Ma and Pa Kettle Ride the Rails!

Cinco de Mayo found us back at Mesa Verde NP for a motor tour (they give you a great guide to several stops that are a short hike from the road) which we did Thursday from our car (minus the kayak "sails").  Really interesting history of the Four Corners (NM, CO, UT and AZ) pueblo settlements and then migration.  One of the stops on the motor tour was the "Mummy Lake" which was actually an artificial reservoir built to collect water for the residents of the pueblos and used from AD 900-1200.  FYI:  The reservoir was 90' in diameter and 12' deep and included stone steps for a "walk in" area for people to fill vessels with water and take home. 

Friday was our Ride the Rails day!  Jeff is a big railroad buff, having spent 3 years working for Southern Pacific when right out of college.  This rail line (Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad) was constructed  in 1881-82 and still looks the same ;-).   No, but the cars have all been restored for the most part!  We rode 26 mi up to a great picnic area owned by the RR.  Beautiful scenery on the way and fun to be in the last car so we could go out the back door and stand and take pictures. 

Really a great example of how difficult it must have been to travel any distance in the era following the Civil War.  This is a bumpy, jerky, really fun trip--highly recommended but in the Spring as opposed to Summer.  Today was the last day of the "spring rates" and it was funny to see them raise the prices of everything including the parking for the next day (nearly twice as much for everything!).

Quick story:  At 7:00 am (keep in mind that the train leaves the station in the summer at 8:00) in June 1987, the driver of a commercial truck loaded w/20 tons of potatoes lost control of his vehicle coming down Hwy 160, 10 mi west of Durango.  The grade is 6% and the driver tried to slow his speed by scraping along the guardrail, but at the bottom  of the hill he went through a green light at the intersection going about 110 mph (according to the book)--he reached the edge of the RR yard and went airborne!  He collided with locomotive #473 that was ready for the days run.  This stopped the truck from heading into a trainload of passengers, but because this was a 127-ton engine, and luckily not a direct hit on the boiler,  explosion was avoided.  So, the driver ducked down, only suffered a broken leg and the townspeople got lots of free potatoes!  The driver reportedly never got behind the wheel again and became a preacher.  I rest my case..... I keep telling Jeff to watch out for the trucks going downhill!!!

Ma and Pa Kettle are off to Alamosa, CO tomorrow and will see the Great Sand Dunes NP in the afternoon.  We're enjoying this little-wind thing!  Okay, just to let you know that these things happen, our RV neighbors here told us of a tornado they went through in OK that picked up and moved their moho around on the road but did not topple them.  They had about $50K worth of damages to their moho though.  Whoa!

Personal note:  Thanks to all of you who have been emailing us telling us you are enjoying the blog---we really appreciate your emails and glad we can make you smile a little.  We're enjoying ourselves and hope you are, too.