Trains, Cliff Dwellings & Arches, oh my!

I got this great picture above in a text from my dear friend, Bill Jamison. Back home in Atlanta, Bill is a rockstar realtor Keller Williams (just in case you need one). Here's the picture he sent me and how appropriate is this? 

Wake up call was at 6am Monday morning. We HAD to be on the train in Durango no later than 7:30am for our departure at 8am. When the folks running the Durango-Silverton Railroad say they are leaving at 8am - believe 'em because they mean it. Not one minute late.This is a real working railroad and has been since 1925. They have daily passengers that transport to and fro as well as all of us curious tourist. They still maintain the original narrow gage trains and even make new wheels when they have to.

We traveled to Silverton through some of the most beautiful land I've ever seen:

Now y'all, I'm a happily married woman but I gotta tell ya . . . our Conductor was a seriously adorable cutie pie. I'm old enough to be his mother but I'm not blind! That sweet boy smiled at me every time he came through our car! Even Daddy said, "Well, Sis, I think that boy likes you." LMAO. Here's a few pictures of Conductor Martinez. The picture on the left is him explaining to us that we should not hang babies or dogs out of the train window. He has to say this now because its happened. (smh) The one on the right is his facebook profile picture. NO! I am by no means a stalker! Absolutely not. I did want to make sure that it just wasn't the conductor suit that made him seem so cute. Its not.

When we got to Silverton, we had just about 20 minutes to de-train and hop on the bus back to Durango. Daddy went to the bus to get us the front seat and I ran fast as I could three blocks down to the post office to mail postcards! Our bus driver was Tom and he has been working on ranches in Durango since he was about 12 years old. I'm guessing Tom is in his mid to late 50s by now. Real sweet man but Lordy be could that man talk and talk and talk and talk. The whole hour and half ride that man just talked. Interesting stuff and I guess technically he is a tour guide but it wore me and Daddy out listening to him.

Now during our ride on the bus with chatty Cathy . . . who should call me but Crazy Jerry. They were just outside of St. Louis, roughly 1200 miles away. Seems they didn't believe that Max's GPS was telling them the truth. They were right outside of St. Louis, MO and just needed me to verify for them with SIRI that they were being taken on the correct path. I verified YES. Jerry asked where we were headed and I told him to Moab, Utah. Crazy Jerry proceeded to tell me that Salt Lake City, UT has the highest rate of suicide in the nation. He says its because they are down in a bowl/valley and the pollution is so strong that it makes folks go crazy. He swears this is true because a Pilot on a Delta flight told him it was. Good thing we're not going to Salt Lake City. (Actually, Jerry, I googled it. Turns out Las Vegas, NV is the #1 – sorry about that buddy.)

Fuel Pump Max got on the phone to let me know that his wood shield was working great and that if Dad wanted him to fix his car he'd better hurry up because he was going to patent that contraption soon as he gets home. Go get 'em Max! Looking for investors?

Max & Jerry & Jack & Mary all stayed in some place called Lawrence, KS at a Comfort Inn. Originally, they were looking for a steakhouse but sounds like they gave up and settled for Mitzi's Pizza, instead. You can bet it must have been Jerry's birthday once again. Happy Birthday Jerry!

Now back on the other side of the country, Daddy and I left Durango after a delicious lunch at Balcony Bar & Grill (delicious jalapeño cilantro dressing on my salad!). We were headed out to Moab, UT to see the arches. We detoured slightly and made a visit to Mese Verde National Park to see the Cliff Dwellings. WOW! I gotta tell ya – I do NOT know how the Pueblo Indians possibly did all that but braaaaa-vooooo!

We made our way back down the mountain ranges of Mesa Verde and headed back out to Moab.

With out any sort of warning, we crossed the UTAH state line! HOORAY!  Out in the middle of nowhere at mile marker 86 we saw this:

Daddy looks at me and says, “They've got some real weird things out here in Utah, Sis.” Yes sir, Daddy. You are correct! Real weird!

(There's pictures of more weird things in Utah and our train ride at the end of this blog.)

