El Malpais - Badlands

I decided to get out of town today rather than go looking for green beer.  It's early...I might still go but probably not.

I headed up the street to my coffee shop for coffee and a scone and then filled up Black Beauty with gas and headed west in I-40. I've been just about every direction out of Albuquerque but never drove west very far.  I decided to go to El Malpais National Monument out by Grants NM...about 75 miles west.

On the way the interstate goes past Laguna Pueblo, one of the Keres-speaking pueblos. When I first started coming out here I assumed all of the pueblo communities shared a common language. Not so -- there are several different languages some can't understand each other.  There are seven dialects within the Keres language, The Sandia pueblo people speak Southern Tiwa...a completely different language. The mission church at Laguna Pueblo is pretty famous and dates to 1699. The highway also goes past Acoma, the Sky City, another Keres-speaking pueblo. You can't see it because it sits on top of a high mesa south of the highway. The Acoma pueblo built a small settlement close to the highway where they have a truck stop, McDonald's and a casino.

The route into El Malpais goes south just before you reach Grants. This is a large valley that was consumed by volcanic eruptions about two or three thousand years ago. The valley floor is covered with basalt lava in all sorts of fantastic shapes and jumbles. Much of the area is BLM or Acoma Pueblo land but the major features are part of a national monument, In geologic time, 2000 years ago is less than a blink of an eye and I wonder when the next blow-up will occur. Maybe I don't want to know.

This was my hiking area for the day. I started by climbing up on top of the sandstone cliffs (yes, there was a trail). This is high country, over 6,500 feet in elevation, and today was cool and windy. You can see footprints in the sand from a few other hikers but what was most striking and plentiful  was the huge numbers of animal tracks, and a wide variety of animal poop. Some of the tracks were hoof prints almost as big as a horse while some hoof prints were very small. The Ranger told me that the larger ones were Elk but he wasn't sure about the little one...maybe feral goats but he hadn't seen any goats. There were also smaller tracks...rabbits and something that looks like a cat's paw print. I didn't ask the Ranger about all the poop.

I actually didn't see any elk or deer but there must be hundreds of them in the area. My wildlife viewing was confined to chipmunks, squirrels and birds. There are lots of birds and I couldn't identify any of them.

The drought has been hard on some of the plants. The juniper trees are large and must be hundreds of years old and there are some pines scattered around and a few oaks. Again, I don't see any small (baby) junipers...only very old trees.

There are a few trails that out on the lava field. One goes directly across the valley and was used by the Indians to go over to the Zuni pueblos. The erected stone cairns to mark the trail and the cairns are still in use. It takes eight hours to cross the valley so I only walked a short distance.

In some places you can see how the molten lava flowed across the valley. Most of the lava is very sharp and would tear up any light weight shoes. The lava stones are also much lighter in weight than you would expect. The vegetation grows out of cracks or hollows in the lava where water and windblown soil collects.

The sandstone cliffs on the edge of the valley are eroded in some fantastic shapes. La Ventana (window) is a natural arch that has formed in one of the alcoves. It looks like it might have been a double arch at one time.

I was getting hungry...it was long past lunch time. I headed back to the McDonald's near the Acoma casino and got some fast food. I decided to drive back to Albuquerque on a different route. Highway 6 follows one of the many old Route 66 routes in this area. Seems like the route was changed every so often so lots of roads seem to be designated as historic Route 66. This highway was used way back in the mid 1930s. I figured I would see some traces of the Mother Road but it was empty and pretty desolate.  When I got to Los Lunas I followed the river road north through some of the old farming and bosque communities. (The bosque is the riverside forest on each side of the Rio Grande). I was down this way about five years ago and these were sleepy little villages. Now they are rapidly developing into bustling suburbs.

I managed to concoct a reasonable supper with my frying pan and spoon.  I think St Patrick will have to celebrate without me.

---------

longest spike is 3/4 inch

PS -- one of the least enchanting things about New Mexico is the local version of "beggar's lice" or "stick-tights", as we would call them. I don't know what the local name is for them but I have a few of my own. These are small spherical seeds with long spiky needles sticking out. Some spikes are over an inch long. The spikes are strong and sharper than a needle and can penetrate the soles of hiking shoes. Yikes...How did the Indians populate this place with leather sandals?

