I haven’t blogged in a while… it is time to start again…
Gael and I live in Henderson Nevada (aka East Las Vegas) in
a house on the hills above Las Vegas with a view of the strip…
I run a railroad museum… The Heritage Rail Alliance (the association
of railroad museums and tourist railways) was having a conference in Santa Fe, at
the La Fonda Hotel… Santa Fe’s grand old historic hotel… I was asked to
participate on a discussion panel… It was
both a chance to participate in a conference, but also a chance for a South-West
Road trip… The conference suggested that
this could be in part a work trip (preserving that precious time off) and my
boss approved the plan… they wouldn’t pay for the conference but would let me consider
time at the conference to be paid work time.
Gael and I have been together for just over a year, and
married only a bit over 6 months… we have traveled a bit… and seem to be road
trip compatible… so a trip was planned…The plan suggested that we would drive from Las Vegas to Santa
Fe, then take our time getting home. The
trip towards home through the Four Corners/Indian Country area of the South West. The AAA Indian
Country map, of fable and literature (Tony and now Anne Hillerman) covering
much of the geography… maybe the greatest map ever…
The trip didn’t work out exactly that way…
The plan called for us to leave Boulder City about 3:30 on
Tuesday, driving a few hours towards Santa Fe… I believe in a short first
evening to break the “suction” of home… its much easier to leave early from a
motel than from home… Then a drive through Petrified Forest/Painted Desert
(both Gael and I are fond of rocks, and Petrified Forest is all about rocks… Then the conference (in Santa Fe!) then a
slow trip back…
As suggested above… that isn’t exactly what happened…
As planned, we left later Tuesday afternoon… driving to
Williams Arizona… to the “Next” Best Western… (The “Next Best Western” is the
title of a song, written by David Shindell and performed by Lucy Roche (among
others)… It can be found on Youtube here) It was a couple hundred
miles and about three hours… To a really nice Best Western, which Gael noted
looked like a motel in a ski area… Williams is near 7,000’ elevation… there were
already traces of snow on the ground… so
snow might be expected… While we drove Gael was in contact (ain’t cell great)
with her daughter, Natalie, who was driving westward from Rhode Island to Las
Vegas, as of 9:00 somewhere in eastern New Mexico… we checked in, then went
down-town and found one of the local brew pubs for dinner… After dinner we head back to the hotel… (the “Next
Best Western” of song) a bit of TV and to bed (or to bed with a little TV) Gael may have checked in with Natalie… then radio
silence (us, not Nat).
The next morning (aka Wednesday) we awoke later than
expected… (there was a time zone change) and got up (this always a good plan)… Gael
called Natalie… “Where are you”… (expecting “New Mexico”) but instead she heard
“Across the Hall”… (aka “here”) We
gathered and took Nat and Kevin (boyfriend) out to breakfast… downtown… looking
for a restaurant that Gael remembered from a previous trip… This was Kevin, the
boyfriend and the parents Gael, mother, and myself, step-dad meeting Kevin for
the first time… Kevin ate eggs… for breakfast., for his first time.,.. I don’t
think we scared him un-necessarily. (eggs or parents or such). We detoured to look at the Grand Canyon
railroad’s depot and shops… (repair shops, not shopping shops).
So, with a late start we headed east… to Flagstaff, to Winslow where we took photos on a corner and bought coffee… Then on to Petrified Forest National Park, with a stop outside at a rock shop… This is , not just a rock shop… it is the “mother of all rock shops” Gael bought rocks… and post cards… (be afraid Richard… you know who you are, I know where you are)
So, with a late start we headed east… to Flagstaff, to Winslow where we took photos on a corner and bought coffee… Then on to Petrified Forest National Park, with a stop outside at a rock shop… This is , not just a rock shop… it is the “mother of all rock shops” Gael bought rocks… and post cards… (be afraid Richard… you know who you are, I know where you are)
Then on to Santa Fe, with a deadline in mind… A deadline made a conference opening at 6:00pm… We make it…
The conference is wonderful… The La Fonda Hotel is wonderful… The card at the
back of the door suggest the highest charge for the room was something greater
that $700.00… We paid less… Much less…
This was an opportunity to visit, to enjoy, this place.
I am consumed by conference sessions… I, with friends and colleagues
(aka Kyle) are on a panel that discusses the restoration and rehabilitation of
wooden railroad passenger cars… This is a subject that I am consumed by… we
present twice… I attend sessions on
railroad regulation, on steam locomotive restoration, on social media and
marketing… Before, between and after sessions there are breakfast,
lunches and banquets… A partner, Rail Explorers is here… They operate a rail
bike program on my railroad. Their
program in many ways is a key to success at our museum. Their owners and staff are more than a
partner… They are friends, and Mary Joy
and Alex were the witnesses at our marriage…
There is little time to explore Santa Fe… With MJ and Alex
we have dinner at Sazon. A couple of
days later we steel away for a lunch at Café Pasqual sitting at the public table…
I skip one session, so we can go to the Georgia O’Keefe museum… One evening we
visit a local brew pub… otherwise I am at the conference. The conference includes a trip to Chama New
Mexico, to the Cumbres and Toltec railroad.
