I spent a good part of the past two weeks on a couple of vacation road trips and thought I would recount a bit of my adventure for anyone that's interested. The first (week) was a fairly unscripted trip, no reservations and no firm plans, just a rough outline in my mind of where I would go. It didn't go according to plan, but that's the idea anyway.

My first idea (upon departure) was to head to Chama, New Mexico and ride the narrow gauge steam train to Antonito, Colorado. This train is very similar to the famous Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge in southwestern Colorado, but my opinion after riding both is that the Cumbres and Toltec line is the more spectacular of the two! After the train ride, I would ramble around the San Juan Mountains of southwestern Colorado for a few days, coming down from 10,000 feet only long enough to defrost the ice on the truck occasionally. I'm JOKING, the weather was very nice, almost warm, the entire time I was there. I camped and was never once too cold, and it rained only once or twice.

I got a late start on Monday, August 2, and drove the most direct route I could from Phoenix, through Kayenta, AZ and Farmington, NM, arriving in Chama about 9:30 PM local time. The first night I got a room in Chama so I could get a quick start in the morning – train time was 0900 for tickets purchased on the platform. It was difficult to find a room in Chama at the time I arrived – most of the innkeepers had turned off the lights and gone to bed by then. But I found a room at the Branding Iron Motel, a very nice place and reasonable for the mountains in tourist season, at $69. Along the drive on the first day, I was joined by a Navajo man for a portion of the ride across the Reservation. He was returning home after a job lay-off in Phoenix (working on the new Cardinals stadium), and was stopping at home, Dinnehotso, for a few days before heading to his new job in Albuquerque. He told me some great stories about climbing the rock formations near Monument Valley and Kayenta as a boy, and the old folks would chase them off by saying those were holy places – he figured they were just trying to keep the boys away from the dangers of rock climbing!

I was up early for breakfast on Tuesday at the Branding Iron Café in Chama (great breakfast!), then headed over to the depot only to find the train was sold out for that day; reservations well in advance are a great idea for the Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad!

I decided to spend my Tuesday morning chasing the train for photo opportunities and this adventure was shared by quite a few other train "buffs." We would race to our vehicles, drive down the highway, find a place where the view of the approaching train lent itself to photographic effort, and wait for the train to approach. Take the photos, jump in the truck, and race off to the next viewpoint! This was easy to do as the train moves very slowly just as trains did in days of olde. My altered plans included about a half day of this pursuit, then I would move on to other things.

When I arrived at Cumbres Pass about 20 miles north of Chama, the train was chuffing up the 4% grade below. I planned on getting a shot or two of the train pulling into the station there, and then I would head back down toward Tierra Amarilla for a drive in the mountains of northern New Mexico. I waited, and waited, and waited – no train. Couldn't even HEAR the train. Finally, 45 minutes or so later, it came into view around Windy Point, but only pulling three of its ten or so cars. I thought perhaps it had been unable to pull the grade with all the weight, and had left part of the train below for a second trip. In reality, several of the cars had derailed, and the locomotive backed it's way back down the grade after leaving the first three cars at the top. The train crew eventually got those cars re-tracked somehow ("winching" was involved, but I do not have a clear picture of what that entails, totally).

Meanwhile, I headed south and in a loop from Chama to Tierra Amarilla, over the mountains to Tres Piedras, then north on US285 to Antonito, Colorado. I ate dinner at a nice steakhouse in Antonito (unfortunately I cannot remember the name at present), then headed back over La Manga Pass and Cumbres Pass, to Chama. I saw lots of very beautiful scenery along this route, and recommend it to those who love high mountain country. One of the attractions south of Chama is an outfit at Tierra Amarilla that weaves fine wool southwestern garments – the entire process is done in time-honored ways by local weavers and the garments are very beautiful (see www.handweavers.com ).

I spent the second and third nights in Chama, at a private campground. On Wednesday, I rode the train from Antonito to Chama. I'll write more about that day later. Bob