Crossing the Country in Style … Part Four

An hour or so after leaving Dodge City, the Southwest Chief crosses into Colorado while I’m enjoying breakfast in the dining car. This crew is outstanding – taking orders, pouring coffee, serving breakfasts of eggs or French toast or pancakes, with bacon or sausage … even granola and fresh fruit, if you’re more inclined to lighter fare. Not me! This is a dining car … and I’m dining!

Outside the dining car windows, we’re rolling through miles and miles of grazing land, broken up here and there by freshly tilled fields ready for planting. I’ve taken this trip probably six or eight times, but have never found this part monotonous.

For one thing, there are lots of cattle who placidly share these huge pastures with small herds of pronghorn antelope, some stand quite close to the train, watching as we roll past; others run off, putting a little distance between themselves and the Chief. According to one of the conductors, these handsome animals can hit speeds of up to 50 miles per hour if they really turn it on.

A rutted dirt path is running along next to us now, just a hundred feet or so outside my window, sometimes plainly visible, other times dissolving into a wooded hillside, then appearing again a few hundred yards farther on. This is the original Santa Fe Trail.

The train is moving slower now, laboring up a miles-long grade toward Raton Pass, which is the highest point along the Southwest Chief’s route at 7,588 feet above sea level.
After passing through a long tunnel, the Chief heads down grade and to our scheduled stop in Raton, New Mexico. We’re now on the western side of the Continental Divide. From here, all water flows westward, ultimately ending up in the Pacific Ocean.

More comig about this great train ride.