Today we would board the Amtrak and head back to our worlds in MSN. At 6:00am word from the railroad was the trail was running an hour late. Considering we at one point were running two hours late and the train made it up depositing us in Grand Junction right on time, The one hour delay is hopefully no big deal.

So, in the mean time . . .

. . . let’s have a BIG breakfast!

Since we had several hours to kill be participated in the most popular American recreational activity  – shopping!!! We descending on several bikes stores who must have thought at least one of us was in the market for a new bike, but alas, just looking. Greg is one of our more ‘senior’ riders, in the sense of the number of miles under his belt over the years. Here he ties up with one of his old riding buddies, the Bikus Trantisourus.

With all of us being in the senior age category, age demands respect (or are they trying to get us out of the way) so we get preferential senior treatment and go to the head of the boarding line. Terry’s big smile? at 50 he is not yet one of us but reaping the benefits!!!

The train comes to a stop many times during the journey due to westbound freight traffic having track priority on the track. Here we come head to head with our sister train heading west, Train 5. There was an ‘issue” on board Train 5 so we both came to a stop and once it was resolved away we both went. One eastbound one westbound.

The train stops for 5 minutes in Glenwood Springs and the train station is right across the street from the local brewery. TommyG attempts a repeat of his 5 minute track race to procure a growler of local brew. Unfortunately, as you can see in the photo the street was torn up due to road construction and he would have had to run around the block to get to the back door and into the retail area. On the eastbound trip he made the trip with only 1 minute to spare. This added detour would have probably put him over the 5 minute window and he would have been left sharing his growler of beer with fellow rail passengers still on the loading dock. So . . . no eastbound growler this time!!! A sad mood hung over our car until we all headed to the Lower Level Lounge to drown our sorrows.

If one really wants o see some wild areas, not assessable by car, the train is REALLY the way to travel, especially through the Rockies. Kodak moment around every corner as you climb through canyon after canyon.

Our eastbound conductor was more chatty than our previous westbound conductor as he pointed out points of interest along the way. Early in our climb into the mountains he pointed out Deadman’s Curve where in the past there had been two accidents on the road around the top of the mountain. This one involved a mother and her daughter in the mid 1980’s. They were both killed when the mother drove off the road curve and her orange car rolled down the hillside.

In the early 1970’s, this station wagon with three teenagers in the car miss navigating the curve, drove off the road and rolled 50 feet. Luckily, all three escaped with minimal injures.

Most of us had dinner in the Dining car including a nice mixed salad, medium rare steak, with garlic mashed potatoes, a split of Cabernet followed by strawberry cheesecake. Soon . . . zzzzzzzzzzzz!