Blown Away

Sunday wind

We are home, back in the Land of Enchantment, back to the land of blowing dust.  Spring winds usually mean summer rains, though, so we’re not complaining too much.

The last leg of the trip, after David’s illness, went as well as could be expected.  By the time we rolled into Raton (right on time, too), he was able to drink a little and was doing a bit better.  Mom showed up with clean clothes and some Gatorade and after running a few errands, we were headed home.  David spent most of Saturday recovering, with no more upchucks and only a little diarrhea.  By Saturday night, he was doing pretty well.

I have some observations. 

First, the train.  Both David and I really enjoyed the train.  If you want to get from Point A to Point B quickly, forget it.  If you incorporate the train ride as part of your journey, it’s great.  I liked just sitting there watching the country go by w/out worrying about driving or oncoming traffic or any of that.  I think that THIS MOM'S observations echo mine (except that I didn't do a wine tasting..).   It’s true that David got sick, but imagine him getting sick on an airplane.  Or in the car.  On the train, we were able- thankfully- to get an isolated, self-contained room to ride it out.  Outside of the sickness, we could get up and walk around, sit in large comfortable seats w/out seat belts, change positions, change views, and so forth.  I guarantee you that I’m going to try to make at least 1 train trip a year for the rest of my life.

Next- clothing and gear.  I bought a few things especially for this trip.  First up is the ASUS Eee “Seashell” netbook that I purchased.  I have a Dell laptop but I’ve been using it more and more for ranch business (.ie Quickbooks), and my book writing.  As such, it’s gotten more valuable and I’m getting to where I don’t want to travel with it.  All I need when traveling is a way to check e-mail, surf the ‘net, and do some relatively light typing.   The ASUS fits those needs extremely well.  It’s literally ½ the size of my Dell, and ½ the weight (3 lbs vs nearly 7).  Battery life ran well over 8 hours.  I have Kindle for PC loaded on it, making it a secondary reader for when David wanted to use the Kindle.  It has a card reader that I used to upload pictures from my digital video camera.   I was very happy with the ASUS on this trip.  At home, it’s really handy to use around the house for ‘net looking up. 

ASUS sitting on top of Dell laptop

I needed some shoes for the trip that would be comfortable, provide good traction, protect against rain/snow, and still look decent.  I normally wear cowboy boots, but they can take up a lot of room and I don’t like to walk long distances in them.  I researched and ended up getting a pair of Irish Setter Soft Paw Chukkas.  They were fabulous.  Very comfortable, light weight yet supportive, easy to get in and out of, and waterproof.  I can hardly say enough good things about them.

Along with the shoes, I wore Thorlo socks.  I was trying a new style to me- the “Uniform Support” (WGXS).  These kept my feet warm and dry with exceptionally good lower leg support.  They were easy to wash and dried very quickly.  If you’ve never used Thorlo socks, I highly recommend them.  On top, I wore Cabela’s MTP Performance crew shirts.  Like the socks, theses are wicking shirts that kept me dry and warm.  I’d typically drop a lightweight sweatshirt top over them (also from Cabelas) and this combination was very flexible and comfortable.  I’m wearing the shirt in the photo a few blogs back where David and I are at the table.  Along these same lines, I bought 3 pair of ExOfficio “Give ‘n Go” underwear.  Yes, I realize this is getting kind of personal, but if you’ve ever traveled, you know how important running gear is.  Like the socks and shirts, the Ex Officio stuff was comfortable, wicking, easy to wash, and quick drying.  This combination made for an easy wash load on our last day out and I could’ve even washed everything in the sink and dried them in the room if I’d had to.  Shoes, socks, shirts, underwear- it all added up to a comfortable, non-clammy, easy to clean set of adaptable clothing.  Perfect for traveling and traveling light.

That’s the wrap on the trip.  Time now to focus again on the ranch and home duties.  For instance, I’m on KLMX radio tomorrow.  I’m part of the Ministerial Alliance of this area and as part of that, I get a 15 minute chunk of time on the radio every day for a week.  It takes about 10 hours to write, record, and prepare 1.5 hours of talking.   I meant to do my writing while on the trip, but I totally forgot about it.  So, I guess I’ll just recycle an old program and go with that.  I’ve done this for 4 years and have quite a few things to draw from (see “Sermons-Text” here: http://www.fbcdesmoines.org/) .  But, I’d better get busy so for now, “adios!”

Coffee.  'nuff said.