October 8, 2010

Friday 8~~~~~We drove from Montrose to Durango today, it was only 75 miles, but it took us 3 hours to get there. We never packed a lunch for this trip, because we thought it would be such a short drive. There were four mountain passes from Montrose (elevation 5806) first pass was 10,700 then 11075 feet then 10,899 feet and last 10,640 . Two of the mountain passes had a speed of 25 miles per hour with the corners at 15 miles per hour. I was sure we were going to have to use one of those run-a-way ramps they have for the truckers, it made me so nervous, I just stuck my nose in my book and read. Kent said when we got to Durango he doesn't care if we never see another mountain pass, he was exhausted to say the least. Saturday 9~~~~~Today we rode on a historic coal-fired, steam-powered locomotive on the same tracks miners, settlers and cowboys of the old west took more than a century ago from Durango to Silverton, Colorado. The train winds through the beautiful canyons in the remote wilderness of the 2 million-acre San Juan National Forest using the same track that was used 128 years ago. The unique and historic railroad equipment. paired with the breathtaking scenery has attracted many film crews to this area. I will name a few of them: Robert Redford, Paul Newman, Marilyn Monroe, James Stewart, John Wayne Henry Fonda John Denver James Garner and President Gerald Ford and President Wm H Taft, plus several more. It was a nine hour train ride, 3 1/2 hour ride to Silverton with a 2 hour lay over and a 3 1/2 hour ride back home to Durango. The train stopped to fill the water tank coming and going on the trip. There was sure a lot of steam in the air from the train and the beautiful sound of the whistle when it was blow ed was so awesome. We packed our lunch for the train ride and when we arrived in Silverton and all those people got off heading to the fast food places and restaurants, we were glad we had our healthy lunch with us in our back pack. We sat on a bench watching the activity of the train and people getting off as we ate our lunch, next we headed to the shops to see the buys of the day. I bought a pretty turquoise cross necklace from one of the stores that had a 50% sale. The train ride was very nice, we could leave our seats to ride in the open car part of the way and go to the club car for drinks and snacks, we enjoyed visiting with those around us also. Of course I had a book along that I spent some time reading. We arrived back in Durango about 6:30 PM. and we were ready to relax is a more comfortable chair the rest of the evening. The train ride is one of the top 10 most scenic train rides in the world and we were glad we took advantage of going on it.