Lost Texas – Day 7

JWise Photo of the Day, Travels

El Camino Family Restaurant in Socorro, New Mexico

Tampico Steak for breakfast, Mr. Wise? Of course, only the best breakfast for me. I could have opted for eggs and some other shite, but come on, we’re in Socorro, and the El Camino Family Restaurant may not be around forever, so I need to have my favorite dish every time we stop. As a matter of fact, I believe I could eat the same thing for breakfast, lunch, and dinner for at least a few consecutive days.

Very Large Array in Datil, New Mexico

Sending this one via satellite, as stated over the previous six days; this post is coming at you from the future, as in February 2023, because back in 2015, your’s truly were distracted by all manner of things and failed to blog about many things, this being just one of those things. The photo is from the Very Large Array in Datil, New Mexico.

John Wise and Caroline Wise in Pie Town, New Mexico

We are in Pie Town, New Mexico, and it just so happens to be one of those ultra-rare occasions where something is open in Pie Town. Coffee, pie, and ice cream don’t get better than here in Pie Town, well, unless you are at the Thunderbird Restaurant at Mt. Carmel Junction in southern Utah for some “Ho-Made” pie because who doesn’t like some authentic Ho-Made pie?

Caroline Wise at Arizona State Line

Yay, we survived Texas, the flooding, fiber shops, too much barbecue, green chilies, pie, and unfocused John, who should have brought his DSLR and taken notes so things wouldn’t simply be lost.

Niyaz in concert at The Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix, Arizona

After getting back to Phoenix, there was no rest for the wicked, as we had a concert to attend at the Musical Instrument Museum. Niyaz was playing, and we certainly didn’t want to miss this opportunity to see them.

Now that I’m finally done with this post, it’s sad, tragic even, that this trip lay fallow for all these years. It was a big mistake to allow it to fall between the cracks and its memories to largely be lost, but such is life for most people. The problem is, I never wanted to be “most people,” and so I suffered a certain amount of regret that I allowed work to consume most everything over the years I felt I was following my dreams. Dreams should be multi-dimensional, just like the virtual reality I was attempting to create. Don’t forget to live while you work and love someone else. I don’t mean to imply things weren’t great, but I should have been managing my private life better during these years.

Lost Texas – Day 6

JWise Photo of the Day, Travels

Eagle Nest, New Mexico

…Yesterday I closed my post with Caroline having plans for pushing us in this direction towards Eagle Nest, New Mexico. Things will become clear soon enough.

Once more, I’m letting the reader know that these posts are arriving eight years after the travels were had. It wasn’t until February 2023 that I finally tried tackling the chore. As life and work often get in the way of things, so it was back in 2015, well, 2014 through mid-2017, for that matter. I feel that it’s better for these images to find a place on the blog, though the narrative is thin due to us not having notes to accompany the images.

Eagle Nest, New Mexico

Our primary objective is now to go home, but we are not interested in the most direct route, though south is the general direction we need to travel, so things are working out.

Vietnam Veterans Memorial State Park in Eagle Nest, New Mexico

Oh, what’s that? It’s the Vietnam Veterans Memorial State Park, which sure feels like a strange bit of architecture out here.

Somewhere between Eagle Nest and Mora, New Mexico

That memorial would have been the turn-off had we intended to visit Taos today, but that’s not where we’re headed.

Caroline Wise at Mora Valley Spinning Mill in Mora, New Mexico

This is what I was alluding to regarding Caroline’s plans for how our altered path could play out. We are about 50 miles south of our motel in the small town of Mora, where the Mora Valley Spinning Mill is located and is open. Caroline is not holding that yarn for the sake of the photo; it is but one small part of what we’ll leave with.

Caroline Wise at Espanola Valley Fiber Arts Center in Espanola, New Mexico

Sixty-five miles west of Mora is the small town of Española and the Española Valley Fiber Arts Center, where they sell yarn and other fiber-arts-related stuff Caroline’s paws must fondle.

John Wise at Espanola Valley Fiber Arts Center in Espanola, New Mexico

While Caroline busies herself lost in Yarnland, just over there next to Dreamland, I took up the designated “I’m not interested” section of the store, using my time of isolated sulking while yarn shopping to share this image of my newest handmade socks made from two shades of green yarn acquired at the Fiber Factory in Mesa, Arizona.

Santa Fe, New Mexico

Here we are in Santa Fe, New Mexico, for a quick visit. We’ve already had lunch at Tia Sophia’s, where they serve up New Mexican cuisine, and are now on our way to the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi.

