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.