I Love Trains

Steam locomotives are at the top of the list.

Yesterday was opening day for the 2013 season of the Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad.  We spent the morning at the Antonito train yard. While the train prepared for its first run of the season, I took some pictures and video to share here.

While the train made its preparations for the day's run to Chama, NM, we stopped in at the nearby cafe for my obligatory Saturday Morning breakfast.  Since retiring, having this once-a-week treat is about the only way I can keep track of what day it is.



This worked out well.  Just as we were leaving the cafe, the train was making its departure.  I think these videos do a good job of capturing the sights and sounds of the steam locomotive. To me it borders on a living, breathing creature. (the "static" is the wind blowing, which seems constant here).

 

What the videos fail to capture is the the smell of the coal fire burning in the engine.  To most folks, I suspect, this is not a particularly pleasant aroma.  And regardless of the industry's PR, there is no such thing as clean coal. The smoke from the stack of the train in full of soot and ash which should not be inhaled.  However, remember...I grew up in Southern Illinois.  This is coal country.  Not only is it mined there, we heated our home with coal.  Our home in Du Quoin, Illinois was within a quarter of a mile of the tracks of the Illinois Central Railroad.  Don and I spent many summer days under the trestles looking for crawdads in the creek and waiting for the trains to pass by overhead.  It wasn't until the late 1950's  that the Illinois Central converted to diesel locomotives.  Many of my earliest recollections are triggered by the smell of coal smoke and the wail of a whistle of a steam locomotive.  Good Stuff!!!

Exploration Hazards

The Leos have spent the last week getting the lay of the land here in the San Luis Valley. Last week we took a drive toward Chama, NM. Chama  is about 45 miles southwest of Mogote Meadow, through a couple of high mountain passes. I've been trying to conserve my diesel fuel so I set a limit of driving no more than 30 miles away from home till payday, so we didn't get all the way to Chama.  But we did make it to the first pass.

It was mid-afternoon when we got there, and the temperature was in the low 60s. Notice the unmelted snow beneath the trees.

On the way up to the pass we had several opportunities to catch some scenic over-look pictures. I took a stab at using the panoramic setting on my camera. Here is the best of the lot:

Scenic over-look view of the Conejos River Valley from US17 between Antonito, CO and Chama, NM

Wednesday, May 22, was payday.  So I bought my fishing license and began to prepare for my first expedition to the river. I plan to engage a guide soon. However, after visiting the local fly shop to get my license, I decided to further explore the river on my own.

Platoro Reservoir is near the headwaters of the Conejos River, 43 miles from Mogote Meadow. The last 23 miles of the route is unpaved Forest Service road. One of the guys here at the park told me that they usually go to the reservoir about once a week during the summer, for hamburgers!! It seems the hamburgers are worth the two hours it take to get there. So that seemed like a good destination for my exploration.

Once we turned off US17 onto Conejos River Road the speed limit was 25 mph. This road follows the river to Platoro Reservoir. The reservoir is the highest man-made lake in North America. And the view along the way is spactacular.

Conejos River Road

About 10 miles up Conejos River Road toward Platoro Reservoir

About 20 miles up Conejos River Road

Somewhere around 18 miles up Conejos River Road, we came to the stretch  that had been freshly graded. Rather than smoothing the road, this seemed to make it rougher. It also loosened some larger rocks that were scattered in the road. At about mile 20, three miles short of Platoro Reservoir, my right front tire blew!!!

Over the next hour I learned

1. AAA Roadside Assistance and Good Sam Roadside Assistance are useless when you have no cell phone service,
2. my spare tire was about 2/3 full of air,
3. and that I am  long way from being acclimatized to the thin air at 10,000 feet above sea level.

By the time I got the tire changed, I was puffing like an engine on the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad. I then spent the next hour and a half covering the same 20 miles back down the road on my semi-inflated spare tire and made it back to Mogote Meadow about 5:30 in the evening without seeing the reservoir.

So yesterday the Leos made the trip to Pueblo to the nearest Firestone store (three hours each way) to get two new front tires on the Ram. Along the way we passed the Great Sand Dunes National Park and Blanca Peak, one of the 53 "14ers" (peaks over 14,000 feet above sea level) in Colorado. The mission for the day (tires) precluded stops for sightseeing this trip, so we'll go back.

