The blog
What if the train is not merely a vehicle to get us to our destination? What if the train is the destination? Then unplanned conversations with strangers would not be ancillary to those much anticipated visits with family and friends we’ll have along the way. In fact, maybe these train talks are planned, only by…
“Live huge.” It’s how Ginny Auer’s husband Troy signed his last letter to her. That happened a little over a year ago when Troy succumbed to a rare form of cancer. According to Ginny, “live huge” was the philosophy her husband lived by. Every day was a time to “suck the marrow from the bones…
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The consequences for almost missing our train? Two words—More expenses: For the change fee at AmTrak For an extra night’s lodging (and hotels aren’t cheap in LA) For two extra meals And two cab fares Yep. Seems you don’t want to even almost miss your train. On the other hand . . . Back in…
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They’re the first words that popped up when I googled “What if I miss my train?” It was Monday a couple of weeks ago, I was doing research on traveling by Amtrak and noticed that many trains run late—I mean seriously late, two or three hours late. And then I remembered I had given us…
Aunt Renna Beth died last night. She was the last living child of Renna and Dick Bellah. Was fitting for her to go after the others. For though neither male nor oldest, she was the leader of her siblings. Certainly, she was toughest, a word Dad used to describe his older sister’s athletic exploits in…
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Train whistles. I suppose to most people they’re a warning. To me, they’re a calling. That is, ever since I was a boy, the sound of a train whistle has beckoned me. But it’s stronger than that. Think of Odysseus who had his men tie him to the ship’s mast so he wouldn’t follow the…
Been looking for a new pump to power my waterfall. You see, about 10 years ago, I decided that, since I couldn’t live in Colorado, I’d bring Colorado to live here—in the backyard. So I got three rather large rocks (each weighed over a ton) and positioned them over a pond to get just the…
Roy would have chuckled at the thought. Roy who was born in a dugout on the Palo Duro, who as a child didn’t have electricity or running water in his home, who rode a horse because it was the only means of transportation available. The very idea: Four grown men traveling horseback in rugged mountain…
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Maybe I shouldn’t have identified myself as an English teacher. I’m referring to our guides on the Pecos trip. First, they tell me my horse is the one they put six-year-olds on. Then, I’m told I can’t adjust the stirrups or tighten the cinch myself. Finally, I’m asked to stand on a stump to mount.…
Averaging over 11,000 feet high and running for over 60 miles, the Skyline Trail is the longest in the Pecos Wilderness. We rode the 10-mile north section from Truchas Peaks (one of which I climbed) to Cebolla Park. To the east we could see the abrupt drop to the plains of eastern New Mexico. To…
This Thursday, when I join my buddies for a four-day horseback ride in New Mexico’s Pecos Wilderness, I will wear his hat. It seems only fitting. For Roy knew horses the way I know books; he handled them every day. They were both his work and his pleasure. You see Roy was born in 1904,…
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This white-haired lady is still turning heads. I’m talking about Charlotte, the former Homecoming Queen who said yes to me 43 years ago. So today was her birthday, and we ate at a fancy Mexican food place where she engaged the male, middle-aged, waiter in typical, warm, West Texas chit chat. He replied in an…
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