What's left after pulling them out for five minutes

Saturday

Here we are at Saturday already. What to do...what to do.

I decided to go make my yearly donation to the Indians via the local casino. This time I went to Sandia Casino instead of the Santa Ana Star...gotta spread the wealth around. This time the ancient spirits were good to me...a rare occasion. There are only about 4,400 actual Sandia Pueblo residents but they have a fine resort and casino. Lots of performers stop there for concerts and there are other "big time" events. I think there are at least four Indian casinos in the immediate area.

I took my meager winnings and went to lunch at the Il Vicino Canteen, the actual brewery operation for several Il Vicino brewpubs. Il Vicino translates to "the neighbor" or maybe "the neighborhood" in Italian...why Italian? Don't ask, just drink. It is good beer. I had a "Dark and Lusty Stout" and ordered a brat with mustard and sauerkraut...totally ignoring New Mexican cuisine. The brat and kraut were very good. The mustard was good too but it was so hot it made me cry.  I've been eating my share of hot food while here but this was extreme. With the combination of the high/dry climate and the hot and spicy food my sinuses have been opened like never before. (Too much information?)

I enjoyed the stay at Il Vicino much more than my time at La Cumbre. The beer was good...I'm not hung up over beer contest winners. The atmosphere was laid back and not hyper. The waitress was not stressed out. They have a nice outdoor seating area with picnic tables...pretty casual. And they had the St. Louis U. vs. Butler basketball game on their TV...SLU won!

My 3 PM appointment was coming up so I headed back down to see the bungalow on 12th street. My builder was involved with some plans to rehab the house but nothing much happened and it is back on the market. She had a key so we met there and got inside. It has been vacant for five years or more according to a neighbor lady I talked to.

North half of the living room
Those are pocket doors leaning
against the wall.

At one time it was a beautiful house. It still has some relics of a proud past but it is in bad shape inside. It's a shame to see how it has deteriorated. It is owned by a non-profit outfit who seemed to be using some of their clients to work on it. I don't think they were helping any. Some of the work they did would have to be re-done. I'm not sure why some things are missing...like the hardwood floors. I suspect they were sold. There are holes punched in the plaster walls where somebody was trying to find wiring or maybe gas lines. The kitchen floor is in need of total replacement and extra support from below.

Dining room

There is a living room that runs full length across the front of the house, a dining room, library or study, bedrooms, one bath, a kitchen and extra rooms in an add-on at the back of the house. It is bigger than it looks. There is actually a basement under part of the house -- something rare in this area.

Kitchen has a nook and side exit

Library could be a bedroom

Hard to believe it was
vacant only five years.





My builder says that there are plans drawn up for a total rehab but nothing moved forward. Somebody with deep pockets -- deeper than mine -- would have to take it on. It couldn't be lived in even if someone would want to rehab it a little at a time.  It would be a beauty once it is rehabbed and the neighborhood is perfect...full of these great old houses.

Here is an example of a new Craftsman house built recently on the last remaining vacant lot. This is a Historic Zone neighborhood so new construction would have to conform to the house styles that already exist.

I headed down to the Plaza in Old Town to walk around and buy some trinkets and beads. I was giving thought to going up to Santa Fe but haven't worked it into my schedule. Going to the Albuquerque Plaza is just about the same thing. I actually want to buy some traditional retablos (Hispanic saint pictures) for a project I am working on at home. A man who makes retablos or santos or other religious art is called a "Santero" in the local culture and many traditional communities have a Santero.  By chance, I stumbled in to a Santero's shop on the Plaza (Roberto Gonzales) and spent about an hour looking at his work. Most of his work is painted images of saints but he does other types as well. He likes to talk about it...his wife brought me a glass of water while I learned all about it. He mixes his own paints and it can take a year to complete one large retablo. He makes an original and then reproduces a limited number of copies for sale. Historically, these were used in house altars and were very ornate.  I escaped with just a few very small ones.

La Placita in the olden days

It was after 5 PM so I decided to get dinner. I went to La Placita Dining Rooms on the Plaza. This place has been here forever. I think Coronado ate here. I remember eating here in the 1970s and several times since. I must say that it has gone down hill since way back then but then a lot of things have...including me. I hate it when things get "dumbed down".  I've heard people complain that you can't get decent Mexican food in Albuquerque like they have at Taco Bell.

