Lets start out with an idea: my idea. I wanted to go take photos of the Rio Grande Scenic Railroad in Alamosa, Colorado. We hadn't been down since the first of the year in 2010. I decided that we could all go together and just make a day trip out of it. My parents struggled to get out of bed on Sunday and it put us behind by a few minutes. We met Ed and Milissa at their house and got in the "D". We had to pick up Josh and Reesa along the way. They were running a few minutes behind as well. Luckily they live at the south end of town and we got to the interstate quickly. Ed's driving, Reesa's sleeping and the rest of us are making small talk. Despite the late start, it's going to be a good day.
We're cruising along at 75+ mph when the "D"'s gauges just go down to zero. The engine is still running and we're still moving, but the "D" isn't responding. Of course everyone in the car freezes and all eyes are on Ed and the gauges. He pulls off to the side of the interstate and turns the engine off. He waits a few minutes, but the car won't turn over. Now we're in a pickle. There are seven of us crammed in the car, who could we call? Ed tries again and the "D" turns over. We all breathe a sigh of relief as we pull back onto the interstate. It seems to be running fine and we make our way towards Colorado City. Then I had to open my big mouth: "At least it didn't happen to us when we were on the hill towards the exit at Colorado City." I don't think that sentence was out of my mouth before the gauges all went down to zero again. We coasted to a stop and realized we weren't going to get any further south in this car. We got the car started, exited, and headed back towards Pueblo. Looks like we're going to have to ride in two separate cars. The ride was pretty quiet heading back to Pueblo and my frustration was at an all time high. This was the second time within weeks that something had gone wrong on a train chasing trip for me. I wasn't mad at anyone in particular, but I really needed something to go right. The "D" made it back to Pueblo without further incident, but by then we had used up an hour of our time to get to Alamosa.
Josh had an idea that maybe his grandmother would let us use her van, it conveniently seated seven people. We pulled in the driveway and Josh bolted towards the door. She said yes and we all piled out of the car and transferred our gear into the van. Josh had forgotten his tripod when we left the first time and was able to get it when we came back. We left the "D" in the driveway and got back on the road. Me, Reesa and Milissa sat on the bench in the back, while my parents sat in the middle and Josh took the wheel and Ed assisted him. Now, going back to a previous post, imagine a 26 year old driving a turquoise Dodge Chrysler Mini-van complete with stuffed frogs on the dashboard and a bright yellow smiley face air freshener. For those of you who can't imagine here's a picture:
COMING SOON
We managed to make it past Colorado City and into Walsenburg where we were lucky enough to get stuck at a railroad crossing. Imagine that, the one time we don't want to see a train we get stuck at a crossing. Reesa fell asleep in between Milissa and I and her head just swayed back and forth. It was pretty funny because at one time she swayed all the way onto Milissa's shoulder. Because of our technical difficulty, we were not able to make it to Alamosa before the train left. We decided to catch it in Blanca, CO and go on the hunt for a good spot. There was more traffic than anticipated and we didn't have much time before the train caught up to us. We decided on a dirt road and piled out. I felt like we were a bunch of clowns climbing out of a clown car. We prepared for the shot and Josh had to go to the bathroom (again). He hides behind the van and as he so eloquently put it, "watch out for the lake by the left rear tire." Great huh? We prepare for the incoming train, film and snap the photos and we run back to the van. Josh and I are first, and I just jumped in from the sliding back doors and we moved the car to pick up the rest of the crew. It's time for the chase.
So here we are, flying down the dirt road back towards the highway. Of course there is traffic and we have to wait. Now normally back on the road we would floor it and get around the traffic. But lucky us there's a state patrol behind us. The train pulls ahead, can't we catch a break? We were supposed to beat it back to the outskirts of Fort Garland, but because of traffic and the threat of a ticket, we're out of luck. We did beat it back to the "station" at Fort Garland and were able to snap a few photos before it came to a stop. However, there were several people who were getting on at Fort Garland and decided it would be a good idea to stand close to the tracks and then cross in front of it while taking pictures. Don't panic, no one was injured, the train had plenty of room to stop, but it made it increasingly hard to take photos of it without some lunatic in front of the train. We hop back in the car and head for Forbes Park. We weren't planning to stop before then, but we find a side road and decide to try it. So we take the van on a washed out road with ruts. Josh is driving slow and trying to ease us down the road but we still manage to scrape the bottom and the bushes next to the road, which made a screeching noise against the glass. We still beat the train and managed to get a few shots. Josh took the high road and I'm not really sure where Ed went, because he came out from the bushes as we scrambled back into the car.