Santa Fe, New Mexico

The inside of the cathedral is not a very ornate affair, but that doesn’t matter; we still enjoy the ambiance.

Santa Fe, New Mexico

After we did a quick walkthrough of the Palace of the Governors, we strolled around the corner to visit the New Mexico History Museum. These “finger-woven socks” made of yucca fiber weren’t the only things on exhibit, but as they are hand-woven, you can be certain that Caroline was enchanted by them; I suppose I should be happy that my wife uses soft wool to make my socks because those appear a bit rough on the edges.

Somewhere between Albuquerque and Socorro, New Mexico

Somewhere south of Albuquerque.

El Camino Family Restaurant in Socorro, New Mexico

The next stop was at the World Famous El Camino Family Restaurant, famous because we’ve posted about it so frequently. Tampico steak, Mr. Wise? Well, of course. Where we stayed is of no concern as after eating at our favorite New Mexican diner, we could sleep on a bed of nails. Guess where we’ll be having breakfast tomorrow?

Lost Texas – Day 5

JWise Photo of the Day, Travels

Somewhere in western Oklahoma

Things only got worse overnight regarding the flooding in this area on the borders between Oklahoma and Texas. We were told there was no chance of continuing north and that the Red River was unpassable to the south. Originally, our goal had been to pass through Medicine Lodge, Kansas, because I liked the name and then continue north to Great Bend, also in Kansas, which would allow us to connect lines on our map of the U.S. Our only way forward today was to try and go west, the operative word was “try” because we were warned that we may or may not find a way due to water spilling everywhere.

Somewhere in western Oklahoma

(I should reiterate that this post and the ones around it are all being written in February 2023. I didn’t post much of anything from 2014 through 2017 because I was preoccupied to distraction with the operations of my company TimefireVR.)

While the water that was crossing the road in the photo above this one didn’t look too deep, nobody else came along, so we couldn’t judge what the conditions were and instead turned around. We encountered a lot of flooded fields as Caroline tried to navigate us through the maze of rural roads.

Somewhere in western Oklahoma

At times, the water collecting appeared to be a flooded stream or small river bed, but as it crossed roads, we deferred with extra caution and just kept hunting for a way westward.

Caroline Wise in Texas

Thanks go to this magic turtle that offered us a way out by pointing the way. Though he was camera shy he stated that he’s always eschewed the limelight for helping humans on their path and stay safe.

Somewhere in the panhandle of Texas

The middle of the Texas Panhandle was high and dry; we started to try and breathe easily.

New Mexico state line

We passed into New Mexico between Texline, Texas, and Clayton, New Mexico, with the rain seemingly closing in on us. With this, our Kansas, Colorado, and Utah part of the loop was struck from the plan and now we were limping back home. Our destination this evening was still about 150 miles away over in Eagle Nest, New Mexico. Caroline had plans…

Jutta Back Behind The Wheel

JWise Photo of the Day, Travels

Jutta Engelhardt driving in Colorado

Fresh off the plane and on our way south. When I offered Jutta the opportunity to drive the car, she jumped at the chance. On a previous visit back in 2005, she also took the wheel with me out on a road trip, the first time in more than 20 years since she’d driven last. I thought she might be too jet-lagged to be sharp about things, but I guess the thought of driving once more in America was the jolt of energy that cleared away that fog.

El Camino Family Restaurant in Socorro, New Mexico

To not fatigue Jutta or have her gimp hip sitting too long in the car, we stayed in Socorro, New Mexico, for the night. This was not her first time here. During the winter of 2007, we dragged her out for New Year’s Day to Bosque Del Apache National Wildlife Refuge on an icy morning for her to witness the lift-off of some 30,000 snow geese at the break of dawn. She also ate here at El Camino Family Restaurant, as we always eat here, some days even multiple times a day.

Jutta Engelhardt at El Camino Family Restaurant in Socorro, New Mexico

After dinner, we had pie and coffee while kicking back at the diner. That’s the American way.

Cumbres & Toltec Steam Train

JWise Photo of the Day, Travels

Guilt and delight as the old steam engine belches thick black coal smoke, getting ready to take us into a countryside we’ve never seen. On one hand, to satisfy our sense of the aesthetic, we are shooting this raw, unfiltered black soot into the atmosphere, but then again, this is the easily visualized pollution that pales in comparison to the billions of tons created by human activity. Not that I want to excuse it, but yeah, I guess I want to do just that.