Speaking of sightseeing and the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad, tomorrow is opening day of the 2013 season for the C&TSR. I plan to go into town tomorrow and visit the rail-yards for the opening day celebration. The trip on the C&TSR from Antonito to Chama cost about $100 and hiring a fishing guide has higher priority right now. So I'll ride the train later in the summer.
 

Landing Gear Down......who is this guy?

Today's drive was about 4 hours, covering 130 miles. Yeah, I know. I drive slow so I  can sight see. And today I pulled over for some pictures to share.

Looking west from US285, 60 miles north of Santa Fe, NM

Looking east at snow-capped mountains from same location.

Most of the drive was through a portion of the Carson National Forest and included a large expanse known as the Taos Plateau. These pictures were taken in this area. Once we are settled in, I plan to drive back down there for more exploration. Signs posted alone the route warned of elk crossing areas and wildlife viewing areas. The vistas are so broad that it would be a great area for binoculars, spotting scope or a telephoto lense.  

It's a gray evening in Mogote Meadow. My smart phone altimeter says we are at 8062 feet above sea level and the temperature now (7:30 PM) is 56 degrees. Forecast low tonight is 39 degrees.

We arrived here about 1:00 this afternoon and found that we are the only guests in the park at the moment. There are a handful of trailers here, but Mark (the park owner) said their owners store them here during the off season. He is expecting some of their owners in the next few weeks.

Looking out our door

Future Neighbors

Home is where you park it.

 The first greeting we got upon arrival turned out to be from a homeless fellow who would very much like to move in with us. So far he has remained nameless, but he's extremely well mannered and friendly. Mark said he showed up a few days ago and has been waiting for me. I told him the Mobil White House is full!!

He who shall remain nameless.

 


We spent the afternoon getting our trailer set-up, getting WiFi connections, scanning for over-the-air TV stations (none found) and so on. The WiFi has a 26 character alpha-numeric passcode. That's a pain when it has to go into my laptop, cell phone and Roku. Fortunately, Netflix are working via Roku. Now I need to get my satellite TV lined up before I miss too many episodes of Revolution.

We made a run into Antonito (population 873) to pick up some groceries. There is a "Home Town Grocery", two mexican restaraunts, a liquor store and a Presbyterian Church on Main Street. What else do you need?

Then we made a run about 15 miles up-river (Conejos River) into the Rio Grand National Forest. The river looks good and I found several places to access it near the highway. We'll get some pictures over the next few days when the sky is clearer. I plan to engage a fishing guide within the weeks to kick start my fishing here. There is a fly shop that has a guide service sign out front about a quarter of a mile up the road from our RV park.

Did you notice I didn't ask "Does anyone want a good dog?"

We've got to hooold on!!!

After a very pleasant five hour drive today, we are nestled into the worst RV site I have encountered so far.  It took me some maneuvering to get into the site.  I managed to get level from side-to-side, but without unhitching there is no way to overcome the downhill slope of the site.

We're in an RV park just outside of Santa Fe, NM.  It looks like it used to be a KOA and  is now undergoing rehab.  But, since we're only here for one night, it will do just fine.  We have WiFi and my Netflix are humming.  The elevation is 7153 feet above sea level and I'm having no problem with the altitude.

After turning north off I40 at about mile 620 of our trip, we drove straight toward mountains, some of which still have snow on top. I wanted to take some pictures, but the two lane highway left us no opportunity to pull over. Between Tucumcari and Santa Fe is some of the most wide-open country I have seen. From I40 I could often see several hundred miles in either direction. Along the northern horizon, the mountains began to show up even before we turned north. Thunderstorm clouds were building over them all afternoon. Here in the RV park. the sky is looking threatening, but chances of rain are low.

We are hoping the forecast is correct, because if we get a big rain we may come sliding off the side of this hill.

North, West and Up!!!

It's Tuesday morning and the Leos woke up on Central Time, but are currently in the Mountain Time Zone, so we have some time to kill before we hit the road again. Seems like a good time to blog.

As the photo on the right reveals, the Leos visited one of our favorite places on Saturday before we hit the road. Saturday at the Dallas Farmers' Market is one of the best People Watching sites around. The crowd was out, the weather was perfect and a Dixieland Jazz band was playing on the corner. And the Leos were joined by two of our favorite people...