We arrived in Moab around 9pm Utah time, 11pm Atlanta time and 10pm on Crazy Jerry and Fuel Pump Max's time. They're all staying the night in Clarksville, TN and when I talked to them both earlier they were all going over to Logan's Roadhouse and guess who's birthday it is tonight? NOPE! Its Mary's. I'm waiting on the birthday photos and soon as I get them I'll pass them along. Tomorrow I'm going to tell y'all about the crazy hi-jinx Crazy Jerry was up to at almost every food establishment we visited. It involves something that looks like this:

Dad and I are crashed at a nice hotel called The Moab Valley Inn. We split an order of wings at a joint next door called “Blu Pig” where everything is lit up with blue neon. Weird. But it did what it needed to do and we are back at our rooms and ready to strike out on Tuesday morning to Arches National Park and see the arches! After that we're headed back towards Atlanta. We'll be following in the footsteps of our other cohorts and going back through Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee & Georgia. We might actually kiss the state of Illinois briefly between Missouri & Kentucky. Remains to be seen.

Peace. Love. Road Trips!

Kayla

: )

 

Durango bound!

So this morning we all left Pueblo. Jerry, Max, Jack & Mary are all headed back home to Atlanta.  Safe Travels, Y'all!  Dad and I have decided to go further out west to Durango.  We're going to board a train at 8am and head to Silverado.  I just booked our tickets and booked a hotel for tonight!

It's roughly a five hour drive from Pueblo to Durango.  We just drive through the Great Sand Dunes National Forest where we saw this:

And this:

And this:

I was kind of awestruck by the whole sand dunes in the middle of nowhere thing so I googled it: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Sand_Dunes_National_Park_and_Preserve

Dad just called to check on Max & Jerry and apparently they are doing just fine.  The 39 LaSalle hasn't skipped a beat so I guess Max was on to something when he put that piece of wood between the ignition and the fuel pump.  High five Max!

We are entering South Fork, CO, and the Rio Grande National Forest.

Service is sketchy so bye for now y'all!

Peace & Love!

Kayla

M

Day Six: Where on earth should I begin?

Seriously, where do I begin? I'm going to start with this:

That apple on the right was left in Dad's truck all day and it was so hot it actually baked it.  Don't leave your pets or children in cars. The End.

This has been such a busy and fully packed day.  But then again . . . all of the days have been that way.  Apparently the sun rises earlier than 6:25a because I got up and opened the curtains at that time and it was already sun-shiney outside.  That's as early as I'm getting up so I'll just google the Pueblo sunrise.  Ahh, technology!

So we got ready to head out to the car show this morning but Max had something to do before we headed out.  Max's exhaust pipe is too close to the fuel pump and its been giving him fits.  So he and Jerry came up with this plan of mounting a piece of wood in-between the fuel pump and exhaust pipe with nylon ties.  The hope here was that it would shield the fuel pump from the heat.  Here's how that looked:

No idea who the other guy is under the car with Max.  Just another classic car man that Mac met in the parking lot.

Everyone left for the car show but Dad took a detour and we went back to that fabulous store Seabel's and had a little shopping spree.  What an awesome store.  Besides the awesomeness inside they were having a tent sale out back and there was a darling man out there handing out water, popping popcorn and grilling hamburgers, hot dogs and bratwurst!  What a great idea.  The only thing missing was a chair massage station . . . you know . . . shopping IS hard work.

These are two of the gals that assisted me on the shopping spree and that sweet man is the guy who was flipping the burgers outside. By the way . . . Seattle's is on Facebook. You can LIKE them by clicking here: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Seabels/182574321782952?fref=ts

Now we were off to the car show.  Hooray!  Parking was a breeze directly across from the entrance.  

Ya'll it was HOT today but at least its not humid and hot like it is in Atlanta.  Now that is some sticky hot that I do NOT miss.  

The first stop was a big building that had a lot of stuff in it.  Remember how I told you about "Woman's World" yesterday?  Well this was "MAN'S WORLD" for certain.  Lots of car parts, memorabilia, t-shirts, license plates, pin stripping, etc.  I learned a lot today about all this stuff.  Check out the pics below and see what I learned:

Daddy and I left that big building after seeing the whole thing and proceeded in the direction that Jerry and Max said they were.  We walked and looked at cars and walked and looked at cars and walked and looked at cars.  Here's some of the awesome cars:

We found Max & Jerry at a picnic table under the shade chilling out and eating popcorn.  Well joined them for a few minutes and then Jerry decided he liked my hat:

Then it was time again to walk and look at cars. We did this for over 4 hours and still never saw all the cars there were to see.  How could you?  

