Bill and glen's Annual Harley Ride 2012 Part X "steam trains, more canyons and the land of enchantment"

Rise and shine... the key to surviving the camping portion of this trip has been the twin size air mattress I have been sleeping on at night. The mattress I've been using was purchased at Wal Mart for $9.95, the pump was the twelve volt pump wired to plug into the auxiliary (politically correct term for a cigarette light, cracks me up) port for power supplied from the battery on my motorcycle. Glen and Jim's air pumps were battery powered with "D" cell batteries. Jim had dropped his pump earlier in the trip and busted the cover that  held the batteries in place. He could continue to use it by holding the cover on so the batteries made contact to run the motor. If he let go of the cover the pump would shut off. I offered to share my air pump but Jim continued to use his for the remainder of the journey, except when I snuck over and aired his mattress up with my air pump before he took notice. Jim's travails with broken things didn't get out of hand but he also broke his glasses. It seems they were reading glasses with some type of bifocal magnifying glass in the bottom half. I don't think they were prescription glasses based on the fact he was continuously searching the stores for another pair. It seems they fell off his seat during one of our stops when a gust of wind scooted them right off the seat and gravity dispensed them to the ground. The ear piece broke at the hinge. I had placed a bottle of Loctite superglue in my first aid kit in case we needed a liquid band aid. Turns out my intentions for the super glue were never fulfilled but it sure came in handy when Glen convinced Jim he could repair the earpiece, it just wouldn't fold over any more. The repair took about five minutes and lasted for the duration of the trip. Kudos to Glen and the Loctite repair! All of this started with my desire to say I didn't have a bad night's sleep during the whole trip and the only time I ended up on the floor was when I didn't get the fill plug seated all the way after airing the mattress up. That too was a rather easy fix.
We began the process of packing our camp when our noisy neighbors started moving about there camp site. We exchanged hello's. Glen and I discussed our neighbor's plight. I'm not sure how many men would tackle camping with 3 girls, teenagers at that, and mom without experiencing numerous exasperating moments at any given time during the trip. It seems our thoughts weren't justified as each one pitched in to get the necessities of the morning accomplished. Oh well, not the first time I've been wrong... but it was the second (just joking)... It seems once they got up and started moving a little quicker mom decided to apologize for the noise and "light as bright as the sun" during their camp setup the night before. Being the jovial  rascals we are, we laughed told her we were impressed the speed they operated with while setting up camp in the dark. I think the father came over and talked about having a motorcycle at one time in his life but felt it was an unwarranted risk once they began having children. Yep, know all about that.
Our friends from Kansas were also up and ready to begin their day but had bigger plans than us and were staying at the KOA again that night. They were going to ride the Durango/Silverton steam train. While sharing each groups plans it seems the wives of the Kansas group had arranged the train ride, the husbands from Kansas really wanted to visit the local Harley shop. The husbands yielded to the wives plans sacrificing the visit to the Harley shop. The hardest part of that choice was based on the fact that the Harley shop would not be open on Sunday and their plans were to be home Sunday. Glen and I laughed when we told them that's what they deserve for bringing the gals along. The wives laughed at our comment too. They shouldn't have been too mad because I think we were kind of giving the guys a hard time since we were going to the Harley shop later and too bad  they weren't going to make it. The pretense of all this was the Harley dealer opened after the train left and closed before they returned. To make up for all our jesting Glen and I made it to the HD dealer for a few minutes before we left. Most but not all HD dealerships sell poker chips of various colors, Purple, Orange, Black, Red, Blue, Yellow, various other colors and of course pink. It has become fun for me to collect the HD poker chips from various dealer's not only for my keeping but to share with friends who own HD's.Each chip is stamped with the HD logo on one side and the name and location of the dealership on the other side. It's a bit like a road map for me to record the various dealerships in various locals myself or friends have visited. The idea of trading chips is a way of sharing the moment with the friends I wish could have been with us. I purchased 10 HD poker chips. As we were leaving Durango we swung back into the KOA went to the Kansans camp and put one poker chip in each chair. It was a fitting goodbye and glad we met you token.
Prior to going to the HD dealer we went to the Durango McDonald's for breakfast.

