The pickup proceeded exactly as planned, and thanks to Henry, Concetta and I arrived at the Depot with time to spare. I was able to buy a D&SNG t-shirt in all cotton and still have time left over to talk to folks in the waiting room. We chose a bench adjacent to the exit door, and a couple about our same age sat down next to us. The wife in this twosome spent much time hasseling her husband over seemingly inconsequential things. So, in response, he good-naturedly spent much of his waiting time wandering inside and outside the building.
And that was only the beginning of the amazing events that just kept happening to us all day. When the annoucement was made that the train was ready for boarding, we checked our tickets, found that we were assigned seats 29 and 30 in car 21, and we headed for the train. Our car turned out to be only three cars back from the engine.
The boarding didn't happen until well after the 8:30 stipulated boarding time. A member of the train crew told me that they needed to move some cars around, but didn't say why. I suspect that because it had started to rain heavily, they suddenly had need for more covered cars than had been originally anticipated.
Seated on the other side of the car, and about four rows ahead, was an elderly gentleman from Minnessota named Richard who had as his constant companion an oxygen tank the size of a backpack. Because we were both veterans and were wearing ball caps that acknowledged that fact, we had hit it off immediately in the waiting room. Now, since we were seated so near, he swiveled around and gave me a wave.
Throughout the journey I would go over and sit near him and we'd chat about our service time. He was a jet mechanic about the same time I was in the service. He was working predominately on A6 Intruders (I think he said). He also worked on F4 Phantoms. In his non military career he spent 34 years as an electrician.
Incredibly, when I told the couple that I had lived on Loma Alta, the woman whose name was Stephanie, told me that she knew Loma Alta very well and that her favorite thing to do was to park near the top of Lake Street where it joined Loma Alta and hike to Mount Lowe in the San Gabriel Mountains. How's that for us living in a small world.
At first I tried shooting photos through the train windows at the wonderful Animas river that raged far below the railroad right-of-way. Finally, I followed Stephanie and her husband, Roger, out to the open-air car and shot the river without the impediment of glass to get in the way. I guessed that Stephanie and Roger must be outdoor people as long after I came k to my seat, they remained in the open-air car just enjoying the beauty of the forest.
At one point when I was back in the open-air car and a older man approached me as he heard me talking to Stephanie and Roger and figured, I guess, that I might know a lot about traveling. He turned out to be from Norway and his English was fair. Even so he got me to understand that he and his group of four Norwegians wanted to visit Arches National Park and he needed advice about where he could drive and what he could see. He kept thrusting a map at me that I could barely make out without my glasses.
The problem was we had never traveled to Arches National Park, and I had no idea about roads or trails or what you could do or not do. I kept tring to tell him that, but he didn't seem to want take my inability to help him as fact. Then I remembered that Stephanie and Randy, who now live in Bend, Oregon, perhaps had traveled through Arches. Well, that was the best idea I had as the two of them could reliably advise my new Norwegian friend and agreed to do so.
I love trains and that's no lie, but I'd have to advise anyone taking the Durango & Silverton train that they're in for a great deal of sitting. Our train pulled out just after nine o'clock and didn't get into Silverton until nearly one o'clock. Naturally, when your train is being pulled by a steam engine, you have to take into account the fact that stops to fill the tender with water are a necessity. We stopped twice.
Additionally, we suffered an unplanned stop when the engineer discovered that his track-sanding machinery was not functioning. Since we were experiencing a great deal of rain, the rails were slick, and the engine couldn't get any traction. This malfunction caused the train a thirty-minute delay.
So, we were four hours on the way, and it seemed to me like an eternity. The seats on the narrow-gauge cars are just not quite wide enough for two people. Thankfully, the train crew lets you wander the cars as you please as long as you don't try to stand on the connecting platforms between the cars, or enter the 1st class cars that are reserved for high-paying guests.
After lunch, We visited several shops within walking distance then returned to the train boarding area. Just before the official bordering warning of four whistle blasts from the locomotive, I wandered around the rail yard for a few photos while Concetta found her seat aboard.
Soon we were on our way back to Durango with not much in the way of cheery sunlight to accompany us. The real surprise came when we had only traveled a short distance, not even to the first watering stop, when it began to snow lightly. Then, as we traveled further south, the snow began to fall more heavily. Before long, it turned into a regular blizzard. By that time most of the folks trying to tough it out in the open cars had retreated to any available empty indoor seat, but some of us used the blizzard to grab a few photos.
The rest of the ride into Durango was pretty uneventful, and we arrived on time at about 6:15 p.m. Just after 6:30 Henry appeared in the parking area to pick us up. When we had hopped into his Honda, he announced that he and Terry had decided not to go to dinner so I slipped him the agreed-upon cash, and off we went back to the RV park. It was the end of a long day, one that was not always successful or pleasant, but one that we will surely remember for many years.
No comments:
Post a Comment