Day 8: Southwest by Chief
I awoke in the bottom bunk of our roomette to see the formations of a beautiful sunrise so I quietly got dressed and went to the railfan window at the rear of the last coach to photograph the sunrise. Right around the official sunrise at 7 AM MT Malcolm woke up and we went to the diner. This morning we were sat with a trucker and his wife headed to Albuquerque to pick up a new rig.
We had interesting conversations with them mostly about where to find the best food across America and I have some places noted down after that. I had the pancakes and for the first time of the trip they were remarkable the chef made them the perfect consistency. During our stretch stop in La Junta I made a point to tell the chef that those were the best.
Of course on the stretch stop I visited the locomotives but also a mural advertising the Chief. These small towns love their trains and they make it known as well. There was also a bank made out of a former ATSF caboose I found cool. Malcolm and I talked to a music journalist from New York traveling to the Grammies in the lounge all the way to Raton. It was really interesting getting to hear his point of view on issues effecting America today.
Especially because his opinion differed from what I had expected so it was really rather eye opening actually. And all I can say is my party has a lot to work on if we want to truly be the party for the people. I also took the time to plug one of my friends who is an upstart in the music career. Raton Pass was a fairly quick part of the trip honestly. We had a fresh air stop in Raton and upon departure from there I rode in the Railfan Window because I wanted to photograph Semaphores.
I have to say the American southwest is a beautiful region with its plateaus, and many colors on display. We basically spent the whole time from Raton till our 12:00 PM lunch reservation back there shooting semaphores. Of course they are common in parts of Europe but so rare over here.
We were sat with two people who originated in New York off the Lake Shore and one bound for California, and one bound for the Grand Canyon by way of Flagstaff. We had a nice conversation about rail travel and music with the one bound for California but after he left in my opinion was the better conversation. Me and the one bound for the Canyon started talking about the “Yesterday” movie and we had a long twenty minute scholarly discussion about it while we ate dessert.
After lunch we went to the railfan window to photograph our meet at Glorieta with our eastbound counterpart. After that we settled in the lounge and I talked to a young African American woman wrestler who had one hell of a story. Malcolm went somewhere to do something but I talked the miles away with her. I learned she was in an abusive relationship with an ex military guy and she took her and her children to NY to get away from El Paso where he was.
Somehow she was charged with kidnapping her own kids, and the custody battle has apparently gotten out of control. Apparently her judge she has, also has a stated bias against many woman in the same situation. I wish her well and it definitely was a story that opened my eyes to how the American justice system fails some of our most vulnerable. If what she says is true it’s downright horrifying and I hope she can get a solution that keeps her, and her children safe.
She talked about being singled out by the police on a regular basis, and harassment from the leaders of the city so if that’s true it’s pretty disgraceful. I talked to her all the way into Albuquerque where I helped her get her bus ticket back to El Paso on the Amtrak connection bus.
During the fresh air stop Malcolm and I walked around downtown in the hour and twenty minute stop. Not much to see or do but fun nevertheless. After getting back on the train thinking we would be on time into LAX we called Alaska Airlines and made my reservations for BUR-PDX-SEA-ATL. However we were disconnected once so there were two reservations which caused me trouble when checking in. However we got my ticket paid for $180 for three flights isn’t bad.
Then we relaxed and watched the sunset as we sped along the Transcon. We had dinner again with our friend going to the Grand Canyon and a young person I fear is at risk of becoming or already is a white supremest. Malcolm and the other guy didn’t know how to deescalate the situation however I’ve dated enough psychology majors to have learned a thing or two. And I was able to calm him down and get him to bring his volume down considerably.
He only had a salad and luckily he didn’t last long. I left the table for the stretch stop in Gallup for a few moments and he was gone when I returned which was good enough for me. Both of them were impressed with how I deescalated the situation but you just have to know how to steer conversations and how to keep someone like that rom reacting poorly to something.
Both of them thought with my skills I should run for elected office which is something I am thinking greatly about. Already before meeting the earlier woman, and this guy. But even more so after, that and my friends in Georgia think I should. So what do you think could I run for office?
After that guy left it was a much nicer dinner. Afterwards we had a nice relaxing ride across the desert. Malcolm and I each had our headphones on and were sharing music between each other to listen. His music isn’t really my cup of tea but a lot of mine he actually likes though. We both went to bed fairly late as I was reflecting upon Woody Guthrie on the train racing across Arizona.
