Colorado/New Mexico Vacation - 2015

Day 7 - Thursday, October 1st

I had a rough night last night. There wasn't a room for me at the inn, so I had to share a room with friends. There were 4 of us in there, and I got the roll-away. As you can imagine, it was lumpy and somewhat uncomfortable. They got up at 6am to go ride the train, and I went back to sleep after they left.

I met one of our group for breakfast at 8am, and we were designated as the ride back to Chama for the group riding the train, which is a one-way trip. We chased the train through the mountains and got a lot of great pictures of not only the train, but the beautiful scenery. The Aspen trees were ablaze with bright reds, oranges and yellows, and the steam train winding through it all was spectacular.

About a third of the way through the trip, the train was having air problems and kept stopping. After about 10 times of this, we decided to go to the end of the line and wait for them. They were supposed to arrive at 3pm. They got there a little after 7pm. We sat there for almost five hours with nowhere to go, and nothing to do. We went to the cafe next door for a sandwich then went to the car and took a nap. I haven't been that bored in a long time. While we were chasing the train, we went over two mountain passes, each one a little over 10,000 feet. In the lower elevations it was in the 80's. On the passes it was in the 50's. I'm not used to temperature changes like that. I was constantly putting my jacket on and back off again throughout the day. As I'm writing this, it's already in the 40's outside.

After we all got back to home base in Chama, and after more of our group drove in from all over the country, we now have well over 30 people gathered. The Thursday night before the big train ride day is always pizza night. A dozen pizzas, salad, lemon bars and other desserts, and plenty of alcohol flowing, it was a party in full swing. Being that we all have to get up early for breakfast and to ride the train, we broke it up kinda early so we will be rested and ready for the trip tomorrow. I stayed up late catching up with my good and long time friend Bob Krieger as we are sharing a room together. So many stories, so little time.

Tomorrow's forecast doesn't look good. Highs in the 60's and a 50% chance of rain will make for a messy train ride, but I'm here with a lot of great friends, so let it rain!