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Fall season gives me the wanderlust

It’s hard to tell it by looking at the thermometer, but it is now fall.

This time of year gives me the wanderlust. There are aspen leaves to peep before the wind takes them away, elk are bugling and migratory birds are on the move. It’s only natural that a human would want to go touring as well.

One fall trip long ago still stands out in my memory. They say bad memories fade while sweet memories are etched forever. Not so with this trip that started bad and didn’t get any better.

My wife and I had made plans with another couple to go ride the Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Train in Chama. We booked our tickets for a Saturday along with a room for Friday night. We were going after work from Tucumcari so I warned the motel that we would be a late arrival and gave a credit card to guarantee the room.

As I recall, I was late getting off, my wife was even later and when we went to meet the friends he was just starting to change the oil in the vehicle we were taking. It would still be all right, we were young. If we only stopped for gas and food we would be there around midnight.

It was well after midnight when we got to Chama and upon arriving at the overflowing parking lot of our motel we learned that someone else was sleeping in our bed. No amount of screaming, cussing or threatening was going to get us a room but the night person was kind enough to locate us a room with two double beds — in another town.

We arrived at a really nice Best Western in downtown Dulce a little before 2 a.m. The person on duty came to the door armed with a long slotted screwdriver. I didn’t immediately understand why, but I would shortly.

We were tired and ready to go to bed even if we were all going to be bunking in one room. We had to be back in Chama by 7 a.m. to catch our train.

Coming through the halls as we were carrying our bags up was a caped-out elk and a drunk hunter. Well it is fall in the mountains. Just couldn’t help but envision that guy sleeping with that elk head.

As we were taking turns putting our PJs on in the bathroom, I glanced out the window and witnessed a precision drill at the little bar next door. It was 2 a.m. and apparently Jicarilla Nation tribal police don’t mess around in Dulce. With officers in the front and back entrances of the bar they had things closed down in 10-15 minutes.

It was a really short night, about two hours sleep maybe, but we made it to the train on time. The leaves and weather were wonderful but two-out-of-four of us didn’t see them because they were sawing wood as we rode the rails.

I haven’t been back to ride the train but I sure would like to try again. I think I’ll take all day off and try and arrive before dinner so I won’t be so sleepy when the whistle blows.

Karl Terry writes for Clovis Media Inc. Contact him at:

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