Second Day of the Trip - Part 2 - On the Train

While the viewing car was crowded, the coach cars had opened up.  We could stretch out into our own seats without sharing.  We spent the morning reading and dozing. I wrote thank you notes home for our Christmas gifts. I plan to mail the letters from the Grand Canyon. 

As you can see, even though it is day 2, we are still wearing our same clothes.  The bathrooms on the Southwest Chief weren't exactly spotlessly clean.  In fact, we decided that they were so grimy that we couldn't bring ourselves to try to wash, brush, and change.  Each coach car had 3 different types of restrooms on the lower level.  One was super size for the handicapped.  One had a tiny side room with a seat for changing your clothes.  One was a powder room with a mirror and a seat with an itsy bitsy teeny tiny closet with a toilet in it.  Natalie and I found this one impossible.   Trying not to touch skin to  ANYTHING was really hard to do with two doors to maneuver and a train racing forward at 60 miles an hour.  There was an over all odor of urine in all the bathrooms.  It was gross enough that we didn't think we could wash, brush or change in this environment without touching something.  Mike, who usually doesn't care about his hygiene, was the only one who actually went the extra mile to change, brush and wash!  It wasn't really all that gross as it was cold weather.  We weren't really stinky or dirty and knowing this could happen with the bathrooms, the kids and I showered early in the morning AGAIN before we had left home.  

 We can say we have been to Colorado now, but what we saw of Colorado wasn't very impressive.  It was just the southeast corner of the state.  It really looked no different than Kansas.  It is hard to tell where we are because no one announces over the loudspeaker that we have crossed the state line.  When we are driving in our car, we always, always, ALWAYS honk the horn when we cross the state line.  It is our family tradition.  I can't say the other cars around us appreciate our tradition as much as we do, but it is ours.  I do have to admit to being secretly afraid that when we cross the Indiana state line to the south of our state that we might scare someone and send them over the edge of the bridge into the Ohio River!  Mike usually waves and smiles to anyone who gives us irritated looks. 

By one o'clock we were well into New Mexico and things were starting to look different.  We could see small mountains that were very far away.  The ground is not snowy anymore, but just brown with sage brush bushes and tumble weeds dotting the area.






 The train is switch backing.  We can see the front of the train and the back of the train at the same time.  I will include some pictures from the windows that Harrison took. Of course the pictures have some glass reflection in them.















This picture was outside of Albuquerque.  It was the first large house we saw since leaving IL. We mostly saw only the houses in each town that were near the railroad tracks.  Of course, nowadays, most people don't build lovely homes near the tracks.  Most of the homes we saw were run down or just simple, no-frills homes.


The rock formations began to be stunning.  We saw a lot of mesas, which the kids have studied in social studies. Mesa means table top rock. The train is twisting and turning through the mountains. 

Harrison and I moved to the viewing car to see the Raton Pass.  Natalie and Mike were asleep.  After going through a dark tunnel for at least a mile, we twisted and turned through rock formations and valleys at the top of the mountain. The soil is very red.  Harrison and I got caught in a several hour conversation with a young man with some weird views. He is into psycho-para-normal activities.  He is traveling from NY to Los Angeles.  He is a very friendly person who seems to know absolutely everyone on the train.  The way he chatted us up, it is no wonder.  One of the funniest things I saw at this time was a tipi with an outhouse. We are speeding through many different reservations in this part of New Mexico.   I have hardly read any of my seven books.  I have only started one!  There is so much to see.

As we draw nearer to Albuquerque, there are many pueblos and the rock formations are steep on each side of the track.  Natalie and I stood downstairs by the restrooms and watched out the side door as the steep rock formations whizzed passed.  Upstairs, where our seats are located, we have more of a bird's eye view.  Down here on the ground level, the scenery is speeding by much faster in a blur.   We have noticed that almost every single tiny house has a travel trailer in its back yard!

Our wonderfully nice attendant, Samantha, gave us a tip.  She told us to order pizza when we were 20 minutes from Albuquerque.  There will be a layover there for the train to refuel and change the water.  We will have time to eat our pizza at the train station. 

The pizza worked out great in Albuquerque, NM.  We got time off the train for a little break.  In fact, the train was making such good time that we had extra time at this stop.  I think it was almost an hour.  A train will arrive early, but will never leave early.  There were natives of Albuquerque selling their wares on the platform.  We perused the wares and took a few pictures outside the train.  We checked out the two engines pulling our train.  They had to add an extra engine back in Chicago when they found out I would be riding!

When we reboarded the train, we were able to get a table in the club car that had been full all day.  Like the rest of the train is becoming this late in the route, the tables were filthy.  So I ran down to the RR to get some wet paper towel to clean up the table.  The floor of the bathroom is filthy too.  People are complete pigs in general.






Before we could get started on Old Maid or Euchre, there was a snaffle on board.  Some guy got back on the train and accused a girl of taking his electronic something or other.  She said it was hers.  He said he left it in his seat and now it's gone.  The police were called.  I am not sure of the outcome, but we were late leaving Albuquerque.  This will make us even later arriving in Williams, AZ tonight at the hotel.  I am afraid this will be very hard on the kids. 

Harrison and I whipped Dad and Nat at Euchre.  Dad and Natalie whipped Harrison and Janelle at Old Maid.  While we were playing cards and munching on Snickers candy bars, the most beautiful sunset that rivaled Waikiki sunsets graced our club car with red and orange light and an amazing view.  The sky turned gold, pink, blue, and red as the sun sank behind a towering mesa that was quite close to the tracks.  Several more ghost trains whizzed by.  Soon, it was pitch black dark and there were no more views to usher us into the great state of AZ. 

I bedded Natalie down in her nest.  Her eyes are red, lips dry, and her nose is stuffy.  She went right to sleep making little snuffling noises.  She will at least get 4 hours before we have to get off and switch to a shuttle to take us to the hotel. Next stop:  Williams Junction!

Next on the Yelton's train trip- The arrival in Williams, AZ!

http://janelleyelton.blogspot.com/2012/02/second-day-on-train-part-3-arrival.html