La Placita is a rambling place that takes up most of one side of the Plaza. Indians sell their crafts on blankets under the shade of the portal. Inside you might be shown to an actual dining room or to a roofed-over space that once was an interior courtyard - or a placita. I ate in a placita that had a large tree growing up from the brick floor and out the roof. I ordered tostada compuesta which used to be a layered flat tostada covered with refried beans, spicy beef, chopped tomatoes, lettuce and cheese... with maybe some sour cream on top. It was a "taco salad" before there were any taco salads. This time I asked the waiter what the tostada compuesta was like and he said it was like a taco salad...and, sadly, it was except I couldn't find much tostada at all. They have something called a Navajo Salad that is basically the same thing but on Indian fry bread and two dollars more. The chips and salsa were good as was the sopapilla with honey.

I headed back home but had o stop at Walmart again because I broke my sunglasses...picked up a bottle of Chilean wine, too.

Enough for one day.

Get Thee to a Microbrewery (Hamlet - Act 3, Scene 1, Version 2.0)

Alas! Poor Yorick! I need a brewpub.  I tried stopping at La Cumbre brewery last night but there was no place to park. But today I'll succeed...

First things first. I had a breakfast date with some friends. Anna and her fiance, Andy, are visiting in Albuquerque (Andy's dad lives here). Anna is actually Jill's friend from way back. I've known Anna for a long time so we made connections and decided to meet for breakfast at the Golden Pride restaurant where Andy remembered the breakfast burritos were really good. We had a good visit and the burritos were pretty good. They were off to hike the Petroglyphs today.

I decided to go up and take a good daylight look at my land. I was discouraged by my discussion with my builder. There is apparently more prep work that needs to be done before I can build. More than I anticipated. I wish I had known that before I fell in love with the place. I walked round  a little. Much to my surprise, my footprints were still visible from when I was here last July.  They must have had almost no rain or snow since then...at least on this little piece of land. what little vegetation cover there is looks really bad. It usually looks bad...this is desert vegetation but it looked unusually bad. The Prickly Pear cactus looked the worst. Cholla cactus looked bad but showed new growth. The Yucca looked OK and the Junipers were doing fine but other stuff looked stressed out.  Maybe it's the effect of Winter. There were lots of birds singing in the Junipers.

The developer...the guy that subdivided and sold lots...took a loss, gave up and turned the remaining lots back to the bank. The bank is trying to sell them at much reduced prices. I thought that was a good thing because I could buy a 2nd lot adjoining mine. Actually, it turned out to be not so good... at least while he was engaged the place was monitored and people didn't take advantage. Now people are beginning to dump  old furniture, landscape material and other trash up there not far from my spot.

I still love the place but I'm seriously questioning whether it makes sense to build when I can buy an existing house that has most...but not all...that I need/want at less cost. Another take on it is that buying an existing house is "greener" than building another house.  What to do...what to do.

I grabbed a quick lunch and headed back to Albuquerque with plans to meet my builder at the bungalow house on 12th street. I got there a little early and walked around the neighborhood a little. This is Albuquerque's "Downtown Neighborhood" which is designated as a local Historic Zone.  From what I can tell this is more like our Conservation District status than a real Historic District as we would define it.

The neighborhood is well maintained...streets and sidewalks are in good condition. There are mid-block speed bumps in the streets to control traffic. The homes and yards are all are well maintained.  It is a mix of stately Victorians, Prairie Style, Craftsman Bungalows and Spanish/Mission Revivals.

The house that is for sale is empty and has been vacant for some time. When someone says the house has "good bones" this might be what they mean...but I haven't been inside.  A scheduling mix up caused us to miss our connection so I couldn't get inside. It looks like the outside is in reasonable shape. I has a new roof, The stucco looks OK (real stucco) and the sidewalks and front stairs are in good condition. I'm afraid to look inside because I think the pigeons have gotten in...one of the windows is broken and there are pigeons roosting up in the exterior corbels and rafters.  I took a bunch of pictures that I'll post later if the inside is in decent shape. This could be a money pit.  I'm going to see the inside tomorrow.