There were all these booths over in the stable area (remember its a state fairground and they still display  livestock out here in these parts).  Tons of memorabilia, parts, antiques, wheels, tires, hubcaps, door handles, window handles - just suffice it to say a very large plethora of stuff! 

Then we walked back up to that large building we went into earlier cause apparently we needed to see all that "stuff" again.  But . . . in the back there was an ice cream stand and that was worth it all!

While we were walking and looking we met this fine man, Dave, and his 17 year old female parrot whose name is Fred. (Of course it is.)  Fred goes everywhere with Dave and even rides on the motorcycle with him (Of course she does.)

We eventually made our way back to the grassy knoll where we had parked the day before and where Jack & Mary and Max & Jerry parked again.  What a respite from the blazing heat.  Nice cool grass and tons of shade trees.  While we were there we met some real nice folks - Earnest and Moira.  

Earnest is from America but Moira is from Scotland.  They drive a 1938 Ford.  They live about 100 miles north of Pueblo in the mountains. Super nice folks. So nice, in fact, that when we finally left the LaQuinta for dinner, we asked them to come along.

Daddy really wanted catfish for dinner last night but Jerry talked him into a steak so I knew tonight I had to make sure we found him some catfish. I looked on Yelp (http://www.yelp.com) and found a cajun restaurant that had catfish.  I called to verify that and the nice lady on the phone said it was their #1 seller.  So catfish it is . . . for them.  I do NOT do catfish.  

We all struck off to a restaurant in Downtown Pueblo called Enclade's.  I rode with Jack & Mary in their beautiful 1935 Cadillac.  Phew!  What a sweeeeet ride!  Super comfy.  When we pulled into the parking lot, however, it looked closed.  I jumped out and saw that the hours posted on the door said they were open until 8pm.  

It was 6:45 so we should be just fine . . . . except that the door was locked. Nooooooo! This can't be!  I knocked on the door with 7 hungry folks surrounding me and a sweet gal came to the door and said they had closed early because they had only had 5 tables all day.  I said, "But we're from Atlanta and we really wanted to eat here because you have catfish. Is there any way possible you'd let us come in for dinner?" and I smiled as sweetly as possible with my fingers crossed.  Momma taught me that you should always ask because the worst thing they could say is NO and then you should just ask again in case they didn't mean NO the first time.  Guess what?  She said YES!

That sweet gal's name is Lisa.  She's the owner and she had already shut down the grill and the fryer but she fired it all back up just for us.  WOOOHOOO!  Thank you LISA.  And while the other 6 had catfish, Jerry had Ettoufee and I had the green chile gumbo (green chile's are a big damn deal in Pueblo) and it truly was the best gumbo EVER!  

At the end of our meal . . . Lisa even brought us an order of beignets on the house.  We all tried to pay her for them but she said she only wanted hugs as we left as payment because once she has fed someone they become her family.  

Lisa has lived here for 10 years.  She, her husband and her son fled New Orleans the day before Katrina hit.  They lost everything but you'd never know it.  Lisa is one of the sharpest, coolest gals I've ever met.  She doesn't feel sorry for herself and feels like they have made a better life for themselves, as a result.  Isn't that a breath of fresh air?

We left there and came back to the hotel.  On the way I captured this beautiful sunset.

When we got back, I came on to the room so I could write the blog and get it out to all you fine folks reading it.  Dad, Jerry and Max stayed out in the parking lot because Max was climbing back under his 39 LaSalle to re-tie the piece of wood that's shielding his fuel pump from the heat with wire instead of the nylon ties he used this morning.  I have no idea.  I didn't ask but I'm sure it makes complete sense . . . to them.  

I'm headed to bed.  Sunday we depart and I have no idea for where.  Either Durango, CO or Kansas City, Missouri.  Its all up in the air at this point. I'll let y'all know soon as I find out.

Peace, love & sweet dreams.
Kayla
P.S.  Here's some more pic of Crazy Jerry. That man is nuts!