In Praise of Old Hotels #5

THE WILD BUNCH

The Wild Bunch

In an earlier post I mentioned a backpacking trip to the Big Horn Mountains of Wyoming. The Big Horns are in north central Wyoming and just south of the mountains is a region called The Hole in the Wall, where numerous outlaws  and desperadoes could hide out from the law back in the late 1800s. The law, such as it was out west, was in Buffalo, Wyoming, as was...and is...The Occidental Hotel.

THE OCCIDENTAL HOTEL, BUFFALO, WYOMING

If you are traveling west toward Yellowstone or maybe east toward Sturgis, SD or maybe Devil's Tower, be sure to take the time to spend a night at the Occidental Hotel. Of all the hotels I will cover in this series of blog posts, The Occidental is my favorite. The hotel originated in 1880 as a log building on the bank of a creek  near the Bozeman Trail. This was Johnson County, Wyoming...you might have heard of the Johnson County War between the small ranchers and farmers and the larger land  and cattle barons (1897) that was finally settled by the US Cavalry. Buffalo became the county seat and the Occidental prospered. Eventually the log hotel was replaced by a fine brick building and then it was enlarged over time.

This was THE place to stay and lots of famous people spent time at the Occidental. Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid would drift into town and stay in the room overlooking the sheriff's office. Owen Wister visited the Occidental and wrote part of The Virginian while staying in the balcony room overlooking Main street. Teddy Roosevelt stayed here. General Phil Sheridan stayed here. Buffalo Bill, Calamity Jane and Tom Horn stayed here as did President Herbert Hoover. Again, probably some of my relatives stayed here because they had a ranch about forty miles away and Buffalo was the closest "big" town.

Lobby/Parlor

The Occidental went into decline with the depression and then sank even deeper as highway motels sprang up. It finally became a local landmark as a bordello for several years and it endured it all. The hotel had only one manager for 58 years who carefully preserved everything. The building survived and, miraculously, most of the hotel's grand furnishings just got carted down into the basement where they sat until 1997 when the place was reborn. The place was on it's last legs and renovation took many years. It was only halfway renovated when we stayed here but it has progressed since then and today is a sight to behold. 

We stayed in the Teddy Roosevelt suite and my daughter stayed in the General Sheridan room, next door. There is the Owen Wister room and the Herbert Hoover suite, the Hole in the Wall room and the Madam's Retreat plus some cowboy rooms. When we visited, some of the old, run down sections were awaiting renovation and you could see how much work was involved in bringing the place back to life. There were even some scribbled notes on the walls from the old bordello days.  

Besides the hotel and the restored rooms, there is also a saloon. This place was a full service operation --- hotel, saloon, restaurant and barber shop. The saloon is well worth visiting even if you don't stay at the hotel. There are bullet holes in the walls...real bullet holes. The current saloon and it's furnishings date to 1908. It was a stand-up saloon so the bar stools and tables are a more recent addition. The bar is twenty-five feet long and could accommodate all sorts of outlaws and lawmen. Butch and Sundance died in 1908 in Bolivia (maybe?) but who knows, maybe they had a farewell drink at the Occidental Saloon. Ernest Hemingway was a hotel guest and I figure he had a drink or two at the saloon. 

Today there is also a restaurant (The Virginian) and a cafe (The Busy Bee) but I don't think they were back in operation when we were here. 

Hotel rooms run from about $110 to $210 in the summer...suites run about $185. Winter rates are significantly lower.

Check out the web page for details: http://www.occidentalwyoming.com/index.php

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Update...Travel Channel's "The Dead Files" did a TV episode exploring the paranormal experiences of hotel staff and guests.  FYI -- Nothing like that happened while we were guests at the Occidental and there were no discussions or hints of spooks or spirits from staff or the owner who gave us a tour of the hotel including parts that were not renovated.
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Next: More western hotels

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The Big Horns

In Praise of Old Hotels #4

HISTORICALLY SPEAKING

Almost by definition, old hotels are historical hotels but some are more historical than others. We stayed in a old hotel in San Antonio once that had been refurbished and then became a "boutique" hotel. Also in San Antonio there is the Crockett Hotel, 100+ years old, that stands about a stone's throw from the Alamo (I dare you...). Then there is the Menger Hotel in San Antonio which is famous because Teddy Roosevelt rode his horse into the Menger Hotel bar in 1898 and recruited volunteers for the Rough Riders. That Teddy story trumps the boutique and the chance to make history by throwing rocks at the Alamo...so I'd vote for the Menger.

