It's rare to wake up to a cloudy and dreary day in Albuquerque but that's what it was today. It was cool and cloudy and showed no interest in clearing up. I was mostly packed for the trip home but had some final things to do and I had to tidy up the place a little. I finally got things organized and checked out. I decided to run the car through a car wash just to get the dust off. The guy at the car rental office took me over to the train station with about an hour to spare.
Train stations in general, and Albuquerque's in particular, are great places for people watching. Albuquerque's Amtrak station is also the Greyhound bus terminal and the terminal for the RailRunner commuter train. Every age, shape, size, color, gender and variety of human you can imagine comes through there and some you can't imagine. Doctors, lawyers, Indian Chiefs, single moms with squirmy kids, wounded Veterans on one leg, single elderly women wearing traditional Indian clothes, a man on oxygen towing a cart with other oxygen bottles, extended families, and ladies on walkers were all on their way somewhere. A man sitting next to me was returning from a trip abroad. He had been to Viet Nam and was returning home on the same train I would be on. It turned out that he had just attended the 45th anniversary of the My Lai massacre. He had been a witness to the massacre and you could tell that it was a life changing event.
The train arrived and we all filed out to get on board. Your ticket shows what car you need to board and if you have a sleeper it gives your room number. This was a huge train and if you start off in the wrong direction you need to walk a long way back. There is a logic to it but I hadn't figured it out yet. My car attendant was a quiet and reserved women totally different from Tommy on my trip out. She got me to my compartment and gave me the tour of the room...how to turn on lights, the call button, etc. This compartment was a little different from the one I had on the way out.
My compartment was also on the lower level of the sleeper car and next to a family compartment that occupies the full width of the car. There was one adult and maybe four or five kids aged eight or nine who were well behaved but occasionally broke out in a riot of spontaneous giggles.
Bathrooms on the sleeper cars are down the hall if you have a roomette. Some family rooms have an adjoining bathroom. Train bathrooms have their own unique challenges. Small and efficient for the job they have to do...they also have water pressure like a fire hose. The first time you use the water faucet you will probably get wet.
The train left on time at 12:15 and I was given a dining car lunch reservation for 1:30 which was fine. Train travel doesn't show the best side of towns and Albuquerque has a lot of graffitti on just about everything that isn't breathing or walking. Besides the usual graffitti and gang tags, there are some very colorful and artistic wall paintings that you see from the train. When I went to lunch I sat with Priscilla and Bob, traveling from Santa Fe to a wedding in Baltimore, and Geraldine, who was returning home to Hyde Park, NY, from a visit with her sister in California. Geraldine is (was) a National Park Service guide at FDR's home at Hyde Park and at Eleanor Roosevelt's cottage at Val kill. That was the case up to a week or so ago when she was laid off due to the budget sequester craziness -- she is now looking for work but hopes to be called back. I hope she gets called back because just by the way she talked you could see she was good at her job. Priscilla, somehow, got started on genealogy and it turns out that she has been doing research for a long time and dragging Bob to places in Austria and Mexico reconnecting to family. She is descended from the very first Spanish settlers in New Mexico. She also had some Austrian cousins who were SS officers in WW-II -- neither one survived the war. Bob was quiet but had his own story, too, as a WW-II veteran who had been at Pearl Harbor just after the attack.
During the middle of our discussion and lunch, Bob interrupted to point out a low adobe hacienda-style house a short distance away from the tracks near Pecos, NM. This was the home of Greer Garson: Forked Lightening Ranch. The actress was a long-time advocate and contributor to the arts in Santa Fe and her home is now open for limited tours. I was at Pecos last year visiting the mission and never had a clue that she lived there or that there was a tour of her ranch.
Lunch was pretty good. the special was meatloaf, my choice, but they had a lot of other items. Geraldine had a burger and fries, Bob had soup and salad. Priscilla had the meatloaf. It all came with rolls, salad and dessert.
Well, as you can imagine, it takes a while to get all this talking and eating and scenery watching done during lunch, which is why I think getting the last reservation slot on the schedule is a good way to go. You never know who you will be seated with and what will happen. I've never been disappointed.
I headed back to my compartment and settled down with some coffee and a book. I was also watching the scenery and was noticing the geology and wildlife more than usual. Since I had spent time out among the lava flows and the petroglyphs it was more on my mind. I did see a small herd of Pronghorn Antelope as we climbed up toward Raton Pass. We saw a lone buffalo on the way out that I forgot to mention and some people saw some elk on this trip.
Before long the dining car steward (William) came by and asked for my dinner reservation. I felt that I had just eaten so I asked again for the last time slot...7:30. It was a pleasant ride and the sun came out, finally. I went to sit in the observation/lounge car as it got closer to supper time. I don't spend much time in the lounge car but they have a full service snack bar and offer beer and wine. It has two levels with the top level having a partial glass ceiling so you can have a full view of mountain scenery.