By now the passengers are aware of us taking photos of the train and them, so they scream out and wave at each crossing. We stopped at a few more crossings before the train went back into the mountains and left us. There was a road that ran below the tracks back into the mountains, but we had to go back across La Veta Pass. This wasn't really an issue, but the van doesn't stop too well so we had a lovely smell coming from the brakes as we made our way down the pass. We managed to find the road and bumped along the mountain. We were getting into really good territory now as we passed all the NO TRESPASSING signs that, ironically enough, had bullet holes throughout. The one sign that sticks out the most was this one:
Doesn't this make you feel all fuzzy inside?
The road was pretty bumpy and we only had a few opportunities to shoot. We tried to get back to La Veta before the train so that we could get some lunch without hitting the crowds from the train. Since there was so many of us, we had to eat on the patio of the La Veta Inn. There is nothing like walking through a restaurant past the tables and hearing the whispers about you "those are the people from the minivan!" Yup that's right folks, we were famous! Apparently we left our mark on the passengers that day. It is here that a massive storm cell starts to move in. The lightning was bright and the thunder was loud; we ate pretty fast. The clouds were crazy and I swore they were swirling.
We got back in the car and headed towards the end of town where we could catch the train as she left La Veta. It started to sprinkle so most of the crew climbed back in the car. Reesa and I were the only two that were hanging outside. My back was starting to get drenched, but nothing prepared me for what happened next. I forgot my gear to put over my camera to protect it from rain, so I used a grocery bag to house my very expensive camera. (Not sure what I was thinking.) The train blew it's whistle and Reesa, my dad and I all scrambled out of the van. Then, as if the whistle triggered an avalanche, the skies opened up. See for yourself:
My mom was yelling at us from the van to get our butts back there. Reesa was wearing Josh's coat so she wasn't too drenched. My father and I were dripping wet like we had just climbed out of the shower. We weren't prepared for the rain and did not bring any type of jacket. We try to fly down the road to catch up with the train, but the road has turned into a river. Rocks, tree branches/stumps are floating in the middle of the road. We don't stop and keep charging forward. We missed a turn and back track towards the direction we need when a noise brings screams from everyone. The windshield wipers have stopped in mid stroke. Josh backs up out of another river and Ed asks him if he turned them off on purpose: "No." This is when all hell breaks loose. Josh starts ranting and raving at the windshield wipers and at mother nature. It was so funny we all started to laugh. But we faced a problem, the rain was still pouring and we couldn't see anything out of the front windshield.
An idea occurred and I asked if we had any rope: "No." So I had my big red neck moment. I grabbed one of my shoe laces and we tied it to the windshield wiper. It wasn't long enough so I used the other one. Since Josh was driving, the person sitting behind him would be in charge of the blades. This responsibility fell to my father. Here we go down the road, my dad pulling the strings to make the blades slide across the windshield. He looked like he was rowing a boat, which was fitting at the time. The road had turned into a river and we weren't sure what we were driving on or if we would hit anything. Yup, that's right, we're rednecks and we didn't let the rain stop us...that is for a few miles. Then the wiper motor stopped completely. It made a horrible screeching sound and they refused to go down. That was it. We couldn't do anything else. I got my shoelaces back and began putting myself back together. The rain was relentless and we knew there was no way we were gonna make it back on this road. We had to turn around. Josh was pressed up against the steering wheel trying to see out and not hit any boulders. (Ok so they weren't boulders, but they were big enough they could do some damage.) Ed was craning around trying to guide him if he got to close to the edge and we were all tense. This was not how we planned the day to go. We slowly made our way back when Josh hit the brakes.