I finally made it to a microbrewery!!!  I stopped off at La Cumbre brewery on the way home. This is a relatively new microbrewery that I found about a month after it opened. It was a true beer geek spot with customers who knew their beer and brewers who knew what they were doing. Alas...success has a tendency to spoil things. They entered some of their beer into the Great American Beer Festival and won several medals so they became famous. Instead of having maybe a dozen  customers at one time they now have fifty or sixty. A Roach Coach is parked in front to provide food.

They now have other awards and expanded seating and harried waitresses. They have a three beer maximum. Once you have three beers, you're done. They are located in an industrial manufacturing area and only have about 8 or 10 parking places in their lot. Everyone has to find a place on the street and it is jammed for about a block on both sides of the street.I had a hard time finding a spot at 4 PM and at night you can't find anyplace to park.  Sometimes city zoning laws are written so that microbreweries are viewed as factories and have to locate in industrial areas. Other cities view them as a bar or restaurant and they can locate in commercial districts. Looks like Albuquerque favors the factory view.

Looks like I need to find someplace else...but their beer is really good -- maybe the best microbrewery I've visited in terms of their beer.  That's why they are so crowded. (Yogi: It's too crowded; nobody goes there anymore.)  I had a Pyramid Rock Pale Ale and a Malpais Stout. Both were good. I got ten-ouncers so it only cost me $6.00.

Waiting for a beer

Mmmm...Good eatin'  
The Roach Coach

I'll Have My Usual

I got a slow start today. I decided to go back to some of my usual favorite spots. I already hit the Flying Star in Corrales and in Bernalillo (Flying Star is like Panera with beer) and also hit the Starbucks in Bernalillo. Basically I was looking for wi-fi yesterday for my house hunt. I also made it to O'Neills and might go back for St. Paddy's Day.

Today I went back to Napoli coffee shop after finally doing some grocery shopping at the local Walmart. I got my coffee and had a bagel for lunch. Past blog readers will recall that this is the meeting ground for a group of retired Geeks...guys who retired from Sandia Labs or the atomic energy work up at  Los Alamos. I've written about them before. It's been almost a year since I was here last but they are still here. It kinda gives you a feeling of stability to know that they are still here drinking coffee. One of them is on oxygen now but he still shows up. I wonder if this would be like the guys from Big Bang Theory (Sheldon, Leonard, Howard and Raj...maybe a few others) when they are in their seventies.

I went in search of bocce courts today. the word on the street is that Rio Rancho installed two bocce courts in a city park. My quest is to locate that park. It turns out that I drove past it while looking at the jaw-dropping Intel factory. I somehow managed to miss that until today...I don't know how. What are they making in there???   Anyway, the park is across the street from Intel and I finally found it. I parked Blackie in the lot and strolled over to take a look....those are horse-shoe courts....where are the bocce courts? I strolled around the park looking in various nooks and crannies until I seemed to be making the toddlers' parents anxious. Then I checked out the basketball courts...nothing. Finally a guy rides by on a three-wheeler and I asked him. There over behind the tennis courts...of course. So I made a bee-line to the tennis courts and there they were: two pristine bocce courts upholstered in AstroTurf.  Why AstroTurf when they probably had to remove some of the best bocce surface material...the native gritty sand...to install it?  Oh well, it looks playable and is well maintained.

I went and looked at an older neighborhood my builder talked about. There is a house there that looks to be from the 1920s maybe, which fits in with the neighborhood. She was thinking that maybe I could take on a rehab project. These homes are mostly bungalow/craftsman style with a few grand Victorians...not what I'd expect in Albuquerque. It is a very stable and desirable neighborhood...doctors, lawyers, etc. It is close to downtown, well kept with lots of trees. The house is a big frame one-story bungalow. Might have potential.

Canyon Rinconada

Some kind of a cat

I decided that I needed to get off my butt and out of the car so I took a three mile hike up Canyon Rinconada over on the west side in Petroglyphs National Monument.  West of town there is a high mesa that was eroded into a canyon where huge chunks of lava spilled down the slope from the volcano eruptions many eons before.

A bird (turkey?)

