Spring 2014 Trip to Washington, DC

I left Cottonwood on 28 February for a visit to Washington, DC. My excuse for making the trip was that Diana could use some help in getting settled into her new apartment. She had been forced to move from her long time dwelling in Takoma Park, MD and, wishing neither to purchase a house nor to move into a large apartment complex, she finally settled on a very small apartment attached to a single family home. The new apartment, just a few blocks from her old place, was still still conveniently located for transportation back and forth to her employment in DC. However, it was very small and required some downsizing as well as the installation of various shelves and hooks and a judicious use of IKEA furniture to suitably separate the small space into separate living, sleeping and kitchen areas.

Because I had not traveled by train in more than 50 years, I thought that I would give it another try and travel by Amtrak. This would entail either arising very early in the morning to meet a 0541 scheduled departure from Flagstaff or staying in Flagstaff overnight. That was not a hard decision and Rosemary drove me to Flagstaff on the afternoon of the 27^th. We had an early dinner in the city and then drove around for awhile looking for the Aspen Innsuites where I had made a reservation. The motel turned out to be further from the Amtrak Station than I had been led to believe, but the facility did provide free taxi transportation, so that was not a problem. The motel itself was reasonable priced and very comfortable.

The next morning I was awake and waiting in the lobby when the taxi arrived, right on time, to transport me to the station. When time came to board, the conductor showed me to my seat and we left Flagstaff right on time. I was traveling coach class and had been placed in an aisle seat. The window seat in that row was occupied by another gentleman traveling, according to the ticket placed above the seats, all the way to Chicago. I was to change trains in Chicago and thus had the same seat all the way there. The man in the window seat and I barely exchanged greetings before he departed for the lounge car and I never saw him again.

As it was still dark when I boarded, I settled in and dozed most of the way across Arizona, barely aware of stops at Winslow and Holbrook. It was just after 0800 when we crossed into New Mexico and I remembered to look for traces of water in the Puerco River which runs through the same pass used by the Interstate Highway and the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad (now the Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway). The Puerco River, not to be confused with the Rio Puerco, runs southwest and drains into the Little Colorado at Holbrook. Rio Puerco, on the other hand originates in northern New Mexico on the eastern side of the continental divide and drains into the Rio Grande at Contreres, NM south of Albuquerque. As I always have, the many times I have traveled this way by automobile, I did see water; however, I am sure I will look again when next passing this way because it just seems so unlikely.

Water in the Puerco River near Gallup, NM

When we entered New Mexico, the sun was shining brightly, but by the time we reached Gallup, the sky was slightly overcast. Others may be enthralled by historic downtown Gallup, especially such landmarks along old Route 66 as the El Rancho Hotel. As for me, thinking of Gallup brings to mind the colorful hillside homes located north of downtown.

Colorful homes north of downtown Gallup, NM

After leaving Gallup I became aware of a lively discussion between a man and a woman concerning the differences between the European and American knitting techniques. The subject was boring to me but, as I said the conversation was lively and it served as background while I gazed out the window at the high desert scenery on the way to Albuquerque.

High desert between Gallup and Albuquerque

We stopped briefly in Albuquerque and I saw the area from a new perspective. I spent a lot of time in the city while I was still working, always traveling by automobile. Now, arriving by train, I had trouble recognizing buildings that were previously very familiar to me. At the station itself a few traders were set up, but didn't seem to be doing much business.

The Amtrak Station in Albuquerque

Leaving Albuquerque, we traveled up the valley east of and parallel to the Rio Grande, passing through the Indian Pueblos located between Albuquerque and Santa Fe. However, we turned away from the Rio Grande and headed east before reaching Santa Fe, stopping at Lamy just south of the capitol city.

There was a short delay at Lamy to evict a passenger due to a ticketing problem. It seems that a male passenger without identification was traveling with a ticket purchased for a female. The police took him away and we were soon moving again.

Lamy (Santa Fe) Amtrak Station

From Lamy the railroad continues northeast through Glorieta, swings south around the foot of the Santa Fe Mountains then turns northeast again to pass through Las Vegas, NM and on to Raton at the Colorado border.