"Oh my god! Is that an elk?" Josh hits the brakes and we come to a stop. We all try and look out the window, but we can't see anything. We have fogged up the windows and just our luck the defroster makes a shrill sound when you turn it on. So it was best if we left it off. So we're trying to figure out what Josh is seeing when he says, "Oh, it's a post." Hence now we have Elk Posts. We make it back to La Veta, although I don't know how we managed it. At the gas station we try to get rain-x, but of course they don't have any. It's decision time: head back to Pueblo or go to Alamosa. When reviewing the radar, the storm that just hit La Veta was headed to Walsenburg and Pueblo; there was nothing storm wise towards Alamosa. So we made the decision to go and catch the train one last time. The storm was gone and La Veta Pass was just wet. It seemed our troubles were over: that was until we got off the pass and deeper into the valley. The clouds opened up again, we're on the highway and we can't see two feet in front of us. Josh starts to scream and Ed guides him by saying left now right. We turn the defroster on because we didn't have any other choice. Luckily the rain doesn't last long and we're back to semi-blue skies. We figured we had beat the train out of the mountains so we stopped at Forbes Park and tried to examine the problem with the windshield wipers. Josh had on pink mechanic gloves, which I wish I would've gotten a picture of. We weren't able to fix the wipers. It was going to be an interesting night getting home.
(We were worried about what would happen if we didn't have any wipers for the rest of the night. Ed said that if push came to shove, he would hang out the window and manually move them. All I could think of was seeing this man with coke bottle goggles, and a trash bag over his head as he hung out the window. Then I pictured all of us in the car sitting in the car with the goggles and trash bags to keep us from getting wet as we drove down the road. Hey it was funny, and you can't put anything past us.)
The train was over an hour and a half late. But we waited and were able to snap a few shots. We were back on the chase and hoping we wouldn't run into anymore rain. There were only a few more opportunities left for photos and Josh wanted to pace the train. Reesa sat in the front and rolled down the window as we flew down the dirt road (slowing down for stop signs). I wanted pictures but didn't have a window to roll down so I just opened the door. Yup, you heard me right. You might be a red neck if you use shoe laces as rope AND you hang out the side of a moving van while chasing a train. The train is moving west and this lady is facing east. We're coming up on the front of the engine and this lady is just staring out into the open plains. I decide to wave and she gave me the funniest look. Apparently, she had never seen a turquoise minivan with frogs pacing a train while a girl hung out to take photos. I'm sure I'm famous in her inner circle of friends.
We ended the day on a bridge just outside of the Alamosa station. It was a beautiful bridge, but we had to cross it to get the front of the engine. So once again Reesa, Milissa, my dad and I make our way across this really long bridge. Reesa is afraid of heights, my dad can't swim, and here we are crossing this wooden bridge over the river. The walkway on the side of the bridge was rotted and depending on the board you stepped on, your foot sunk. Oh and I forgot to mention that the train is making it's way towards the bridge so we didn't have a lot of time to loligag. Don't worry, no one was hurt and then we managed to get several photos before she slipped into the station.
I bet you're wondering when this day is ever gonna end. Well soon my friends, soon. We went to Walmart and purchased rope (why we chose camaflouge rope, I'll never know), rain-x, a knife and socks for me. If you remember from a previous post, my feet got soaked from a trip before. I now carry an extra pair of socks in my camera bag. We also have decided to create more of a survival kit for the car (can't imagine why?) We head back to Pueblo after dinner and all I can think about is how it would be just our luck that the headlights would go out. I kept my mouth shut, I wasn't going to jinx us. Luckily it didn't rain except for when we got back to Pueblo. However, Ed used the rope to rig a system to move the wipers. We are exhausted and dirty from a day of hell and Ed is manually using the rope to move the wipers as we drive down Pueblo Boulevard. Yup, that's how we roll.
This event will go down in the history books for our crew. Never in my life have I seen so many things go wrong at once. Like I said before: you can't make this shit up. You would think that we would have given up train chasing after that. But heck, what's the fun in that? In fact, two weeks later we went up to Denver to chase another train, but that's a story you'll just have to wait for.
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