5:30am Yes I’m currently in Albuquerque (well now a bit north of it), riding the Rail Runner Express (which has wi-fi onboard) got in just about a half hour ago on the night Autobuses Americanos from Colorado Springs and got on the train straight and by the time I take the California Zephyr this afternoon to Flagstaff (the Phoenix Light Rail is tomorrow and Saturday) SubwayNut will have all but two of their stations! The other destinations on this trip will be taking the Sunset Limited this Saturday Night to the Surfliner to San Diego, wending my way up to LA and flying back next Sunday (). Just bought my train ticket onboard with a credit card (never thought that would happen, $9 for a day pass to ride the entire system, can’t beat that! also unlimited use of the bus system!) on a little palm reader. Ticket is on receipt paper though, does not feel real. The ticket taker a little chatty, addressing me my name from my credit card.
Well might as well begin this trip log of my ten-day Spring Bereak Adventure as I’m whisked through the lights of still dark Northern New Mexico:
Yesterday was an extremely long day with me finally getting a real thesis draft compiled and getting home at only 5:30 to one of my roomates (who is notorious for having dinner ready at relatively late hours) in a cooking frenzy actually making a full three course meal. I finished packing and did my portion of the necessary housework taking out the trash and cleaning the bathroom before dinner, first salt pork soup, then pot roast, mashed potatoes and a baked cabbage side, a delicious final home cooked meal before my adventure that I quickly ate after it was ready at 8:30, before leaving the house at 9:10 for the mile-long walk down Weber Street on the side of Downtown to the Greyhound Station. I got there at 9:25 and waiting outside for a little bit, very happy that I had called the day before and found out about their strange hours for the 10:00pm Autobuses Americanos trip whose final destination is Chihuahua, Mexico (at least according to the boarding call in Albuquerque). The station closes at 9:00pm before reopening from 9:30pm to 10:00pm to serve that trip. The agent also warned that the AAU buses had a habit of leaving early and to get there at 9:25, right when I did. When the agent reopened the stop (and commented on the huge express box he had to load). In no time at all like 9:40 by AAU bus saying Americanos on the side pulled into the station as I waited outside for it. I showed the driver my ticket who told me in very accented English to wait a moment before letting me board. I got on the bus and immediately heard Spanish my impression that I’d gone to Mexico. I started making my way to the back of the bus, finding just behind the restroom a large black box that said Driver’s Bunk on it, along with a pair of shoes beneath. I’d figured out what DR CHANGE LAS VEGAS, NM meant on the timetable. The bus carries two, one sleeps while the other drives.
Sure enough the bus left early at 9:48pm and I attempted to get comfortable in my two seats behind a mother and her kid who were the loud ones on the bus, on the most strangely cramped bus I’d ever ridden. The seats over reclined, making it very hard to get in and out. I couldn’t sit in a single of my two seats with the lady in front of me fully reclined there was no legroom, it was worse than a plane, with two I managed fine on the extremely well worn bus the seats had little patting, the reading lights little incandescent bulbs. The ride speeding through the night down I-25 was uneventful although we randomly pulled briefly over as soon as we got on I-25. At Las Vegas we got off the highway and pulled into a small gas station, connivence store at 1:45, not the standard huge truck stops these buses generally visit smaller. Here the drivers switched, trading the divers seat for the bunk, each having his own bedding for his turn. The annoucement for the brief rest stop was first made in Spanish and then English. I got back on the bus and waited, eventallly getting off again the driver taking his time. I also noticed that tiny gas stop station had become through the night bus central with another Americano’s bus and a much more luxurious one stopping there for breaks. We finally left at 2:15am for more uneventfulness down I-25. We finally arrived at the Alavardo Transit Center at 4:30am, too late for me to get a ride all the way up into Santa Fe and still photograph every station. So I watched the switchings move to get the 4:57am short round trip to Sandoval/US-550 to platform (that no one boarded), and waited for the 5:07 northbound up through the Darkness bound for Santa Fe, we pass the short-tern train just after it stops at its penultimate stop Bernalillo.
At about 8AM going through the Pueblos on the same Railrunner train set as my trip up to Santa Fe County: I got off at the Santa Fe-County/NM-550 Station, and have a ten minute photo stop before boarding a southbound train to Kewa Station for a thrity minute photo stop photographing an excellent New Mexican Sunrise. I then go back northbound to Santa Fe County/NM-550 and have another 12 minutes with light. I take the train I’m on southbound and realize just how an interesting commuter rail system the rail runner is giving riders a look at the impoverishment of all the pueblos.
1:00 going south of Albuquerque first passing rail yards, then reentering the country and standard New Mexican scrubland desert. My early morning finished by me taking the train from my last update to the Los Ranchos/Journal Center Station and walking 3 blocks to 4th Street to take the #10 bus, free with my Rail Runner Ticket that I just caught and took that down the Alvardo Transportation Center (where the downtown Rail Runner Station is) and walked a few blocks down Central to a Diner for some breakfast. After breakfast the Amtrak ticket counter had finally opened so I went over, picked up my tickets was told my thruway connection tomorrow morning is at the Greyhound Station and I would have to walk the transfer (I thought Open Road Tours left from the Amtrak Station itself will see when I get there this evening I need to ask). After I took the 10:35 northbound trip to Sandoval County/ US 550 Station for a photo essay before taking about a half hour walk (I had an hour and a half layover) walk down to the Downtown Bernalillo Station, which as the train goes is extremely close there just is not a convenient road there. The main reason for my stop there at that time was to photograph the eastbound Southwest Chief making its way through on the passing siding before waiting for my train that I am currently on to go by it, before proceeding. Then it was time to go down to the southern branch and Belen where I am currently making this update (Isleta Pueblo and Los Lunas are only stations that will not be photographed, Santa Fe I did back in September.
Keep Following this block during the next week for hopefully daily updates of my travels on my Southwest and So. Cal Spring Break Adventure!