Las Vegas, NM Amtrak Station – Hotel Castenada

It was near sundown when we arrived at Raton.

Raton, NM at sundown

It had taken us a full day to travel through half of Arizona (from Flagstaff) and New Mexico to the Colorado border just north of Raton. We would pass through Colorado and Kansas at night.

I had dinner with a gay couple, I will call them Ernest and Joe, who were on a long-delayed vacation. They were an interesting couple who had been together for ten years and this trip was in celebration of that. Joe was responsible for his mother and when he and Ernest formed their relationship, insisted that she must live with them. At first this was a real problem as Joe traveled extensively for work and Ernest worked at home. Soon, however, the mother found that she and Ernst had similar opinions as to what was good for her son and Joe found that they were teaming up against him. He appeared to be a bit irritated, but mostly amused, by this turn of events.

I went to sleep soon after dinner and was only vaguely aware when we arrived in Dodge City, at about 0030. After a few more hours of rather fitful sleep, I awoke in Kansas City at about 0700 to a cloudy and rather dreary day. Thankfully we had no precipitation and there was no snow on the ground as we rolled through the Missouri countryside.

The Missouri countryside on a dreary March day

We rolled through La Plata, MO and, tiring of the bleak landscape, I became engrossed in a mystery that I had loaded on my Kindle before leaving home.

I must have dozed off because the next thing I remember is awakening to hear a Vietnam Era sniper telling the tale of how he learned, apparently as part of his deadly craft, how to “go to another place” in his mind. He now used that ability to make himself fall asleep at night. His wife, on the other hand claimed that all the snoring emanating from his “other place” kept her awake, so she slept in another room. He said that was alright with him because, although he really loved her, he never missed her when he was sleeping in his “other place.”

By the time the sniper had finished his story we had left Missouri behind and were in Fort Madison, Iowa.

Fort Madison, Iowa Amtrak Station

Leaving the Fort Madison station, we traveled alongside the Mississippi River for awhile then crossed into Illinois.

The Mississippi River at Fort Madison, Iowa

We now had only two more stops, Galesburg and Mendota, before Chicago's Union Station.

Galesburg, Illinois Amtrak Station

Mendota, Illinois Amtrak Station

We had a scheduled 3 hour and 25 minute layover in Chicago and the departing train was about an hour late. We left at 1940. By the time I had finished dinner and read a few chapters in the book I was reading on my Kindle, it was time for lights out and we settled in to sleep. I was bothered for awhile by two loudmouths holding an animated conversation from opposite sides of the car. Finally tiring of the noise, I reminded them that the conductor had announced that any persons wishing to talk after lights out should retire to the lounge car. Although not with good grace, they did comply, perhaps remembering the treatment afforded the non-compliant customer with the ticketing problem at Lamy.

The next day was largely a blur as we swept through the snow-patched countryside. I spent most of the day reading, interrupted occasionally by a brief stop at one of the stations along the way, most of which I ignored.

I am not sure exactly what drew my attention at Cumberland, MD. Perhaps because there was an extra stop for the engineers to change shifts.

Stopped at Cumberland, MD

Martinsburg sported an interesting brick building that might once have been a hotel but does not appear to be used as such now.

Amtrak stop in Cumberland, MD

A magnified view of the sign shown at the left in the above photograph is also shown here (right). The events described in the sign certainly give the area some historical significance.

Finally, who could fail to note Harper's Ferry? George Washington located a federal arsenal here, at the original trading post, in 1798. When abolotionist John Brown tried to seize the arsenal in 1859, Colonel Robert E. Lee rushed troops to the site by train. This is said to have been the first use of a railroad for military purposes.

Harpers Ferry – where Virginia, West Virginia and Maryland meet

On arrival at Union Station in Washington, DC, I was to transfer to the Metro System for the ride to Takoma Park. The station announcements were completely illegible, requiring advance information to be understood. Thanks to the kindness of strangers, I found my way to the correct train anyway.

Diana had intended to pick me up at the Metro station, but our schedules didn't match, so her friend Melissa, along with Melissa's son Levi, picked me up and I hung out with until Diana arrived. We then all went to dinner before parting company.