As I have noted many times before the breakfast at McDonald's is almost always a sure thing, decent food for minimal money. We seemed to linger longer than usual during this visit. Funny thing about this McDonald's, it was very busy but there was never a line. I got bored of sitting in the dining area and decided to journey outside. I was loitering near the motorcycles when I noticed a lady sitting in her car directly in front of the main door and was taking pictures of everyone entering and exiting the building. I just wonder if she had a new camera or was she a photo artist or what was her story? I never really figured it out since I never posed the question. It just seemed odd, I guess she didn't realize or just didn't care that some people are really touchy about being photographed by strangers with no explanation as to the reason. She finally left when another young lady apparently one she had been waiting on exited the building muttering complaints of her check not coming in or something similar to that. Amused, I heard a steam whistle not too far away...

The track for the steam railroad runs right next to the McDonald's. Figuring Jim and Glen heard the whistle and would mosey outside and around the building to investigate the source I didn't bother to get their attention. It seems when the train is ready to begin it's journey through town on the way to much greater views a railroad man walks to the center of the street and waves a sign to stop traffic. It really is like a step back in time if you have the imagination. The engineer's pin stripe hat on his head, the same stripe on his overalls, the red bandanna in his pocket, lace up black boots on his feet. He had gray hair was average height and happily plump. His demeanor was one of cheerfulness, I imagine if he had removed his hat he would have lost most of his hair many years ago. He was the picture of a man doing exactly what he enjoyed and looked forward to it. The conductor was in a black railroad uniform with gold trim and what appeared to be a double row of gold buttons placed vertically on the front of his coat. He wore wire rimmed round glasses and sported a generous smile. His shoes were a black dress shoe without the ornamentation of a wingtip. Just plain black shoes with a fresh polish and shine. This gentleman was all business with a hint of enjoyment at performing his duties.  The whistle I heard was the ready to disembark whistle.  In the rising crescendo so stereotyped by railroad men over the ages I managed to miss the timeless "All Aboard!!". The step stools were hoisted and placed in the doorways, The steam was shooshing from the cylinders that drive the pistons. A deep chug began rumbling in the bowels of the boiler while a rush of black smoke poured from the stack. The muscular drive rods lurched into motion spinning the wheels for a half turn launching the beautiful engine forward with its load of restored passenger cars. The passenger cars were loaded with people. All types of people. I really enjoy watching the faces of the passengers as the cars slowly roll out on what will be an unforgettable part of all their stories. The children's eyes are all lit up as they bounce in the seats trying to contain the nervous energy so bound up in most children. It's all the mother's can do to keep them in the proximity of their seats. There is so much to see and even as children we long to take in every sight, sound and smell as if we'll never travel this way again. I mention the quandary of the mothers as trying to contain their children because fathers are totally worthless as the steam blows and the smoke pours out of the stack. It seems every grown man has, at some timein his life, been fascinated with trains and most of us are so entranced by the steam engines we forget everything around us and strain to take it all in as if (again) we'll never travel this way again. So really the only adults on the entire train are the mothers! This effect extends to Grandfathers, Uncles, Brothers and cousins of the male gender. We just can't function properly in the presence of coal smoke and steam. Grandmothers are not so concerned, usually, as the mothers because they seem to enjoy watching their husbands and grown sons return to the days of their youth with the sparkles in their eyes and the excitement in their voices. There really seems to be very little that compares to the experience of riding the rails on a real steam engine.

Glen and Jim didn't get to the front of the McDonald's to experience the moment but little did they know they'd have another chance later in the day in a different location.
We mounted the motorcycles headed east out of Durango to begin the ride portion of our day. We road east on highway 160 to Pagosa Springs, Colorado then turned south on highway 84 headed to the "land of enchantment".  The temperature was already hot enough to remind us of the ride across Nebraska. We made several stops to quench our thirst with Gatorade. Highway 84 intersects highway 64 6 miles south of the Colorado/New Mexico state line. We turned east on highway 64 head to Chama, New Mexico.
This day will be continued in the next post.
If you haven't figured it out I'm writing this from home while recalling the details of our ride from the vaults of my memory. We haven't been home two weeks so the trip is still fresh in my mind. Thanks Glen for sharing your pics! It's been a long day! one of my goats tangled with something sharp and lost. She is gashed across her right shoulder to the point the bone is exposed. We cleaned the would, rinsed it for a while with cold water, packed the gash with large amounts of gauze and wrapped the best we could. The vet, Dr. Wallace, isn't available tonight but returned my call. We discussed the steps I had taken and considered them sufficient until he can get here mid morning tomorrow. She is resting peacefully on the patio, the cleanest place I have for her to not fill the wound with dirt. I have become attached mentally to the four Goats we have and really hope she'll survive this. I am tired and headed to investigate the backside of my eyelids till at least 5:30AM.
Sleep well!