Trains, planes, automobiles... and dogs

Whew, been a busy weekend so far. Actually started on Thursday. But the night before the plane part comes in. I booked my flights to and from Alaska! Yes, if you go thru these various 'cheap tickets' outfits it is kind of like roulette but I scored a fairly decent price, two one stop flights and only weird hours at Anchorage--but in the summer daylight is sooo long it won't be too hard. At least I am telling myself that!  I found it was a tiny bit cheaper to fly from El Paso instead of Albuquerque plus it is easier to get there being closer for someone to drive me and pick me up. Going north I make a very short hop from El Paso to Phoenix and then a very long one to Anchorage. Coming back, a long trip to LAX (Los Angeles) and then a moderate one to El Paso again. It feels more real now that I am committed for a sizable chunk of change there. Now on to transportation while there and an itinerary lined up.

Autos: I took the little Focus wagon to drive to Silver City--roughly 150 miles --since it gets better mileage than Red Hot Mama although I prefer to drive the latter. The wagon, which came to us from the kid brother who passed away in 2005, I christened "The Pattie Wagon" when I lived in Hurley, NM back in 2008-09 because I lived on Pattie Avenue! Just so you know if I use that name.

Anyway I left mid morning and tooled along highway 70 to Las Cruces and from there on I-10 over to Deming where I took highway 52 up into Grant County. And next, we do the train thing. I saw three east bound UP freights between Akela and Deming but as I got close to Hurley, I caught up with the Southwest Railroad local coming up from the UP mainline at Deming. It was a long train for a short line system--around 90 cars in a mix of tankers and ore cars and there were seven units (locomotives to non-rail-fans) dragging it up the grade. They were an interesting mixture with three of the blue SWRR units, one old gray SW diesel that must have been resurrected from the old Phelps Dodge rolling stock and three former Santa Fe locos still in the blue and gold 'warbonnet' style of the old ATSF but with new SWRR numbers added. Of course I took pictures to share with my brother and for my own collection.

 The first shot is at the end of a street in Hurley where I used to walk with Belle when I was living there and the secone one is a bit farther north toward Bayard at the south end of North Hurley.  It was a pretty day, BTW, with just enough clouds to decorate the blue sky.

Anyway once I got to Silver City I went right to my friend Constance's place and we dug into some packing, went out to dinner that evening and visited. Next morning, having called and set it up before I went to bed the previous evening, I drove out to Cliff to meet Joe Runyan. He's very much a dog person and came wheeling up on a mid-sized tractor--he sells hay from his small farm and was out working --with a pack of lean Pointers running along. We had a great chat about dogs, horses and mules and of course mushing and the Iditarod. He was very encouraging about my project and said he'd help all he can. He, too, is a writer and has ghost written the race tales for several of the well known male racers but I guess didn't choose or want to work with the ladies so that leaves an opening for me. Of course some of them have books out but many do not and that may be something I can pursue after the first project is done. That was the real purpose of my trip and I felt it went very well indeed!

So yesterday since the weather was a bit iffy with wind and thunderstorms forecast, I headed home fairly early. Of course my two little red dogs were very glad to see me.  The little guy, wee Rojito, had some teeth pulled Tuesday and was still not quite up to par though doing well and then there were thunderstorms Friday night that had all four dogs in the household very upset. Ginger has almost been "velcroed" to my knee since I got back! So there you have it, three modes of transportation and my favorite canines.Whether huskies, hunting dogs or herders, I love them all--and even wee red mutts! Here are my two kiddos in our room a few weeks ago.