Day 2

May 6 -- Started the morning in Durango, CO. Got suckered into the wrong RV park last night. Pulled in and the office was closed. The sign on the door said pick a spot and pay in the morning.. When they don’t post the rate, don’t do it! I did and paid double what it should have been. Live and learn.
The Durango Silverton RR is the Gold Standard for tourist railroads. It is one of the most popular tourist railroads in the country. Many RRs have done as well, but Durango did it first and did it with class. They normally sell out weeks or months in advance. Today was no exception. They had a full train with lots of happy passengers. They won’t go all the way to Silverton until next week. Word has it they will soon be offering a return trip from Silverton by bus for people that want to see a little different view.

I have ridden their train a couple of times in the past, but have overlooked their museum. If you go, include the museum. They have done a great job and even let me hang out their caboose window, just like Coop.

We met the gift shop manager and left her with a supply of our product line. When you are in Durango (or any RR) be sure to ask them where they keep their RCC books.
Silverton was our next stop. After driving though snow-packed mountains we were surprised to see that some people had actually stayed the entire winter in Silverton. A real feat considering the road in and out is closed a great deal of the winter. The train is another week from making it into town, but all the merchants are preparing for the start of the season. We circled town six times gawking at the store fronts and old miner shacks when Dawn said “We should stop at the Look Out Shop, they look like the kind of store that would carry “The Red Candy Caboose.” By that I assumed she meant “Classy.” We stopped. They now carry both books and the RCC night light, and I now own a telephone that looks like a train engine and does a train whistle when the phone rings. Dawn thinks I’ll have to hide it from Micki (not because Micki wants her own train phone.)
We programmed the GPS for Leadville and headed North.
Dawn is an excellent driver and even drives professionally, so half way I asked if she would drive while I took a nap. I woke up for a photo opp in Gunnison and then sat on the edge of my seat as we headed through Black Canyon and then up Monarch Pass. Somewhere near the top of the pass I realized I wasn’t breathing. I had been clinching the arm rest and holding my breath without realizing what I was doing. The road was narrow with no guard rails and vertical drops that went beyond what I could see. Worse yet, the snow kept getting more dense by the minute. Just past the summit I asked if I could drive. I figured clinching the steering wheel had to be better than clawing at the upholstery.
This is well into spring, how do local people tolerate this? They must travel with seal skin coats and snow shoes.