BEEKMAN ARMS, RHINEBECK, NEW YORK

If you are in the Hudson River valley and can work it out, stay at the Beekman Arms...or at least, eat at the tavern. It is hard to beat the Beekman Arms at the historical hotel contest. The Beekman is the oldest continuously operating inn in the USA going back to well before the Revolutionary War. George Washington slept, ate, drank and did just about everything else here. Back then, the tavern looked out on the village green and he would sit in the tavern and watch the militia drill out on the green. Remember Chelsea Clinton's wedding? Yep...in Rhinebeck, and the Beekman played a big role in the wedding.   Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton traded insults at the Beekman which eventually led to their duel and the death of Hamilton. Benedict Arnold was a common sight at the Beekman.  Rhinebeck is a short distance from Hyde Park...FDR's home and the Roosevelts were here too. I'm sure some of my ancestors darkened the doorway at some point since they were from a nearby town.

Firehouse

Back in the old days, guests shared beds...maybe several guys to a bed. Private rooms were hard to come by. Today the Beekman Arms has a few rooms in the actual Inn but they have expanded to take over a half dozen or more historic structures in Rhinebeck and there are some very nice accommodations. You don't have to sleep in a bed with a stranger.  The time we stayed here we actually had a three-room suite on the upper floor of the old Rhinebeck firehouse...where the fireman used to sleep...but much nicer. The rooms were furnished with what looked like antiques (maybe replicas...?) and canopy beds.

Apart from registering at the front desk, you might not spend much time in the actual old inn unless you go into the tavern.  There are a few rooms but most rooms are in other buildings. The tavern is a classic old colonial-style tavern. The menu was varied and the food was good. Needless to say, if you are coming to the Beekman Arms, bring your money. There is a lot to see and do in this part of the Hudson Valley and it's well worth a visit.



BROOKSTOWN INN, WINSTON-SALEM, NORTH CAROLINA

Winston-Salem is steeped in history all by itself. The Moravians settled the place and there are several blocks of old and restored buildings in the historic "Old Salem" district. Everything looks historical. Wake Forest University is here and its main campus looks like a relic from the 1700s.  Winston Salem was also an early industrial site. Entrepreneurs from the town traveled north to see how the textile mills in New England functioned and then came back and established a cotton textile industry.

One of those early 19th century mills has been converted to the Brookstown Inn. The inn is in the main mill building but there is ample evidence of a sprawling complex of mill structures. Back in the day, the unmarried mill girls lived in a dormitory in the attic of the mill. When the renovation work was underway, workers cleaning and stripping the walls in the attic found lots of old graffiti, poems and sketches that the girls placed on the walls of their dormitory. Some of those are preserved and on view up on the top floor. Nothing tremendous happened here but you can see and understand a little of what mill worker life was like back before the Civil War.

The rooms in the inn are sparse with old-style furnishings and bare brick walls. The rooms are mostly on the actual mill floors with as much left as possible to give the feel of the old building. Considering the structure and the industrial history, the place is bright and cheery. The restaurant is nice...I think we only had breakfast but it was good food.

The Brookstown Inn offers a good base for exploring the rest of Winston Salem.


There are a couple listing organizations that serve as a resource if you want to stay at a good historic hotel. The National Trust for Historic Preservation established Historic Hotels of America in 1989 and they are active in maintaining standards and they keep their list current. The website is http://www.historichotels.org. Another similar listing is Historic Hotels of the Rockies at  http://www.historic-hotels.com.


Next: Butch and Sundance slept here

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In Praise of Old Hotels #3

HOTEL HAUNTS

Old hotels come with a lot of legends and stories repeated by staff and guests over the years. I've stayed at places that were two hundred fifty years old and some places that had early lives as textile factories and bordellos. If there are such things as ghosts, I think an old hotel would be a prime spot to encounter one.  I have yet to meet one...I think.

