train of thoughts

Some excerpts from a two day trip heading east from California to Colorado:

The myraid of landscapes and everchanging topographies between a few states is astounding. I passed through California, through to Nevada, through Utah and now Colorado. The first part of the trip was deep canyons and glacier lakes, then a bit of tundra and a river and mountains and sprinkling of golden/crimson trees, then the desert, dry, massive, sculptural, then hitting a river and some plant life again. There are a lot of tunnels we are passing through, one tunnel is said to be 6 miles long, not sure how long that is in kilometres.

Okay, just passing this huge boulder of a cliff/mountain right in the Utah desert. It is MASSIVE. I have never seen landscape like this. We just entered Colorado and now are following the Colorado River. There are supposed to be bald eagles and their nests hanging about in this area. I have never had to change my time everyday to an hour ahead before, heading east by train is a trip.

Did you know that if you just ate almonds the body could survive off of those alone? They have large amounts of fibre, protein, large dose of vitamin E and some vitamin A and magnesium, phosphorus, calcium and iron. Who needs overpriced, mediocre train food?

Ahhh, the train... bathrooms that don't work, whole cars that smell like the sewer. Lights that stay on all night, stops at 3:00am in the middle of nowhere, seats in front of you that are broken and squeak under the person's weight.

Riding through the mountains, at dusk, waking up at 5:00am to see the sky lit up with purple and pink light.

Moms curled up with their babies and children sleeping on the floor, mothers and daughters of all different ages traveling together, playing games, teaching each other math and other abstract concepts. Women knitting, yes people still knit.

Stopped in a RANDOM gift shop in Grandjunction which is at an elevation of 4000 and something in between Utah and Colorado. You could get spam, plastic action figures, amethyst rocks, postcards and turquoise 'Navajo'rings. I just got a cup of noodles.

I tried to strike up some conversation with an Amish family, but one of them ended up asking me if my hair was real - yes even the Amish ask stupid questions. But I got them back by scaring them as I reached out to touch their baby, they were holding their breath the whole time, but baby liked me.