At 7:30 I went to the dining car and was seated with Rich and his wife, Carol, who were returning home from a family visit in Ruidoso NM. Home was in Indiana. We also had Christina from northern Michigan who was going home from a conference in Santa Barbara. It turned out that she was a publisher of a regional magazine that focuses on local food and farming so our conversation was largely related to fresh food and local crops. It was interesting to hear about how farmers decide what crops to grow and which ones to avoid...I hadn't given that much thought. We talked a little about the Slow Food Movement and how that relates to local farm suppliers.
They had Maryland Crab Cakes on the menu but I decided to go with the special again, roasted Lamb shanks with baked potato and salad and a dinner roll. I decided against the dessert...too much food. The dining car staff were having equipment problems so it took a long time to get our food so they kept bringing more rolls. They also had a vegan pasta and a diet special (Tilapia), beef steak and a roasted half chicken on the menu.
After an hour wait they called for us to board the train for Jefferson City. The train was not crowded but we had the benefit of a group of six eight-year-old boys on their first train trip...supposedly supervised by two women who wanted them to have an enjoyable experience. They did. They managed to try every contorted seat position and imaginable snack tray position accompanied by giggles and guffaws. They were only going to Warrensburg but they declared it to be "the coolest train trip ever!!"
Well, as you can imagine, it takes a while to get all this talking and eating and scenery watching done during lunch, which is why I think getting the last reservation slot on the schedule is a good way to go. You never know who you will be seated with and what will happen. I've never been disappointed.I headed back to my compartment and settled down with some coffee and a book. I was also watching the scenery and was noticing the geology and wildlife more than usual. Since I had spent time out among the lava flows and the petroglyphs it was more on my mind. I did see a small herd of Pronghorn Antelope as we climbed up toward Raton Pass. We saw a lone buffalo on the way out that I forgot to mention and some people saw some elk on this trip.
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| Antelope |
Before long the dining car steward (William) came by and asked for my dinner reservation. I felt that I had just eaten so I asked again for the last time slot...7:30. It was a pleasant ride and the sun came out, finally. I went to sit in the observation/lounge car as it got closer to supper time. I don't spend much time in the lounge car but they have a full service snack bar and offer beer and wine. It has two levels with the top level having a partial glass ceiling so you can have a full view of mountain scenery.
We lingered over our late supper and crossed the time zone so we lost an hour. By the time I got back to my sleeper the attendant put me to bed. I read a while and then, eventually, tried to get some sleep. Unfortunately I had too much coffee so it was not going to work. Sleep is not easy anyway but you feel all the bumps and clatter on the lower level of the sleeper car. The coffee, combined with the rough ride, made for a long night.
I felt like I had been in a wrestling match all night and looked like it.....but you should have seen the other guy. I had to be ready early in the morning because the train pulls in to Kansas City just after 7 AM and breakfast is served beginning at 6:30. I needed to get there early to get something to eat.
Breakfast was pancakes and bacon with orange juice and coffee. My table companions were Willard, from Fulton, CA, and Tom from Madison, WI. Willard was heading for Osawatamie Kansas to visit relatives. We talked a little about the history of Osawatamie and John "Osawatamie" Brown's adventures and the raid on Harper's Ferry. He's still a controversial figure after so many years. Tom was a consultant on transportation issues and was heading home from a meeting. He was retired from the state of Wisconsin so we discussed state retirement systems. Wisconsin has a blanket system that covers all state and city/county workers so you can stay in the same system and move to different levels of government work.
We pulled in to the Kansas city station early...before I was done with breakfast...so I had to get my act together and get off the train. It has a long layover but I needed to get ready for my connecting train to Jefferson City.
After an hour wait they called for us to board the train for Jefferson City. The train was not crowded but we had the benefit of a group of six eight-year-old boys on their first train trip...supposedly supervised by two women who wanted them to have an enjoyable experience. They did. They managed to try every contorted seat position and imaginable snack tray position accompanied by giggles and guffaws. They were only going to Warrensburg but they declared it to be "the coolest train trip ever!!"
I would generally have to agree. I think the best part of travelling by train is the chance to meet people. Amtrak helps this along with their policy of "Community Seating" in the dining car. You never know who you will meet. I didn't get to sit with the My Lai veteran but some folks did so they had that experience. I had my own new people to meet. I like the term "Community" because it does seem to be a community of folks who are having a common experience on the train and all have something to offer. Even the elderly fellow with the oxygen was taken care of because the dining car staff took him his meals.
I got home around 11:30 and was greeted by Watson -- who seemed very happy to have me home. I was glad to be home, too, but I had a great time. I still need to decide about that house.....what to do....what to do.
Until next time....Putting a cork in it.
Until next time....Putting a cork in it.
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