THE STRATER HOTEL, DURANGO, COLORADO

Let's dispense with the Strater ghost stories first. When we stayed at The Strater Hotel, probably in 2002, there were lots of stories of mysterious sightings and ghostly experiences. Each room had a room diary where guests would record their stay and say what they liked about the place and what they did during their stay. The diary in our room had entries from people from all over the world. There were frequent references to the resident ghosts...but mostly that they had not seen any.  There are plenty of folks who claim to have seen one of the three resident ghosts, including the sister of a previous owner. Fast forward to 2013 and the current hotel management disavows all knowledge of a resident ghost and says that the hotel is not haunted and never was. Well, I suppose that is the official word on the topic. I'm sure the stories still circulate.  I don't know how you would prove that the hotel is not haunted if people claim that it is.

The Strater Hotel was built in the late 1880s and is quite large. The architectural style might be Colorado Wedding Cake...the place certainly commands attention.  It was built by Henry Strater (yes, he is one of the ghosts) a local pharmacist. He built the hotel in a bid to make Durango a permanent place rather than a mining camp. The original cost was $70,000. I think he did a great job...the place is impressive. Besides the many hotel rooms there is a classic saloon...the Diamond Belle Saloon...that offers kind of an updated old west saloon experience. When we were there they had a resident ragtime piano player who was great and put on a good show.

The Strater's rooms are furnished with antiques. The hotel has the largest  collection of Victorian-era walnut furniture in the United States. Our room was decorated like a room in a bordello...complete with bright red flocked wallpaper.  Today the summer AARP rate for a classic queen room for two is $187.00. I don't recall paying that much but maybe we did. We were there in October so rates might have been less. I would pay the current rate but I like these old hotels. The Strater is part of the Historic Hotels of America and there might be discounts through the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

We didn't eat at the hotel. We opted to go out and explore the downtown area and found places to eat close by. And we slept well and were not awakened or startled by any ghostly beings. Louis L'Amour always stayed in the room over the saloon because he liked the noise and it helped him write his western novels.


SWEDISH COUNTRY INN, LINDSBORG, KANSAS

Lindsborg, Kansas, is located south of Salina, sort of in the middle of east-central Kansas. The town is mostly made up of transplanted Swedes, or more probably folks with Swedish ancestry. They are very proud of their Swedish background and have invested in a number of fiberglass Dala Horses that are decorated in various themes and placed around town on street corners. They make a big thing about being Swedish and that draws people to town who have similar interests. When they come to town they can stay at The Swedish Country Inn.

This hotel is small...only sixteen rooms...and is almost more like a B&B. It was originally built as a feed store but the owner had it converted to a hotel with a plan for thirty-two rooms. They ran out of money at sixteen rooms. It has sort of a Spanish look to it but that was the style back then.  It was a dormitory for the local college for a few years and then eventually was renovated and returned to being a hotel. They have worked hard to make it appear Swedish in it's current life.

The rooms are all fairly similar and are furnished with...you guessed it...Swedish stuff. The exposed woodwork is all very lightly stained or simply allowed to be unstained and lightly varnished. Furnishings are sparse...not a lot of stuff crammed into the rooms.

The breakfast spread is Swedish, too, but very good and there is plenty to choose from. You will not go away hungry.

Now I'm not saying that the Swedish Inn is haunted but something weird happened the night we stayed there. At about 3 AM I was awakened from a sound sleep by a strong smell of garlic. I'm not talking about just a little bit of garlic. This was like someone drove a truckload into the room. I don't ever recall being awakened by a smell before. Joanne did not smell it but she was not awakened. I finally decided that someone was cooking breakfast (at 3 AM?) and tried to go back to sleep. The smell continued until I finally got back to sleep. The next morning I expected to see something on the breakfast menu containing a lot of garlic. Nope...not a sign of garlic in anything we had for breakfast. I made a casual comment at the front desk about all that garlic they had cooking and they had no idea what I was talking about. So what was that smell?  Folklore associates garlic with vampires but mainly as a protection to ward off vampires and werewolves. Maybe that smell was keeping the Kansas vampires and werewolves away from us Missourians.

Next: Historic hotels

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In Praise of Old Hotels #2

There is, or (rather) was, a class of hotels that catered to folks travelling by train. These railroad hotels were located near train stations or close to the railroad tracks and in some cases were part of the train station. St. Louis's Union Station is a prime example of the co-located hotel and station.  Since I'm a train fan, I've stayed at a few old railroad hotels.

IZAAK WALTON INN, ESSEX, MONTANA (GLACIER N.P.)

