Kahuna

Mooooore Chama

That is David Morrell in the photo taking notes as I give him some helpful hints. The other photo is our dog Kahuna. I noticed David takes my helpful hints about as well as Kahuna.

The old school bus on train wheels is another examplel of a Galloping Goose, although this goose has been cooked beyond its prime.

The Chama train passing on the trestle is where we parked our RV.

More Chama

The Caboose Mobile (RV) is back with illustrations from the RCC plastered to the sides and back. Dawn Phillips was the illustrator for The Red Candy Caboose and her name is now being drug across America. I hope Dawn approves.

That is me standing over David Morrel

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Chama

As many people have told me "There is a gap between your blog postings." Yep, I've noticed. I try not to write much about cutting the grass and eating breakfast. And many days that seems to be the featured events.

Last night we got back from Chama, NM. Friday started off with a radio interview at FM 96.1. If you are interested you might be able to pull it up on their web site. They started the interview by playing our RCC Theme Song and wrapped it up by playing it again. Chama being a tourist train town, the song is expected to get more local air time.

David Morrell wrote First Blood, better known as Rambo along with 36 other books. David has sold over 18 million books. His booking schedule is full of places like New York, Chicago & LA. Who woulda' thought he would show up in Chama, New Mexico. He was our key note speaker for the event and gave talks on Friday and Saturday. David hung out with the other NM writers for the entire week end. Few people have touched me like David Morrell. He was inspiring, kind, down to earth and a pleasure to hang out with. When I got out of high school I worked in a factory as a press operator, punching out auto parts from raw metal. My sleep was frequently interrupted by waking up drenched in sweat and searching the bed for my lost hands and arms.

My first inkling that I liked this man was when he told of his experience right out of high school of being a press operator in a factory and the terror that came with it. I wish I could say our lives continued to parallel each other as we aged. Unlike me, David went on to get his PHD in literature and has become one of the best writers in American in our current culture.

After seeing the first Rambo movie I never had much desire to read David's work. However that changed this week end when David spoke of the true characters that inspired First Blood and the battle with the movie industry to keep some integrity in the movie that would attempt to shadow the book. I now have appreciation of authors who write good books that frequently get made into movies that often fail to mirror the intent of the original creator.

I'll try and post more photos later of the event. My camera is sitting in the motorhome on the other side of town, but I did receive the poster today that shows Micki, our good dong (supposed to say "dog") and me at the book fair.

We did sell some books while in Chama and more importantly established a retail outlet directly across from the train ticket office.

While Albuquerque and Santa Fe had temperatures hovering around 100 degrees, Chama was comfortable and we got to park the RV by the Chama River which was rapidly flowing with fresh snow melt from the mountains.

We kept asking each other "Why don't we come up here more often?" A riddle we soon hope to solve.

We leave Wednesday for Minnesota.

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.