The Indians pecked out hundreds of pictures on the dark lava rock. The trail went up along the edge where there were lots of petroglyphs.  The problem is that modern folks have also left some of their own petroglyphs. I see this as a bad thing, generally, but they should set aside a place for people to go do that if they want. The park rangers protect the Indian images as well as some that were placed there by early Hispanic shepherds. Why not designate a place where I can go and peck out "Ken Was Here".

Once I started up the trail I realized that I was here once before. Deja vu all over again. Way back in the mid 1970s Joanne and I were on a trip west and I had heard about some petroglyphs somehow and I persuaded her to stop and let me find them. She agreed but wasn't about to tramp through snake infested rocks so she stayed with the car while I disappeared over the edge of the canyon. I was only gone for about  half hour and I found several examples that I profusely described. She was mildly impressed. This was long before there was a national monument or any protection of the images.  So...I guess today's theme of revisiting places I've been before still works.

I was hell-bent to see Comet Panstarrs tonight so after cooking something in my single pot and eating it with my only clean fork, I headed out to the Volcanoes on the west side of town where you can get a clear view of the horizon without city lights. When I got there I found about a dozen other folks with the same idea, Some had seen it the night before so they knew what to look for and where. Well, I saw it without using binoculars...barely. It is very faint and close to the horizon. My camera tried to get a picture but it isn't powerful enough. One guy had powerful binoculars and we passed them around and it is very striking with a fan tail. It is supposed to move higher in the sky over the next few days but will also grow fainter. I'll have to settle for a web page photo. The picture shows how the comet appeared in binoculars.

I was also hell-bent to make it to a brewery but, once again, I didn't make it.

I Think This is Wednesday

Yes, it's Wednesday...I'm not sure if yesterday was one day or two.

I'm not too happy with my Taurus. It has too many bells and whistles, is too big, is black and it maneuvers like a boat. I'm not very good at parallel parking anymore and this thing won't fit on street parking. I also don't like driving at night in strange places and having a black car isn't helpful.

Last night I decided to go find something to eat and get a few  groceries. I ended up at O'Neill's pub on Central Avenue...a place I know and it has a parking lot so I could just stop the car and get out. I had beer and a Reuben, which was pretty good.  I stopped off at the local Whole Foods to get a few groceries and then got back to my motel and wedged the car into a parking spot.

Anyway, I made contact with my builder so we had a nice lunch (thanks, Betty) at El Pinto. You can buy El Pinto stuff at our home grocery store and I especially like their green chile sauce but I had no idea that the restaurant here was the same folks. How cool is that?  We caught up on news and had a good long talk about lots of stuff. I'm sitting firmly on the fence with a bunch of decisions and actually don't have to decide for a while. My land is still there but looking kinda ragged because people have been dumping stuff up there in the neighborhood. Since no one lives up there it is unsupervised and people have been taking advantage. If this continues it won't be such a great place to build.

I decided to look around at homes for sale just to get a current idea of what was available. I'm just naturally picky, I guess. I feel a little like Goldilocks...some are too big, some are too small, some are just right but the guy next door has a meth lab.  Betty also talked about an old home down in the center of Albuquerque that needs rehabbing and that sounded interesting enough that I will drive down and take a look.

It's bigger than it looks

I'm still having fun with the Black Behemoth...my car. I needed to get gas but didn't know where the filler door was but I guessed right when I pulled up to the pump. But how do you get the tank filled if you can't see a way to open the little door? Hmmm...maybe the manual will tell me...I guess it's in the glove compartment. Hmmm...how do you open the glove compartment??  It took me about five minutes just to get the tank open. It wasn't hard but just not apparent. The car occasionally tries to communicate with me but I don't speak Ford.

I hate to complain but as long as I'm grumpy about the car I may as well continue. My motel (Suburban Extended Stay) has been my home here on each of my trips for at least five years. I like it's location and it offers a safe and quiet place to stay. It is easy to get around town from here and I can walk to my favorite coffee/bakery shop and to Rudy's BBQ if I want. Most people here are business folks who are here temporarily and need a place for a few weeks or so. It has a small kitchen so I can cook if I want. The cost is dirt cheap -- only $34 a night. I probably can't stay at home much cheaper. BUT...over the years the place has been going slowly downhill and they are cutting back on basics. Where I used to have coffee filters, a human-sized coffee pot, dish towels, cooking utensils and enough dishes for a couple people for a couple days I now have one frying pan and two various utensils and not much else. The coffee maker shrank down to a thimble-sized contraption.  They still provide toilet paper and bath towels but not much else.  I'd be happy to pay a couple dollars more if they would provide basic stuff that I need. I know, I know...what should I expect for that kind of money.