Okay, I lied. Not all of these hotels were designed for travelers. The Izaak Walton Inn started as sort of a bunk house or dormitory for rail workers on the Great Northern Railway and that stretch of tracks around Glacier National Park needed a lot of work. They also have a small switching yard there and some resident locomotives that help move the trains over the mountain pass.  As far as I can tell, there really isn't anything else at Essex besides the Essex Inn. The place is located just outside of Glacier National Park and is serviced by the parks touring car concession so they come and pick you up for the tour and bring you back when you are done.

The Izaak Walton  Inn is a "flag stop" on Amtrak's Empire Builder route which means they will stop for you with advance notice but won't usually stop as a regular daily thing. I assume that during summer there are pretty frequent stops.  They stopped at least once while we were staying at the inn.

The Izaak Walton Inn is rustic and was never intended to be anything else but it has sort of a casual elegance to it. Part of it's charm is that it is isolated. Don't expect your cell phone to work and they didn't have Internet when we were there. While this is relaxing to some, it is frustrating to others...especially thirteen year old girls. There is a pay phone in the lobby but it is usually in the control of pre-teen and teenage kids complaining to their friends that they are practically being held hostage in this horrible place in the mountains. Do your kids a favor and leave them at home. We placated our daughter by getting her a single room all by herself across the hall and away from the sound of the frequent freight trains that go by.  That is an added feature...being close to the main railroad line there will be lots of trains going by and lots of train noise...day and night. Sleep can be a challenge so bring ear plugs. If you are a train buff you will love it and some people, I understand, can identify locomotives by the sound.

Rooms are spare but adequate. They have added private bath accommodations to the rooms and in some cases the set up is a little ingenious.  The walls are pine and the decor is Burlington-Northern. We figured that the room would accommodate three of us with our daughter on the spare convertible bed. Nope...the spare bed was almost useless. We opted to move her across the hall and, surprisingly, they had a vacant room. An expensive solution but worth it in the long run.

As I said, the Izaak Walton Inn is somewhat isolated so you will eat most of your meals at the hotel restaurant. Again, think rustic but also 'home made' and inventive. We were happy with the food but you are sort of a captive and the prices were a little high. Before you complain, bear in mind the isolation and cost to drive to the next town for meals.  The Izaak Walton  Inn is not one of the grand national park lodges but it is a unique experience and it is close enough to Glacier National Park to see wildlife and enjoy the area. We saw mountain goats a short distance from the inn and were able to explore the park on our own as well as on the tour.

THE IRON HORSE HOTEL, BLACKWATER, MISSOURI

Blackwater, Missouri, you ask?  Yes...Blackwater is a tiny town located west of Boonville, Missouri...um...west of Columbia, Missouri...um...sort of  like between St. Louis and Kansas City.  You have to want to be there....and I suggest you consider it.  Blackwater is an old town filled with those antique stores that you hear about in legends on Antiques Roadshow. The town has a small artists' colony and is sometimes a venue for ragtime piano performances (Scott Joplin lived in Sedalia...down the road a ways).  Arrow Rock (and the Arrow Rock Lyceum Theater) is a few minutes away as is Boonville and the local casino crowd. You can get to Columbia and a couple wineries in about twenty minutes. So, Blackwater is a good place to stay if you are interested in that kind of stuff.

The Iron Horse Hotel is a real old-time railroad hotel located about twenty-five feet from the tracks. They supply the ear plugs. Go out the front door and turn right and walk across the tracks and you are in a farmer's field....keep walking and you'll fall in the river. If you turn  left and you hit the antique stores. There is a small diner across the street but the Iron Horse has a great restaurant (think lamb and lobster) and you get breakfast with your room. It was not busy when we were there. In fact, they told us to lock up when we went to bed because we were the only ones there...a big responsibility.

All the rooms in the hotel are furnished in antiques. Some rooms are themed and all have names. All the rooms seemed to be over-sized for an old hotel so I wonder if there were alterations made sometime in the past. I believe all rooms had adjoining baths so those were added at some point. We did not eat at the restaurant but it has a very good reputation. As I said, breakfast is served with your room but they have a cheery breakfast room set aside for that purpose. I understand that there are new owners but the place used to have a distinct New Orleans flavor. Our breakfast was biegnets and New Orleans coffee. With the change in ownership there might be some changes from this description. I know they are now doing mystery dinner theater nights occasionally.