Diana's new apartment turned out to be, as she had said, quite small. It is, however, quite adequate for one person and has the advantage of a large yard to putter in, with room for bird feeders.

I was tired after my three-day train trip and had no trouble sleeping. The next morning I awakened to find everything covered with a white blanket of snow. I snapped the below photograph and settled in for an early morning nap.

I was greeted by snow on my first morning at Diana's

Although it was Monday morning, Diana had the day off because of the snowstorm, so we just hung around, played with our computers and discussed all the projects we were putting off. This was the first of two snow days that she had off during my stay and we thoroughly enjoyed both of them.

The next day Diana went back to work and I alternated between napping and doing some work on the apartment. Diana had brought the pickup down from its normal domicile in Pennsylvania and I used that for frequent trips to Ace Hardware for supplies.

We installed shelves, hung folding chairs on the wall to save floor space, installed a glass shelf over the bathroom wash basin, mounted a folding table in the kitchen and assembled and installed several drawers in the Ikea room divider.

Ikea furniture along the wall and room divider setting off the sleeping area

Ikea room divider used to set off sleeping area

Kitchen – note folding table and hanging chairs on left wall

Bathroom – note glass shelf above sink. You can't see it of course, but the
 toilet roll holder is mounted on the inside of the sink cabinet door.

We now felt that it was time to rest from our labors and started by playing with our computers.

Diana and her cranky cat are shown relaxing here (left). The cat sometimes comes around begging for attention and then slaps you when you pet her. Once, when I had interrupted her nap, she came all the way across the room and slapped me before returning to her spot.

I had my own very comfortable corner (right) with a couch to sit and sleep on and a table set up for my computer and other gear. We had just completed hanging the picture shown here and installing the three lights shown. The lights, by the way, were made from old chicken feeders that Diana dug up somewhere.

We had made pretty good progress and decided it was time for an outing. Diana suggested that we visit Great Falls National Park, an 800-acre park just a few miles from the Capitol. Here the Potomac River flows through Mather Gorge, building up speed as it flows over a series of steep, jagged rocks, dropping around 80 feet in one mile.

Largely at the instigation of George Washington to make the Potomac River navigable as far as the Ohio River Valley, the Great Falls were bypassed by the Patowmack Canal, one of five skirting canals built along the river. The Patowmack opened to traffic in 1802 and folded in 1828, turning over its assets to the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal.

We parked and walked along a section of the old canal to the well-developed and extensively-used falls viewing areas.

A lock on the old Patowmack Canal

Great Falls at Mather Gorge on the Potomac River

Bundled up in our warm coats, we sipped coffee and watched the other tourists. One father was having a particularly hard time controlling his toddler son who, despite the cold day, insisted on wading in a mudhole. Diana is shown here (left) clutching her coffee as she watched.

There are a few seats located in the viewing area and we were lucky enough to find an empty

one from which we could look out over the roaring water and watch a pair of Cormorants soaring in the distance (right).

After our Great Falls outing we decided it was time to work on installing bird feeders, so we made another trip to Ace Hardware for bird seed and then placed the feeders Diana had collected at strategic locations in the yard. Three of the feeders, two of them on a common post, are shown below.

Three bird feeders one at left, two on a common post at right

We had not long to wait for customers, we had hardly finished before our first customer, a handsome cardinal, arrived. He was followed soon after by one of the many squirrels who had been watching and waiting in the wings.

Cardinal  

Squirrel

Finally, we hung a basket of flowers outside the door, trimmed the evergreen tree so as to be able to see the feeders from the kitchen window and installed a few solar-powered yard lights.

It was now time to return to Arizona and I had decided that the coach trip by train to DC would last me for another 50 years. I checked on returning by sleeper car, found that no tickets were available and arranged to fly home. I had purchased a round-trip ticket on Amtrak and found that the refund for the return portion would more than pay for my airfare. I wound up in Phoenix instead of Flagstaff, but in either case I would take the shuttle to Camp Verde where Rosemary would pick me up.