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

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