May 5th -- Arrived in Taos to connect with my daughter Dawn. Micki wasn’t being able to make this trip, I invited Dawn to be my co-pilot. The last time Dawn and I made an RV trip was 1981 when I took Dawn and Judd on a trip to the Smokey Mountains in a motorhome. She didn’t speak to me for the entire trip. She was 15 and resented being pulled away from her first boy friend. She is now married and older than I am, so I’m expecting better results. I know she has matured in many ways. People seem to doubt that I have.
My fantasy is that we can spend lots of time talking about the old days as well as dreams of the future. Dawn is a person of many talents; one of which is being a professional driver and having a CDL license. I’m looking forward to being a passenger for at least part of this trip.
A few minutes out of Taos we made our first caboose sighting. I pulled over and sat on the stone fence while Dawn operated the camera. Part of the fun of traveling is spotting cabooses (or cabaseese) and logging them into “Red Candy Caboose” web site. I wish I had time to chat with each caboose owner. I can’t help but wonder why someone living on the outskirts of Taos would have an old wooden caboose setting in their front yard. Could this perhaps be the famous lost “Red Candy Caboose?”
Next stop was Chama. One of my all time favorite train rides. They were closed, but we were able to meet with one of the local merchants and a brief meeting with radio station 96.1. They plan on playing the RCC Theme Song and having me come back for a live interview. I’m starting to be a ham! Maybe I always was….