As I mentioned in my first post, boarding the train at the Lamy Train Depot was a hurried affair as we only had a couple of minutes before the train pulled out again. Once we were all on the train and it began to move, our car attendant began showing us to our rooms. I was on the second level, so I was directed to the very narrow and steep staircase that went up to this level. I had two small but heavy suitcases plus a large tote bag-type purse. Two of these I could carry on my shoulders, but the small spinner bag had to be hoisted up the stairs step by step, which took a while but, with the help of fellow travelers, I eventually made it to the top. I found my room and placed all my bags inside, and the car attendant showed up to explain how everything worked. A roomette has two beds, one that folds down from the ceiling and another that is created by folding out the two seats that face each other so that they meet in the middle. The attendant comes around in the evening to set the bed(s) up for each passenger. The space is quite adequate for one person, but for two people the larger rooms would be a more comfortable option. There are controls for the lights, and a call button for the attendant should the need arise. The fixed windows facing the outside have curtains, as do the doors and windows facing the inside aisle. The door to the roomette can be locked from the inside, but not from the outside, so my tip number two for train travel is not to bring any valuables that you cannot carry with you if you leave your room (tip number one was in my first post).
One thing I should have anticipated but did not was the fact that motion sickness was going to be a problem. For some reason I thought train travel would be similar to flying or going on a car trip, which means I cannot read but otherwise I feel fine. Being on a train, however, is more like being on a boat - there is a lot of side-to-side movement, which really brings on the nausea for me. Tip number three for train travel is remember to bring Dramamine if you are prone to motion sickness! Unfortunately, I did not have any, but luckily I did have one thing that really saved my stomach, which was a bag of almond butter pretzel bites that I brought as a snack for the trip. Apparently salty carbohydrates and nuts can reduce nausea, and these little snacks did the trick for me.
I never did get used to the rolling motion of the train, and had a hard time staying on my feet in the moving train, but luckily the aisles are narrow and I could brace myself on the walls when necessary. I even found that I could read if I stayed in a semi-prone position, which was easy to do in a roomette (yet another reason I was grateful I did not travel in coach!). I decided to skip lunch and stay in my roomette until dinnertime, hoping that my stomach would be settled enough to handle an evening meal. I managed to take a short nap but woke up when it started to rain. We had had pretty much no rain all summer in New Mexico so it was good to see the precipitation, but it began to rain so hard I could not even see out of the window. And then the train got hit by lightning! The power blinked off for a few seconds and an alarm went off briefly, but fortunately there was no damage and we continued on our way.
Needless to say I was wide awake now, but the conductor told us that this stretch of the trip was a good opportunity to see wildlife, and I did get to see a pronghorn antelope before my dinner reservation time was called. The train stopped in the little town of Raton in the mountains of northern New Mexico, and we were permitted to get off of the train for a few minutes before dinner in Raton. I jumped at the chance to walk without being thrown from side to
side in the train! I have always liked Raton, as it is such a cute little town and is situated in an area of stunning scenery, but for some reason the economy has always been depressed and that does not seem to have changed in the decades since I was there last.
After I got back on the train I made my way to the dining car which was the one just in front of my sleeper car (my stomach seemed to have settled sufficiently to handle eating a meal). As it was a weekday there were not many people on the train and most opted for the later dinner service, so only a few of the tables were occupied. I sat by myself and ordered quite a good meal from the impressive three course dinner menu - mixed green salad, oven roasted salmon, and a chocolate toffee mousse. Best of all, as I was waiting for my dinner, I saw a huge herd of elk at the base of the mountains off to one side of the tracks, including a huge bull elk with an impressive rack!
My meal was served and it was excellent! I highly recommend the trip from New Mexico to Chicago just for the dining experience, as this trip has a chef on board and the food is as good as any you would get in a restaurant. The salmon shown above was freshly prepared, and if you are a chocolate lover you will swoon over the chocolate mousse pie (the portion is huge - I wished I had someone to share it with as I could not finish the whole serving).
As we sat in the dining car the outside world suddenly went dark - we were passing through the Raton Tunnel, the highest point on the Old Santa Fe Trail. I managed to get a picture of this sign on my return trip:
After dinner I returned to my roomette and waited for the attendant to prepare the bed for the night. After he was done I brushed my teeth in the tiny little bathroom and got ready for bed. The disadvantage of a roomette is that you must share a bathroom with fellow roomette passengers on your sleeper car, and there is only one bathroom on the second level. There are three bathrooms and one shower on the first level and you can use those as well, but as my balance was so bad on the moving train I decided it was not safe for me to attempt to use the shower. The bathrooms, unfortunately, are just like airplane bathrooms, utilitarian but not especially pleasant. This would be another reason to opt for a room if you want to spend the extra money and especially if you are traveling with another person, because at least you would not have to share the tiny bathroom with strangers! Oh, and tip number four for train travel is try not to wear long pants into the bathrooms - it is almost impossible to keep water from splashing from the tiny sink to the floor in a moving train, so wear pants that will not drag on the floor (if your pants are long, roll up the hems).
Luckily I found that the same rocking motion that made me nauseous was actually soothing when I was trying to sleep, like being rocked in a cradle, so I had no trouble sleeping on the train. The bed was actually pretty comfortable, and the only problem I had was that the heating and air conditioning system in our car did not seem to be working properly - it alternated between being too warm and too cold. Since the weather was still very warm (and stayed that way for the duration of my trip, except for a brief cool spell in Chicago on my return) it took a while before the temperature in my roomette was comfortable, but I still managed to get a good night's sleep.
Okay, let's end this travel saga here and pick up again in the morning in the next post!
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