Wednesday, May 21, 2008

There was a brief rain shortly after we went to bed last night.

We rode the train from Durango to Silverton. A lot of beauty along the way. An enjoyable ride, but a very tiring day. The ride started off fine with nice weather. We had a short stop going up when the break on our car didn't release. By time we got to Silverton the clouds were rolling in. The wind was blowing about 15 mph and gusting to 30 mph. We ate our peanut butter crackers and drank our water. We walked into a few shops, but all of them were selling the same high-priced junk :-)

We boarded the train a little before boarding time for the trip back down to Durango. Frank's hat blew off before we made it to the train car we were to ride in. While walking around we had icy rain hit (ouch!) and some blobs of white stuff... so we were perfectly happy to sit on the train a bit longer.


We talked to a lot of nice people on the train. On the way back we talked with a family from Nebraska.... mostly to the father and some to his 18 year old daughter. There were three children in the family... the 18 year old girl and two boys in college. One of the boys lost his hat (University of Wyoming) on the ride up and the girl lost her (pink) cell phone. The articles were found by the railroad crew that traveled the rails behind us. We met the boy that lost the hat, but didn't meet the other boy. The mother was not feeling well and was wrapped in a blanket and slept most of the way back to the train station.


On the way back down there were some people riding the rapids. The consensus in our area of the car was they were crazy people. They were interesting to watch.


On the ride back down we stopped a short time... more like slowed to a stop... the train was still moving. A small boulder had landed on the tracks earlier in the day so our train inched across the damaged rails. All the conductors are outside and we are left inside the car to perish if the car fell into the rapid flowing water :-)


We took lots of pictures... but it will be later when I edit them.. If ever :-D

We made it back to Durango about 5:45 mountain time. Frank bought us a burger & fries at McDonalds and we came back to camp. We had to take a shower before eating to feel human again :-)


They are calling for a 40% chance of rain in the morning. If it is raining hard we may get a late start tomorrow. We are heading towards Moab Utah tomorrow... highs in the mid 60s.