Day 11 Train with Cliff, Nancy, and John

What a super fun day!

We got up early and drove the rental car to Durango, about 35 miles. At 8:30am we met Ray’s Uncle Cliff, Aunt Nancy, and cousin John at the Durango Railroad Station. It had been several years since we had seen them. John had never even met Parker and Preston. Cliff and Nancy live in Tucson and John lives in Sante Fe. They came up today to join us on the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad.

The Durango to Silverton track is 45 miles long and rises from 6520 ft to 9300 ft. The ride takes about 3.5 hours. We rode the San Juan up. These antique cars are really interesting. The view as we traveled beside the Animas River was breathtaking.

It was really enjoyable to catch up with Cliff, Nancy, and John on this leisurely ride. Preston found it fun to hang out the open window. The temps were delightfully cool.

Along the route is Tall Timber Resort Lodge, a prestigious 4-star hotel, accessible only by rail or helicopter. A new system of tree-soaring platforms has recently been installed. We saw a couple “zipping” from tree to tree as we passed.

Another trail follows this train up the mountain. It’s the “fire train”. It puts out any fires started by the ash from the train.

We arrived in Silverton at lunchtime. We ate at a patio restaurant then walked the town a bit hunting for some ice cream. The town is fabulous. It is truly a step back to an 1880’s mining town. The school houses grades K-12 and has a total of 52 students.
We caught the 3:30pm train back. For this leg we were in the Prospector Car. This car had tables and chairs with an attendant on duty. Each person received an insulated mug with free refills of coffee, Coke, lemonade etc.

Parker thought John was pretty “cool”, high praise from a 15 year old. He talked to him about fuel cells and why they cost so much.

Unfortunately on the way down we ran into a bit of trouble. The hydro-snicklefritz which lubricates the whatchmadigger broke. If it ceases to be lubricated the whole train stops. Our young engineer figured out a workaround after a 40-min stop. He was able to lubricate the whatchmadigger by hand. Unfortunately we had to stop every 5-7 miles for him to repeat this process. But it was much better than being stuck on the mountain where there is no road access.

We arrived nearly an hour late, but we arrived! Cliff, Nancy, and John had an hour drive ahead of them back to John’s house. We were so grateful that they took the time out of their schedules to come enjoy this day with us. We had a great time with them.
Since it was about 8pm we grabbed dinner at Applebee’s then made the drive back to the RV park. The boys were glad they had left their beds down…..and NO spoiled milk this time!!!