14th August - we are on the train to Raton where we will change to a
connecting coach or possibly Greyhound Bus that will take us to Denver
where Elaine (Carol's sister) will meet us. We have great seats with
plenty of room for our packs which are stacked by us. We can recline
the seats and sleep and we are up high so have great views of the
countryside we are passing through. Also by our seat is a plug so that
we can plug in the laptop or charge up whatever we need. There is a
lounge car with snacks and a dining car with meals, the prices are not
too bad altho we are trying to spend as little as we can and as wisely
as we can, of course. At the moment we are climbing up through some red
stoney hills which have mostly pines growing but smaller and less dense
than NZ.
At Raton a Greyhound bus was waiting right
beside the railway track to whisk us off to Denver, you get off the
train right onto the ground here, the stations aren't raised. In fact
in Kingman we waited and boarded the train in the middle of a road that
was crossing the tracks. Between Pueblo and Colorado Springs we got to
watch a mighty electrical storm travelling to the east of us. Huge
lightning bolts jagging from the clouds to the ground, spectacular! We
only got a small amount of rain where we were. Elaine was there to
greet us in Denver, we arrived about half an hour late, and we stowed
the bags in her car and went for a walk (at 10pm) up the main
pedestrian area which is very prettily laid out and has tuktuks and
horse & carts and trams doing the rounds. Taco Bell/Pizza Hut was
the choice for munchies and it only cost $6.50 to feed all 3 of us,
Kent accidently ate Elaines order and that's how we discovered that the
7 Layer Burrito is the one to buy – YUM!
Post Falls where Elaine lives is about an hour north of Denver and we arrived there after midnight and crashed for the night.
