as a Katrina refugee. Maybe she meant David, I thought. But once again, we found out that he worked for Piccadilly Cafeteria on Florida Boulevard in Baton Rouge for 38 years. I think the Katrina thing is a good story for them when it’s convenient. And she had many stories, monopolizing most of the conversation. She supposedly had a degree in criminal justice, a brother that was incarcerated, a job in Wisconsin, travelled all over the world, and was going home for Southern’s Homecoming. This I actually believed because I knew it was the weekend of Southern’s Homecoming.
At any rate, when we got back to our room, we talked Mark into two extra pillows and blankets and into not putting the bed down. Viv couldn’t crawl up there one more night and so we decided that we might try sleeping on the two seats sitting up or at the very least slouched to one side. I knew I couldn’t get up there and so I was willing to try to accommodate her on this our last night on the train. It worked out OK but still neither of us got a full night’s sleep. I think the smoothness (or actually the roughness) of the ride had as much to do with it as anything. We had a young man across the aisle who barricaded himself in his room so there was no relief there like on the last train.
Thursday, October 7, 2010I didn’t want to wake up when it got light out but Viv was up and rooting around in her bag for today’s clothes. We had to be put on a waiting list for breakfast but sat with a really nice couple from Chicago. They were antique dealers. She is a knitter and sewer and they were on their way to New Orleans, then renting a car and driving to Florida. The train tickets were a gift from their kids to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary. We somehow got to talking about hoarders and they admitted that they could no longer get into their bedroom without turning sideways due to the 250 cartons of autographed books she possesses. WOW! We talked and talked and finally were asked to leave the dining car so they could prepare it for lunch…..But what an interesting conversation – I would love to see their house and place of business as he admitted that they had to purchase a second house for all their possessions. I really think they qualify as official Hoarders!
I went back to the room and tried to take a nap – so sleepy – but sleep wouldn’t come easily. I tried to crochet but even that was difficult due to the bumpiness of the tracks. So I just sat and stared out the window watching the world go by. It is another very pretty day and I’m starting to recognize some of the towns we’re stopping at or passing along the way: Hazelhurst, Jackson, McComb, Kentwood, Independence, Hammond, Pontchatoula and then across Lake Maurepas and into LaPlace and finally New Orleans. I saw a few alligators and many birds: great blue herons, snowy egrets, ibis and lots of raptors: red tailed hawks, falcons and maybe at one place an eagle. I called Wil in Jackson and he said the website told him we were 20 minutes late. I told him I thought we were early. Turns out I was right and we had to wait on him at the station. But all worked out well and we headed on towards Denham Springs and home before the actual rush hour began. We stopped on I-55 at Manchac at Mittendorf’s for some yummy catfish and fries. And then home for a nice relaxing night and a good early sleep in my own bed.
Friday, October 8, 2010We had a nice leisurely morning. Wil worked from home. I took Viv to the airport on another beauty day and we’re making plans for our next adventure. Some suggestions include: Trans Canadian Railway trip; New Zealand: North and South Island by train and coach; Copper Canyon Rail in Mexico; Australia Coast to Coast; New York City at Christmas; Gastonia, North Carolina for fabric; Chicago to Seattle on the Empire Builder; or just about any place on the train. We really enjoyed it and have a couple of suggestions for travel next time: either get a full room (where you have more sleeping space, luggage space and your own bathroom) or each person get a separate roomette so no one has to climb into the bunk. We found we do travel well together and enjoy seeing and doing most of the same things. So we’re looking for travelling companions to join us and all the fun. Interested?????

Photo link:
mine: http://picasaweb.google.com/lindadudle/AmtrakAdventure#
Vivian's: http://picasaweb.google.com/lindadudle/VivSAmtrakAdventure2010#

Linda Dudley
October, 2010