We are hanging out at Chama station as the train yard returns to life, and we wait until we are ready to depart. The initial part of this journey doesn’t begin with a train ride, though. For some, it will, but not for us. We will be boarding a bus this morning for the drive to Antonito, Colorado, where we’ll be catching the train going south.

Moving across rugged terrain by steam locomotive is not a quick means to an end. Nor should it be when you consider we are here for the scenic element as much as the historic sense of nostalgia that comes with riding an old-fashioned train that was built back in 1925.

While waiting for our coach to take us north, we were invited to become acquainted with the engines and were not going to be shy about that. Who knew that this might be foreshadowing an event yet to happen in the future?

I’ll explain that last statement, as I’m not sure how the reader got to this post. I have to explain that I’m writing this post on August 10th, 2022, because back in 2009, when we were out here, I never got around to blogging a thing about this long 4th of July weekend. So, the foreshadowing is my allusion to what is penciled into our itinerary for 2023 travels. Late summer of 2023 we should both be aboard an antique K-36 Baldwin locomotive shoveling coal and pulling the throttle as we join the Cumbres & Toltec Fireman & Engineer school program. My fingers are crossed.

Here we are in Antonito, Colorado, about to board the train that will bring us back to Chama.

And off we go into the Wild West.

It’s barely more than six miles to the New Mexican state border, with 58 miles still ahead of us, though we’ll pass between the states a couple more times.

We’ll be out here away from it all for over six hours, not a bad way to spend a day.

Maybe the most difficult part of this ride into history is trying to find a sense of mind allowing us to glimpse the world as it might have been seen by people traveling these rails after 1880 when they were first laid down.

There’s a reason behind the naming of this route and the first part comes from Cumbres Pass, which we’ll cross at 10,015 feet of elevation (3,053 meters), and the Toltec Gorge, which is 600 feet deep.

How do we so frequently find the good fortune to have the perfect weather when out exploring our world?

Along parts of our route, there are forest roads that parallel the track.

If your goal is to get 60 miles down the road as quickly as possible, this method of travel is certainly not the most expedient, but if time allows, I believe it is the greatest way to travel. No billboards, no franchises hawking their uniformity, no chance of another train veering into your lane, just the slow journey into a rarely seen corner of America.

Sadly, there’s no way to make this into a multi-day holiday in the United States because we have so few scenic rail lines in our country. Sure, there are short lines here and there, but if a traveler were to want to embark on a 10-day cross-country trek not shared with busy freight lines and unreliable service through efficient corridors of travel instead of the most beautiful, that’s not going to happen.

We’re passing through the Toltec Gorge back in New Mexico, which is drawing passengers from their comfy seats out to the open-air cars. Six hundred feet below is the Rio De Los Pinos.

Having made this trip and documenting it is allowing me years later to linger in the memory of it all, and if I want to romanticize the magnitude of what it was, I have this luxury. Whatever the cost was, the effort required to drive the over 500 miles to northern New Mexico and then back home, the quality of the meals found here and there, none of that matters anymore as the images I’ve carried with me all show me a perfect day where everything must have been perfect.

I believe we just passed back into Colorado and that we are looking at Forest Road 74, which originates in New Mexico on the left, with Colorado FDR 103 on the right.

Osier Station in Colorado is up at 9,626 feet of elevation (2,934 meters) and was our lunch stop.

Starting our push to climb over the Cumbres Pass.

Heading for the home stretch.

Yeah, I could do this for weeks.

And so, as with all good things, this too has to draw to an end.

Oh no, not a bitter end!? Caroline is experiencing a small letdown with this failed attempt to visit Tierra Wools in Chama, New Mexico.

We won’t make it home today, won’t even try as with 9 hours of driving ahead of us, that would be foolish. We did stop in Albuquerque, though, as we knew we’d be able to collect an incredible meal at Sadie’s Mexican Restaurant for dinner; they were open and did not disappoint.

Stayed at the Southwest Motel in Grants, New Mexico, which would put us only about 340 miles from Phoenix. This is important because on the next day, July 6th, there’s not a single photo, and that can only mean one thing: we drove directly to Caroline’s office, and she went to work. You see, we are all about maximizing the use of vacation days, and with Arizona ahead of New Mexico regarding the clock, if we’d left early enough, we could have had Caroline sitting down at her desk shortly after 9:00 a.m. thus saving a day for the next trip that was only 80 days away.