The Southwest Chief in Photos

The station at Fort Madison, Iowa

Fort Madison Iowa - "Fresh air Break". First time since Chicago we've been able to de-train. I've already had my Amtrak Signature Steak, medium rare, and am getting ready to head to the club car.

If you ever see my sign in the window be sure to wave! I had tons of people waving at me all across the country.

Somewhere in eastern Colorado I saw a liquor store with a drive-up window. You just don't see that where I am from.

The landscape begins to change in Colorado. More interesting rock outcroppings like this one start to appear.

I believe the white object is a natural gas well. Here the landcape is arrid with desert sage and low scrub, and some cacti begin to appear.

John Martin Dam, between Lamar and La Junta, Colorado.

In La Junta during a fresh air brake I found the Silver Foot on the back of our train. The Silver Foot is owned by a group of retired podiatrists who travel around the country promoting their podiatric supply business. http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?4,3503307

Numbers 204 and 121 lead the way west on the Southwest Chief.

While at the station stop in La Junta a traffic accident happened right at the station.

Police and ambulances arrived almost immediately. There were no fatalities thankfully.

Trinidad High School, home of the Mighty Miners
http://tsd1.org/trinidad-high-school/

Another cool rock outcropping near Trinidad.

There is a row of very different houses on the same street as the train pulls out of Trinidad, Colorado

I love the landscape of the desert!

The subject of this photo is the mound on the right edge surrounded by dirt. It's an ant hill and the ants have defoliated a 6' diameter around the mound.

A llama? Are we in the Rockies or the Andes? This is just approaching Lamy (Santa Fe) New Mexico. I call it the Lamy Llama.

A series of cinder cones on the horizon between Lamy and Albuquerque. They are called "The Three Sisters". I visited them in 2009 and walked up into the caldera.
https://www.nps.gov/petr/planyourvisit/volcanoes.htm

Another amazing high desert landscape.

Genuine Indian Trading Post

Santa Ana pueblo near Albuquerque

Sangre de Cristo mountain, Albuquerque, NM. Named because when the sun sets the red coloration of the iron-rich rocks makes it look like blood.

Some shots at Albuquerque station.

Albuquerque Station

Navajo vendors

On the platform.

Steel wheels and polished rails

The sun sets on day 2 on the Southwest Chief as we head toward Gallup, NM.

The morning comes and we are in the Mojave desert approaching Barstow, CA.

Somewhere in the Mojave desert.

This basalt plug surrounded by an eroded cinder cone is a volcano that died young.

Barstow, California. This colonnade is part of the Harvey House, Casa Del Desierto (House of the Desert)

Harvey House at Barstow, CA... Casa del Desierto

Railroad museum at the Barstow, CA stop.

Some rolling stock at the railroad museum at Barstow.

My electric razor quit on day 1 and my face is getting furry.

My window, with my "Hi!" sign, is directly above the word "Barstow"

Armona, our sleeping car attendant, (second from the left) chats with a couple who coincidentally live less than 50 miles from where I live.

Victorville Power Generation Facility - a massive solar power collection array between Barstow and Victorville, CA. It goes on for MILES...or so it seems.

Approaching the Cajon Pass I noticed a cloud bank rolling along at ground level that made it look like the mountains were floating on it. This is the result of a Marine Layer, the same phenomenon that causes San Francisco's famous fog.

Lots of Joshua trees in the Cajon Pass. We are still on the North American plate at this point. Soon we will cross the San Andreas fault and then we'll be on the Pacific plate.

In just a few miles we've crossed the San Andreas fault and we are now on the Pacific tectonic plate. The rocks are completely different! We are now inside of the fog bank.

Up in the Cajon Pass between the San Bernardino and San Gabriel mountains, near the San Andreas fault

San Bernardino, CA... inside of the fog bank caused by the marine layer. Palm trees are so stupid looking.

Back east here in Pennsylvania it's not uncommon for them to 'disguise' a cell tower as a pine tree. Whoever it was that decided to disguise this one as a pine tree when it's 20 feet away from ACTUAL palm trees must have been a moron. I did later see cell towers disguised as palm trees, in some cases pretty convincingly.