Good evening, friends: I'm writing at 8 p.m. Mountain Time, somewhere between Salt Lake City and Helper, Utah. I suspect I'll be able to send this tonight.
Today was the first full day this trip where I was almost entirely on a train, but for a few fresh air/smoke/stretch breaks. It was also probably the most scenic of the whole trip, and I have many pictures to that effect below in lieu of much writing. Besides poetry (not my strong suit) I wouldn’t have anything to add about the views that you can't observe in the pictures.
One thing I will say: Whenever people would ask about my plans for this trip, I'd tell them (doing my best to look sage-like) that the journey will be the destination. Today I can absolutely stand by that. I'd be totally content having taken an amazing trip if this train just dumped me back in Manhattan tomorrow morning. Cool day.
Anyways: I woke up around 5 a.m. Central Time and watched suburbs roll by for an hour or so. We had a while to chill in Denver, so I walked around their train station, which—sorry to beleaguer this point—had plenty of seating.
From Denver, we took off through the Rocky Mountains to Grand Junction, CO. One thing not captured in the pictures that was pretty neat: We went through the Moffat Tunnel, a six-mile path through the Continental Divide that shaved three hours off the route pre-construction. According to our conductor, the tunnel was started on both sides of the mountain, working towards each other to meet in the middle. When they met, they were all but a few inches from exactly aligned. Tunnels are amazing.
For a while, we followed the Colorado River, where kayakers have a proud tradition of mooning passing trains. It was hard to tell who found that more amusing—the teenagers in our car, or the baby boomers.
After Colorado, Utah. All these pictures are just out my window. It's been a breathtaking day. So expansive, infinite, otherworldly.
I ate cafe car food for lunch and dinner: chicken wings for lunch, squash tamales for dinner. (Both were microwaved in front of me.) But for the food, honestly, I'd probably live on this train.
One minor incident today. I suspect a child stole my headphones this morning when I left them on my seat. Wouldn't be grumpy about it—they were $30 when I bought them at Walmart in 2018—except that I wanted to listen to a podcast this evening after it gets dark. Luckily, the small store in the Grand Junction, CO station sells very cheap, passably functional headphones ($20, average review is 2.2 stars). I will not litigate my case against this specific child publicly on the internet and I didn’t confront him on the train; he was maybe eleven years old. Have fun, man.
Tonight, Nevada. Tomorrow, I'll be mostly on the train. We're scheduled to get into Emeryville (across the water from San Francisco) in the afternoon. That’ll sum to nearly 3,400 miles on Amtrak so far this trip.
More tomorrow, hopefully from CA,
–JBG
Good morning Jake. What glorious photos! Isn’t it amazing what nature can accomplish given (lots of) time and raw material? Several years ago, Allen and I did a bus trip that started in St. George, Utah and visited six or seven National and State parks. We ended up at the north rim of the Grand Canyon (which was beautiful, but extremely scary to walk the narrow trails of). Anyway, it took me until the eighth decade of my life to realize how vast and majestic this country is. I’m glad you’re getting to appreciate it all sooner.😉 I’m happy you are eating and sleeping (and stretching) well. I know San Francisco will be a real treat for you.
P.S. I think the idiom you want is “belabor the point” - sorry, that’s the teacher in me rearing its ugly head. You could have been beleaguered by the punk kid who stole your headphones, but you were resourceful enough to find new ones! Love you and miss you. 💕