End of grumbling. The weather here is beautiful. It was 70 degrees and very pleasant today and will be warmer tomorrow.

Amtrak to Albuquerque -- March 2013

Warning -- this will be very long since there is no Internet service on our train.

Time to get on the road -- railroad, that is. I love trains and train travel but in the USA it comes with a few challenges. In Europe the trains run often and are quite inexpensive. In my experience they always were on time and comfortable. I think the fastest I have ever travelled on land was on a train from Florence to Venice. I'm not good at converting kilometers to miles but we were travelling somewhere around 140 miles per hour on rails.  The turns were banked and the ride was smooth. Italy is known for its rail strikes but I never had a problem. Strikes are short and there is advance notice so you can plan for it.

In the USA most cross country trains can get up to 70 or 80 mph but they usually travel at slower speeds. Amtrak runs on rails owned by other railroad companies and must stop or pull over occasionally if there is a freight train delay.  Amtrak trains are few and far between and often don't go where you want to go. Costs for riding in a coach seat are not bad but sleepers are expensive.

So why take the train?  I could fly to Albuquerque cheaper than the train trip with a sleeper will cost me.  I probably won't fly into Albuquerque unless I really have to. Given the way I drive when I go to New Mexico, the train is about the same cost. I usually stay on the road two nights and the road trip takes longer than the train trip. With a sleeper, the meals on the train are included so that helps with the price.  With flying or train travel I still need to rent a car.

Leaving Jefferson City

We left Jefferson City on time and headed west toward Kansas City. The trip was uneventful pretty much with the exception of a disagreeable three year old who fussed for about fifteen minutes....could have been worse. The train was pretty full since it originated in Chicago some folks were looking like they spent half a lifetime on the train. I guess that most of them climbed on in St Louis. Thee were lots of people sleeping so it was pretty quiet.

We followed the river only for a few minutes and then it was cows, horses and farm land as well as a herd of deer near Centertown. At California (Mo) we stopped to let the eastbound Amtrak go by...we travel on the same track which is owned by Union Pacific. It is common to have to pull over to let trains pass.

Food service is somewhat limited on this train but -- surprise, surprise -- for $3.50 you can get a White Castle Cheeseburger. The cafe car has other stuff...salads and wraps...and they sell beer, wine and various soda or even Red Bull, coffee or water. I guess this is Amtrak's White Castle service.

A few folks got off at Sedalia, Warrensburg and Lees Summit. Independence saw more people get off but we still had a big crowd at Kansas City's Union Station.

Arriving at Union Station means hauling your luggage up stairs or the elevator to get inside the station  only to turn around and do it in reverse when you board the next train. I checked my big suitcase for the rest of the trip to Albuquerque.

Jefferson City's station is remarkable since it isn't a station but an old historic hotel. Every other place had real train stations. On the other hand, we have an art museum in ours. Union Station is impressive but mostly empty.  We had only about an hour lay over and then we heard "all aboard" and paraded back down to the track.

I walked toward my car and met the conductor on the platform who knew my name, checked my ticket and then pointed me to the car where I met Tommy, the sleeper attendant. Tommy insisted on calling my Kenny at first until I got him to go with Ken. He is a talker and gave me a quick tour of my sleeper roomette. It is comfortable for one person but maybe snug for two full-sized American adults but then you are on a train and can get up and move around.  Bathrooms are down the hall but I had everything else I needed and Tommy keeps coffee on 24/7 and hands out bottled water now and then. The only tricky part is turning on the lights...you can't be touching anything metal, like the door frame, for the light switch to work....go figure.

Roomette

Tommy had the bed made already figuring I would want to go to sleep.....which I did...so as we speed toward Lawrence Kansas, I went to bed.  No better way to go through Kansas.

Going to bed and sleeping are not the same thing. The roomette was on the upper level so it swayed and bounce a little...think "Magic Fingers Bed" that you can't turn off. I got about four hours sleep all together but the engineer was trying to wake up all of Kansas with the train horn so that woke me up a few times.

