opps

I got my geese mixed up. Dawn in front of the white Galloping Goose is in Silverton, CO. All the others were in Golden.

Most of you have seen trucks with steel wheels that lift up so they can also travel on the highways or railroad tracks. Don't you think it is time to come up with a car that would do the same? We could kick back, read, have breakfast, or even take a nap. Isn't that what the engineers do?

Santa Fe

The top photo is me in front of an old snow blower in Chama and Dawn is with another Galloping Goose in Golden, CO.

The Colorado trip was a little shorter than I planned, due to many of the trains and depots not officially opening until Memorial Day. The good news; the packets I left at the closed depots has kept the phone ringing. Several new accounts have come on board during the last 48 hours.

Back in Santa Fe I received news that two wonderful people from the Santa Fe Southern Railway are moving on. Ray one of our engineers is retiring and Leah our front desk and girl Friday is going back to school. Next week is a dinner and roasting for the two of them. I don't think I have it in me to write or say something funny about their leaving.

June 5th I've been invited back to Chama for a book fair. I've never done one. I suppose I just sit there with my train uniform on and look like I know what I'm doing.

I almost forgot. Wednesday morning (tomorrow) I'm doing a TV interview on Public Service TV. They tape tomorrow. I don't know when it will air. I'll try to post a U-tube copy, unless I come across to dorkey.

May 8th – Got into Canon City last night and the Royal Gorge RR was already closed. Dawn had her first experience camping in the parking lot of a Walmart. They had a nice little grassy spot with a couple of trees so I pulled up close thinking it would give us a nice park-like setting. Sometime during the night the sprinklers went off, one of which was right next to our door. I was sound asleep but the noise was too much for Dawn to handle so she got up and moved the RV. She didn’t know that I had slept through the sprinkler and the move. She spoiled the surprise by mentioning it before I stepped outside. We both regretted me not getting the full affect of my new surroundings when I stepped outside. Next time she will wait for my reaction before she says anything.

We were on the door step of the Royal Gorge RR when they opened this morning. They purchased both books and we are hoping to be part of their future storytelling program.

Dawn is driving as I blog and we just arrived in Alamosa. They were expecting a big Mother's Day week-end, but mechanical failures required they close for the holiday.

Next we went to Antonito, which is the other end of the Chama RR. They too were closed due to winter not being over in the mountains. At that point we made the decesion to head back to Taos and return after Memorial Day when the remainder of the depots will officially open.

As you can see we even met an alien.

Cabooses

The Lookout in Silverton, CO

Caboose photos from Leadville, Georgetown & Golden, CO.

Day 3

May 7 -- Woke up this morning by a small lake in Leadville, Colorado. It was seventeen degrees and snowing. Dawn has one of those sleeping bags that keep you warm even if it is a 140 below zero, so she wanted to keep the furnace turned off. My last phone conversation to Micki last night was “Pipes freeze? Not a possibility.” It did, but no damage. Waking up to a frosty morning called for an extra good breakfast at the Golden Burro. Leadville like all of the old Colorado mining towns has done a great job of creating tourism from the foundations of ghosts towns.
Again we found that the Leadville RR won’t open until Memorial Day, but we were able to leave a RCC packet. Small railroads seem to be the ideal location for both my books.
Last night I thought we were through the worst of the snow when we crossed Monarch Pass. But leaving Leadville took us across Fremont Pass which was under siege with snow. This area apparently pays no caution to calendars proclaiming the proper seasons arrive. The road was dotted with hard core skiers leaving their cars on the shoulder while they hiked to the tops of hills and mountains only to return in a fraction of the time it took to make the trek. I’m trying to remember if I ever loved anything enough to exert that much energy to get such a small payback.
Next we made it to Georgetown, CO. I’ve got Georgetown earmarked for a return trip. Everything about this town and railroad demands more time. Don’t stop here unless you can spend the entire day (three would be better). The citizens have done a first class job restoring the old mining town, the railroad offers one of the most beautiful rides you can imagine and the gift shop is the best I’ve seen to date.
The Colorado Railroad Museum was one of my first customers to stock “The Red Candy Caboose.” We stopped by and left them a supply of our new RCC theme song CDs and a copy of “Rail Tales That Haunt Us.” We finally got to tour their museum. I never dreamed they had such a wide selection of rolling stock. We took photos of lots of cabooses and normally I don’t shoot other train cars, but I couldn't’t help it. Their collection of Galloping Geese is awesome. If you don’t know what a Galloping Goose is, take a look at one of the photos. They were built originally to haul people, at the same time cut overhead by not using a full train crew. Normally they were old buses converted to operate on a RR track. They are so cute. I would love to have one in the front yard.

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.

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….