Zion

Another bestest bestest place! I feel bad, my photos just don't do justice to these great monumental national parks. If you look carefully, that fuzz you see at the tops of the rocks are 80'-150' pine trees and those "rocks" are 2000' - 5000' vertical cliff faces. The geologists say it takes 1200 years for the water that weeps out of the rock at the canyon floor to travel through the rock from the Colorado plateau above.

Tom Allen's garden

Tom is an avid Daylily breeder and creates new varieties in his garden. He has somewhere between 4000 and 6000 potted specimens awaiting the spring bloom as seen here. A few early bloomers are also shown.

Bryce Vista

Three photos of sunrise point, just behind the lodge.

Bryce Canyon

Bryce Canyon before breakfast is beautiful. We got some wonderful views of the canyon. A great breakfast at the lodge and we are on our way to Tom Allen's home near St. George Utah. Tom is the Chairman of the accounting board I served on for almost 10 years and has offered to show us Zion and his amazing daylily collection.

Grand Canyon

We visited the North Rim. Unfortunately the haze washed out photography however we did manage to grab a few nice ones. The vistas were vast and the canyon floor over two thousand feet below accentuated the effect.

All Aboard!

We depart for Silverton on the train. This line somehow escaped the Denver and Rio Grand Western's numerous attempts at abandonment until it was purchased and refurbished by private interests in 1982. We ride up on the pictured first class parlor car. The day starts out gray and cool. Fortunately our comfy car has all the comforts of home. We're ridin' in style!!

Animas Canyon

The view of the canyon almost 400' below is truly spectacular and terrifying. The train runs on a narrow shelf blasted from the granite in 1882. Along this breathtaking stretch the train appears to teeter over the rock face.

Nearing Silverton

The train runs through a calmer but no less beautiful area as we near Silverton. The old mine is one of hundreds that dotted this 50 stretch of the river.

We Arrive at Silverton

At 9500 feet we think we are really up there but the surrounding mountains are another 3000 to 5000 higher than the town.

Downtown Silverton

This is the town time forgot. Little has changed except the automobiles since the mines played out.

Durango

We came up from Albuquerque through some spectacular high plateau scenery today. We went into Durango for lunch and I had a tour of the railroad yard. The Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad was built to move silver ore from the mines in Silverton down the Animas Canyon to the smelter in Durango. The days of the drop side ore gondolas used back then are long since gone but the railroad has survived. Tomorrow we go up to Silverton on the train and I hope to have some great shots of both the canyon and the train. At one point the Animas River is over 400' straight down from the roadbed ledge blasted from the rock wall over 125 years ago for the trains. The top photo is of a Doodlebug. It was small powered passenger vehicle used to save money when regular passsenger trains were not needed. This one is being stored on front of the roudhouse

Let us pray

Well..... no wonder they built a cross:)

We're not in Kansas anymore!

As you can see by the photos we've made it some distance west. We have a butte? mesa? bluff? outcrop? Aw gee, its a hill. The scenery has gone from semi mountainous in the Ozarks, to lush ranch land in eastern Oklahoma, to wheat fields in western Oklahoma and then as though someone turned on a switch, to much dryer scrub ranch land with a once in a blue moon cow in east Texas then in west Texas and New Mexico this area of buttes and not much else.
The big surprise is the acres and acres of windmills!! Holland has nothing on us.
Tomorrow is Aunt Fae in Albuquerque then Dorango Colorado and the Dorango and Silverton narrow gauge railroad. We reserved parlor car seats. It should be a hoot.

OKLAHOMA here we come!

Spending tonight in Oklahoma City. Over 1400 miles traveled so far. Only 375 to Tucumcari tomorrow then Albuquerque to visit Aunt Fae on Wednesday. Patti says hi from our East St Louis campground practically under the arch. :) It was a great place complete with the Queen Casino, and Hotel.
West Virginia was beautiful but very steep (duh). At one point the gas gauge was falling so fast I thought we had a leak:) I64 goes up from water level on the New river to 1000' over it in about 10 miles, breathtaking! Especially breathtaking if you are afraid of heights:)

California Here We Come!

We are off tomorrow morning (5/16/09)for our first phase of the trip, a four day sprint to NM. My official RV log, pictured here, will be filled in with KY, IN, IL, MO, KS, OK, TX, and NM by then. By 6/1 we will add CO, UT, AZ, and CA. We are cookin' now!

Current A&S Progress

I've been busy working on the railroad. The mine and the Hulton Dyeing Co.are located in Dry Fork on my railroad. The Hulton plant is in tribute to my great grandfather who built the real thing at Frankfort Junction in Philadelphia. Dry Fork's industrial structures are complete and I am looking forward to an operating session with my railroad buddies on Thursday the 12th.