Dining Car

I slept until after 7 AM but folks were starting to move about and breakfast was being served. I went to the dining car and was seated with Andrew, from Australia, and Darren, from Los Angeles.This is one of my favorite things about Amtrak...they put you at a table with other folks and you end up having a long extended meal over coffee.  Surprisingly, the dining car staff knew my name..."You're Ken who got on at Kansas City!"  Well, yes, but I didn't know I was a celebrity. I see Tommy's hand in this somehow.

Breakfast was good but not exactly on par with the old days but better than airline food. All of my meals are included in the price of a sleeper so I pigged out on coffee, OJ, scrambled eggs, sausage and a biscuit with jelly...more than I ever eat at home. My companions had much the same except Darren had pancakes. We talked for quite a while. Andrew and his wife were touring the US by train. Daren was returning home from a trip to Chicago.

Sleeper Car

We went through Las Animas, where my car broke down once (wheel bearings) and stopped at La Junta for a smoking and fresh air stop. Amtrak is non-smoking so smokers have to wait for smoking stops. Amtrak also has new rules about using headphones on electronic  devices and muting cell phones.

Most of what we were seeing was the Great Plains. The route follows the Santa Fe Trail and the old trail is never more than a couple hundred yards off to one side or the other. We hit the mountains as we approached Trinidad, Colorado. The weather was overcast and there was snow on the ground in places.  Trinidad always looks desolate.

After Trinidad we climb up over Raton Pass at over 7,000 feet, this is the highest point on the trip. It takes a while to snake through the canyon and you can hear the engine laboring to get us over.  You can actually see the engine laboring because of the twisty route through the mountains.  We finally go through a tunnel and pop out on the western side of the pass into a bright sunlit and snowy day. There are lots of animal tracks in the snow...I've see elk here before but not today.

It's all downhill from here. There is ample evidence of a recent forest fire along the route down from the pass. We go through Raton, Las Vegas and Lamy (Santa Fe station) and Glorieta Pass near Pecos. Pecos has the ruins of an old Spanish mission dating back to the 1600s.  I got off at Raton to walk around for a few minutes and get some cool mountain air. Glorieta Pass was the site of one of the western-most Civil War battles.

Coming in to Las Vegas (not THE Las Vegas) we had to slow down to 10 mph because there were crews working on the tracks. Las Vegas has an old Harvey House hotel next to the track that was used in the Harvey Girls movie. (Judy Garland, I think?)

Lunch Scenery - Sangre de Cristo Mountains

I ate lunch at 1 PM...they take reservations on the half hour. This time I was seated with Jason, a young guy from eastern Kentucky. and a married couple from Upper Michigan. This was Jason's first train trip -- from Ashland KY to Los Angeles and then up the coast on the Starlight Express. The other folks were on their way to San Diego
and  had made several trips before.  Lunch was good. I had the special -- pasta and meatballs followed up with coffee and cheesecake. The others had similar good stuff but said they already had cheesecake the night before and wanted something lighter...like ice cream. The diner is spacious and pleasant. They use disposable plates and dishes but stainless flatware.

Observation Car

I finished lunch and went to sit in the observation car for a while. We were going over Glorieta Pass and the conductor came on the public address system to explain the story behind the Civil War battle and point out some landmarks. A bridge built by the confederate soldiers is still partially intact and visible from the train.


After Las Vegas the conductor started to announce instructions to passengers that they needed to tidy up their stuff and free up any extra seats because there was over 100 people getting on at Albuquerque and all seats would be filled. Seeing how folks spread out in coach I think this is going to be a challenge.  Happily I'm getting off. Tommy was anxious to get me on my way so he could touch up my roomette.

Cerillos Hills

We pulled into Albuquerque a little early and there would be a crew change and refueling so they had an hour layover. I got off and went on my way. Some Indians were selling jewelry and other items along the platform.  Tommy's advice was don't buy a rug because it shrinks when you wash it...OK. I'd probably not do that anyway.

It was a long couple of days and I'm happy to be in Albuquerque. It is sunny and warm and looks like good weather ahead. I got my rental car (they had to upgrade me to a Ford Taurus).  Have to go buy some groceries and find dinner.