Doug and Andy. In addition to looking for a "mystery item", Andy was test driving a geocaching application on Doug's smart phone. The mystery item was any fruit or vegetable that Doug had not cooked with before. When found, they would take it home and try to figure out what to do with it. The items that made it into the sack were tomatillos.

The geocaching proved to be somewhat challenging. Andy identified a cach site 700 feet from the cantaloupes. Following the course directed by the smart phone app led us to the middle of the plant market which was identified as ground zero. However, we had no idea what we were looking for, so we didn't find it. Doug and Andy have decided more research is needed to know how the geocaching thing is supposed to work.

Sunday, we hit the road and started out chasing the wild flowers North, West and Up. 

The theory is that by following the blooming of wildflowers north and up in the Spring and the changing of the color of leaves south and down in the Fall, travelers will be able to enjoy comfortable temperatures year round. The flowers were beautiful most of the day on Sunday. However, we found that once we passed Wichita Falls the flowers along the roadside disappeared. I'm not sure what this means. Are we now ahead of the bloom? Is this a result of the drought?  Or, is this the way it is in northwest Texas? Whatever it signifies, we're not turning around. 

At mile 247 we called it a day at the Old Towne Cotton Gin RV Park in Goodlett, TX.  We have been on a steady uphill climb since leaving Glen Heights (elevation 617 feet above sea level) to our Sunday night stop at 1601 feet. 

Old Town Cotton Gin

  

As we traveled further west, wildflowers  were replaced by another prominent feature. Particularly as we passed Amarillo the horizon is dominated by technology.

Around the west Texas town of Vega, wind turbine electric generators are everywhere. The Spinning Spur Wind Farm now has 70 generators, and (as the video shows) at least one windmill. This is a project the includes an $200 million investment by Google.

Just beyond Vega, we crossed into New Mexico.

At mile 495 we called it a day in Tucumcari, NM. We've still been climbing and are now at 4011 feet above sea level. We'd planned to boondock in a Flying J parking lot, but with the temperature in the low 90s and Revolution on TV on Monday nights, we opted to an RV park next door. When boondocking we have no TV or AC. So the $27 to park in the Mountain Road RV Park was worth it.

It's now Tuesday at 9:00 AM Mountain Time, so we're moving on.

Take Me To The Mountains, Won't You Please

Leo and I were just sitting outside studying the Mountain Directory West for Truckers, RV and Motorhome Drivers, when I noticed I was beginning to sweat while sitting still.  This, among others, is a signal that once again I've waited too late to head north.  Today's high was 88 degrees in the shade.  Another signal is that I'm one of the last "Winter Texans" still here on the banks of the Guadalupe. Most have pulled out over the last two weeks, with several leaving today. The combination of warming temperatures and the upcoming arrival of the summer "toobers" who float the river in inter-tubes, accompanied with floating beer coolers, sends us packing.

It's been a good six months here at Rio Raft on the Guadalupe River. Of course, the highpoint of the season was the White-Molleur wedding on February 2.

Kiss The Bride - Mr. and Mrs. Jonas Molleur

I can't recall seeing people having more fun than Maggie and Jonas had that day. And their happiness spilled over to their friends and family gathered to share it. It was a grand party for all.












Shortly after the wedding, the Leos made a run to Kentucky to take Charlotte home, then we returned to the Guadalupe just in time for Trout Fest. This is an annual event put on by the Guadalupe River Chapter of Trout Unlimited.  Doug joined me for the weekend and we got in a little fishing between workshops.  It gave me the chance to show him that there are trout in the Guadalupe.


But now that the temperature is rising and the toobers are coming, it's time for us to start our run for the mountains. We plan to leave here on Saturday and start north.  After a brief stopover in Duncanville, we are heading for southern Colorado this year and plan to spend our time along the Conejos River in the San Juan Mountains near Antonito, Colorado. 

The Conejos River

I learned of this area from friends I meet here on the Guadalupe. Susie and Nick have been traveling for several years and usually start the season along the San Juan River in northern New Mexico before heading further north to Idaho and Montana.  However, last year they stopped for a few days along the Conejos. They said they liked it so well the spent the entire summer there.  That sounded like a strong recommendation to me.  So....the Leos are headed north and up, where the air is cool and the fish are biting.  And I'll be posting more frequently, since we'll be on the road till mid-November.  Stay tuned.