Union Pacific steam locomotive at Blackwater

Next: Hotel haunts

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In Praise of Old Hotels #1

While I'm waiting for my next trip I decided to reflect a little on past trips and it occurred to me that I seem to have an enduring fondness for old hotels.  I've purposefully sought them out over the years while on the road and I almost always enjoyed the experience. Some were more of an bed and breakfast operation wrapped in the  ambiance of an old historic hotel, but that's fine and it adds to the variety of the experience.  So I decided to post some of those experiences in a series of intermittent blog posts covering one or two hotels at a time.

I once worked as a travelling auditor (sort of) and stayed in Holiday Inns and other similar motels while on assignment. That may be why I enjoyed the novelty of staying in older places that were not as new and shiny.  So here is the first installment with several more to follow.

HOTEL WASHAKIE, WORLAND, WY

Way back in 1975, Joanne and I went on a two week backpacking trip to the Big Horn Mountains in Wyoming. We were on a tight budget and camped almost every night, which was common back in those days. Our actual trek through the mountains was only about four of five days but we had spent a lot of time sleeping on the ground and   had not used a real shower for many days.  Joanne agreed to the backpacking and the camping if we could stay in a real hotel once we came out of the mountains, which was fine with me...sounded like a great idea.

Coming out of the mountains after our trek we headed west to the town of Worland, Wyoming. We had heard several good recommendations for the Hotel Washakie in Worland. The steak dinner in the restaurant was also recommended and that sounded great after eating beans and freeze-dried Turkey Tetrazzini cooked over a tiny white gas stove that was trying to blow up.

As I recall, the room was adequate but not fancy. This was sort of a cowboy hotel. The real bed was welcome after so many nights on the ground. The bathroom and shower were much appreciated. The steak dinner was wonderful.  Breakfast was great. We really needed that hotel stay and it could have been much worse but we still would have enjoyed it.  As I recall we had a good night's rest and headed west toward Thermopolis and the Wind River the next day.

As I was preparing to write up this short blog entry I began to wonder what happened to the Hotel Washakie. I tried searching the Internet...nothing showed up. I searched on Google Earth and Google maps....nothing. I looked at a map of Worland thinking that I might recognize the hotel location but there was nothing.  Finally, I sent a short email to the "lifestyle" editor of the local newspaper in Worland. He wrote me back that the hotel had been demolished many years ago and replaced by a Mexican restaurant. Ugh. Wow...that made me feel really old. It wasn't especially a cherished landmark of my youth but still it pained me a little to realize that "my places" were being torn down to make room for Mexican restaurants....progress, I guess.

So this was my first encounter with an older hotel. The Hotel Washakie was probably the premier stopping point for travelers on the railroad and cowboys coming in to town on weekends. Now they have Comfort Inns and Motel 6 and the train doesn't stop here anymore...progress, I guess.


THE EL REY INN, SANTA FE, NM

Sometime back in the late 1970s...I don't recall the year...Joanne and I went on a cross country trip to California. Our route took us through New Mexico -- Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Abiquiu, Chama and on into Colorado. We camped at a few places but stayed in motels about half the time.

In Santa Fe we decided to camp one night in the mountains and stay another night in a motel.  Driving into town we picked out the El Rey Motel, a 1940ish "tourist court" style motel with adobe-looking cabins. This was before Santa Fe was "discovered" and became upscale. I don't think we paid much more than $35.00 for the room.  The motel was conveniently located and we went out and visited the town and the plaza. The neighborhood was still a little outside of the congested old part of town. Santa Fe's early streets are narrow and seem to follow old cow paths.

The motel was distinctive because the rooms were very southwestern in style with tile floors and adobe walls. Our room had a kiva fireplace and wood beams and carved corbels.

Today this place is operated as the El Rey Inn and has moved upscale. A room like ours would be considered deluxe and would run $155.00 a night. There are other similar places from the same era along that stretch of the highway (Cerillos Road) including the Thunderbird and Kings Rest. The neighborhood and the road are very congested. Car dealerships and the Teriyaki Bowl restaurant are now across the street.

We returned to Santa Fe several times after that but enjoyed Santa Fe more on that first trip than our other visits. We camped up in the national forest among the Aspen trees.

Next: Railroad hotels

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It's a Trip -- Heading Home

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.

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.

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.

 

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.