It includes a ride from Chama to Cumbres Pass on the train… a double-headed,
steam powered train… the last car a restored wooden passenger car… a car that I
and friends wrote the planning documents for.
For Kyle (one of the colleagues) and I it was a celebration of a successful
project. After the ride we visit the
workshop in Antonito where the car was restored.
The conference ended on Saturday night… Saturday morning we
drive north towards an unplanned two day stop in southern Colorado… Kyle and I are to spend two additional days meeting
with the restoration staff in Antonito about the passenger car restoration
program. Its a paid gig… a continuation of a project from 4 years ago… The same project that turned out the
passenger car we rode up Cumbres Pass.
Sunday morning, we pack, we gather… we have breakfast at the
hotel, then loading the jeep we leave… pausing at the local supermarket to buy chili
ristas… not from a tourist store… but from the supermarket… it starts to snow… not sticking but snowing… We
should have taken it as a warning…
It is only 2 hours from Santa Fe to Alamosa and our motel
for the evening… having all day (aka more than two hours) we decide to drive
via Taos… Taos had recently seen hail… While we explore it starts to snow… By
the time we leave everything was white… The mix of hail and snow was treacherous… We slid while stopping for a pedestrian… On true off road tires)… We saw several cars
who had skidded off the road while turning…
Then, out of town, in deeper snow a spinning yellow pick-up came very
close to hitting us head on… We found a
local brew pub, the Taos Mesa Brewing Company and stopped for lunch… by the time we finished there was near 6” of
snow on the ground…
Back on the road, the snow stopped by the time we hit the
main highway north… with flurries
starting as we reached Antonito… We
explored a bit, finding Indiana Jones’ boyhood home, the weird local castle
and the oldest church in Colorado… We see one Amish wagon... then north to Alamosa and our motel (another
“next Best Western”)
Sadly the really weird steak house between the sports bar
and the slaughter house is now a pizza place, so we settled on the San Luis
Valley Brewing Company for dinner… Its
cold outside… the Jeep is carrying a significant amount of ice and even ice cycles… Winter has arrived in Southern Colorado… Back to the motel… to bed…
Up the next morning… eating breakfast at the motel… Then
south to Antinito, and the Cumbres and Toltec railroad’s shops… both the car and
locomotive shop where they maintain the tourist railroad equipment and are
restoring a early Baldwin 4-6-0, No 168, but also the car shop for the Historic
car project, and the Friends of the Cumbres & Toltec Railroad’s shop… Gael takes the Jeep, Kyle and I find Stathi
and start our work… Our project had
started 4 years ago… first with feasibility study, then with restoration planning
documents, a restoration budget, and CAD drawings of each of the 4 cars (by
Mike Collins, another associate…
We had ridden in one of the two coaches last Saturday… today
we inspected the second coach, now a skeleton, the RPO, now a mostly restored
body, and eventually toured Pay Car F with the restoration staff. We were here to transfer research files, to
discuss restoration progress and findings, changes to the plans and to make additional recommendations…
The work done is good… it is extensive…. It is sensitive to the cars and their
historic fabric. There is a new car body
present, a baggage car.
We eat lunch at the Dutch Mill in town… (the only restaurant?)
with Stathi and his parents… here from California for a visit and doing baby
sitting duty while Stathi was in Santa Fe at the HRA conference. In the afternoon Gael returns from Alamosa to pick us up… she has spent the day exploring and writing…We return to the San Luis Brewing Company… only to find Stathi
and his parent and wife and kids at a nearby table…
The next day, Tuesday was much like the day before… Except
that at the end of the day, when Gael returns she and I head east instead of North…
Kyle stays with Zell, the C&TS restoration expert…
Gael and I drive about 3 hours west, and spend the night in Durango… at still another “Next”
Best Western… It too is the home of a
narrow gauge railroad, but we are here not for the railroad but because it is a
good location to stop on our way back to Nevada… We find “Ken & Sue’s” for
dinner… a really wonderful dinner not at a brewpub… Back at the Best Western we discover that
the artwork on the 2nd floor includes a poster of “Eureka” a steam
locomotive with which I have a personal connection (as in spending time in the
fire box with a 3lb hammer and a cold chisel…)
Again, up early… this time to heading home… with an appointment
to make… a hard deadline… but before we
make that appointment, we have 10 hours of desert driving…
West from Durango we take fuel in Cortez, near 4 corners…
then north into Utah, visiting a ancient Puebloan ruin in Bluff… then south
through Mexican Hat and Monument Valley…
The Monument Valley of John Ford and "Stagecoach" and other films... For me this is a special place I have visited before… for Gael this is
new…
We take time in Monument Valley to visit the Navajo National
Park’s visitor center. We are making
good time and have time to spend on this spectacular place… Then on, first south… then north and west
towards Page and Lake Powell and into Utah… We take gas in Page… then again west.. to Kanab, then south to Fredonia
Arizona and the Arizona Strip… a historic no man’s land… reaching I-15 and a
quick southern run home…
We reach home about 5:00… we have time to pause, relax and
take a deep breath… then off to the Moth Radio Hour Live show at UNLV…
Life is hectic but good…
No comments:
Post a Comment