Trains are awesome! By the way, in the photo gallery at the end of my posts, photos usually upload in reverse chronological order. So if you want to see them in the order I took them start at the bottom and scroll up.
I took a lot of pictures today, most of my time was spent oscillating between my seat in coach and the sightseeing car. When I woke up we were still near San Antonio due to some delay, then we headed west through the desert. I started my day with some egg sandwiches from the cafe car (everything from there was great) and enjoyed seeing the desert for the first time from the sightseeing car.
Believe it or not, the desert is pretty barren. There were some really awesome and surreal views but I feel like I got the full experience from the train. Highlights were the Rio Grande and some cool rock formations in the hilly parts of the desert.
As the conductor announced our 6 hour late arrival in El Paso, he also notified us that “the burrito lady is here”. Apparently El Paso Station is host to a mystical woman who appears to weary travellers to vend homemade burritos out of her duffel bag. I figured carpe diem and carpe’d a burrito.
I had a pretty catastrophic gear failure leaving the station. Having retrieved my bike from the back of the train I was leaving the station by way of some extremely handicap inaccessible steps when my pannier clip broke. Bouncing down the steps with all the weight of my extra gear stuffed inside must have been the final straw. I’ll have to find a fix because I can’t continue with the pannier the way it is.
I checked into the antique Gardner Hotel/Hostel and passed out to the sounds of some wild Sunday night partying at the bars downstairs.
Gallery
Hi Julian, that’s the same Gardner Hostel I stayed! Keep smiling!
the pictures! breathtaking !!!