   

 

Breaking Up Is Hard to do

Plastic Peppers ...leave an awful after-taste

I have been increasingly crabby and in a bad mood on this trip. You probably hadn't noticed, right? Nothing seemed to be going right once I got here.  I complained a little but I had a lot more that I didn't burden you with, dear reader.  Was it me? Was it Albuquerque? The local uber-laid back attitude of the local "service providers"? What?   (...oh God...here he goes again!)

I was coming to the realization that my plan to build a house on my ranchette-ette was not going to happen. there were too many obstacles. Some were related to the land....the well and the septic system were going to run somewhere around $20k before we ever started on the house. That's assuming the well hit water on the first try.  Then we needed to haul "engineered soil" in to mix with the sand where the house was going to be built. My builder says that is standard practice and not a big thing but it was just one more thing. Then there was the issue of trash dumping and the nearly impassable road. Then there was the cost of material going up...etc., etc.

I was pretty emotionally attached to the idea of building on that lot and being sort of a pioneer with no close neighbors...you can hum the theme from Davy Crockett while you read this. All in all, it came as a hard decision to walk away from that plan...at least for now. That's really why I was so grumpy. It wasn't any one's fault...I was looking for something to complain about other than what the issue really was.

I began looking at other houses and options earlier in the week. I found some  houses for sale that were maybe OK. I looked in a completely different direction at the bungalow rehab (which dropped $35,000 in price this week, btw) but it was still going to cost as much as the selling price -- or more -- to fix it up.

Yesterday's trip out of town cleared my head a little. It was good to get away and do something entirely different. I enjoyed tramping around among the lava flows and the sandstone cliffs.  This trip was feeling too much like work.


Today My builder was able to get inside a couple houses that I saw earlier. the first one was OK but just that. It seemed poorly laid out with a good deal of wasted space. It was well maintained but just didn't excite me very much.

The second house was just about everything that I was looking for. There were a few things that I would change but not right away. It was well maintained but was a foreclosure. There are a few repairs and maintenance things that need to be done but these could be a project for me to do. The price was right or almost right. Location and size were great. So I'm pondering what to do. I have some time to consider...but not a whole lot of time. This seemed like it fell into place and is a good fit to what I want at the fraction of the cost.  So am I on a rebound from a lost love?  I don't think so.   Stay tuned.

I'm going home tomorrow. My train leaves at about noon. I came on a week-long trip but only packed for six days so I had to break down and do a load of laundry. The motel provides a pretty nice coin-operated laundry so I spent an hour and a half watching my clothes flop around in the machines. They came out clean.

I decided to walk 1 1/2 blocks to Rudy's Bar-B-Que....voted the best BBQ in Albuquerque in a recent "best of..." poll. That Golden Pride restaurant from Thursday was voted best breakfast burrito so I'm livin' the high life while I'm here. Rudy's is actually a small Texas chain of BBQ restaurants. I use the term "restaurant" very loosely. This is more like a meat market but when you think of it most of the really good BBQs are a little off the bubble, as it were. Rudy's sells about seven or eight kinds of BBQ meat by the pound so you need to buy the right amount for a sandwich, get a couple slices of bread (bread is free but buns are twenty-five cents), decide what sides you want and pick them out of the cooler, then decide what you want to drink. Soda or water is easy. If you want a beer (I did) you have to go over and "talk to the little lady at the trough". So, you decide what beer you want, pay the man (he checks your ID) and then swagger over with your bright red tray to the lady by the big cattle trough full of ice and beer.  You show her your receipt and she pulls the beer out of the trough......but she won't give it to you. Why? Because your beer has to be delivered to your table. So then you decide which picnic table you are going to sit at and she follows you to your table and hands you the beer. By this time you have forgotten to pick up your plastic fork and knife so you have to swagger back over to the service table by the trough and get your stuff. There's no napkins..... The napkins are in dispensers on the wall -- like in a public restroom -- so you have to stop and grab a few. Rudy keeps a couple kinds of his own "sause" on the table plus a few commercial brands of hot sauce. Rudy can't spell but he can make BBQ. I opted for pulled pork just because I was lazy and didn't want to think outside the box....Rudy's is already out of the box.  It was good.

So that's about it. Time to pack up and then tomorrow take my train back to winter. The weather has been great here although it got very windy yesterday....like 35 mph sustained wind. This is the windy season so I lucked out with only one windy day.