Beeing a Cacher

Occasionally, geocachers run into hazards along the way. In my case, I have run into two problems recently. Today, I attempted to be the the first to find at a new cache called Desperate Measures. It is another cache along the Highline Canal. This one is a micro and is well camoed somewhere around a large cottonwood tree. I looked for it a little while all around the tree and then noticed a plethora of bees exiting from a large crack in the tree. So, that was enough for me at this one. I'll monitor the cache to see what others experience there. I did leave a note on the cache page about the bees.

A week or so ago, I was the first to find another cache in Chatfield State Park. A day or so later, I discovered that I had a rash in three spots on my legs and also on two fingers on my left hand. These spots have become worse over the week but I think they are finally turning around now. I read about poisin ivy and the fact that it does not spread but it might seem like it does because its effect might not appear in an exposed area right away. That seems to be the case with my current problem. I don't know if it's poisin ivy but maybe.

As a consolation, I was the first to find that cache last week and I got another one today a bit farther down the canal.

The Satisfaction of an FTF

I was FTF on a geocache yesterday morning. That's "First to Find" for all you muggles. This particular one is over in Chatfield State Park and is tucked away in a relatively remote corner of the park that hardly anyone visits. The cache was published Friday night and I rode my bike over there the next morning.

This part of the park has a number of old paved trails that are interesting to explore. Some of these trails are completely overgrown and some are even underwater! I rode my bike to with 30' of the cache but this is not necessarily a good way to get there since the area has a lot of punturevine and the goathead thorns will easily puncture bike tires. In fact, I pulled about 50 of them out of my tires but since I have puncture resistent tubes and flat-attack goo in my tires, none cause me any problems except for the time I spent pulling them out.

I discovered a travel bug in the cache and left a squeaky frog. I grabbed an interesting foreign coin (2 pence). The travel bug was a plastic bag full of wine bottle corks. I didn't take it since my pockets were not big enough to hold it. Each person who takes it is encouraged to add a new cork to the collection and then move it on. It originated in Wisconsin and has travelled over 5000 miles.

Interesting Old Cemeteries

Just got back from a little road trip to Texas. On the way down, I did some geocaching. In fact, I found 26 caches on this trip!

The first of the cemeteries in which I found a cache is called Ghost Watching. It is northwest of Amarillo, Texas near the Cal Farley Boys' Ranch which is a home and ranch for placement of children who have all sorts of different types of problems. The cache itself is located in a nearby genuine and authentic boot hill cemetery. The location was apparently known as Old Tascosa at one time and it had a colorful history. The Town's famous "cowboy strike" ended in gunfire, with some of the participants ending up buried at Boot Hill Cemetery which is actually on top of a hill that you can drive up on a rough rocky road. There is a historical marker that lists the people buried there with about half of the 50 people having been murdered. This was all back in the late 1800's. The cache is a magnetic key holder stuck on the back of this sign.

I found the area around Cal Farley's to be a bit strange. I noticed two police cars at the entrance to the ranch another 1/4 mile down the road. There were two other cemeteries nearby. One was a pet boot hill cemetery. The other was a cemetery for people (boys) who had died at the ranch. It was not small.

The second cemetery where I found a cache was called Calm and Windy just a little outside of Claude, Texas. This was a large old cemetery for the surrounding area. The cache was another magnetic key holder that was hidden on the good old fashioned windmill.

Finally, the last cemetery cache I found was in the cemetery by Goodnight, Texas. This cache is called Lonesome Dove - Charles Goodnight Cemetery. Charles Goodnight and family are buried there. This is another old cemetery not quite as large as the one in Claude. According to the cache page, Charles Goodnight is sort of the patron saint of all cowboys. He was instrumental in the development of the cattle industry. The chuckwagon (a cowboy's portable kitchen wagon used on the cattle trails) was invented by Charles Goodnight in 1866. Goodnight was a Texas Ranger and owned the first cattle ranch in the Texas Panhandle. It was called the JA Ranch and was located in Palo Duro Canyon about nine miles south of Claude. Goodnight helped create one of the major cattle trails, the Goodnight-Loving Trail, which was a cattle drive route from Texas that led into eastern New Mexico and Colorado.

The monument for Goodnight is quite large and along with several other related monuments is surrounded by a 3 foot chain link fence. About 75 bandanas have been tied to the fence by people who have visited.

Thunder

Thunder is not that common around here like it was in Texas or Illinois. However, tonight there was some thunder. I even heard some in the distance during my bike ride tonight. It was over in the foothills. I could see it from the top of the hill I rode up on by Mountain Vista High School. I didn't see any lightning, though.

After I got home, there was some close-by thunder and light rain.

You Tell Me

Guvf vf n zrffntr gung unf orra rapelcgrq hfvat n ebg13 grpuavdhr. Vg vf gur fnzr grpuavdhr gung vf hfrq gb rapelcg uvagf ba gur trbpnpuvat jrocntr.

Galactica Predictions

1. Anders will somehow calm the tension on Starbuck's ship. That's why they will get to the Cylon Base Ship as shown in the previews.

2. The Deanna Cylon (Zena) will be unboxed in a future episode and she will reveal information about the final 5 cylons that she recognized in her last show last year.

3. My guess as to who the final Cylon is: Tom Zarek

Today's Extraordinary Bike Ride

I set out to find some geocaches via bicycle today and actually found all 9 that I looked for to get my total finds to 600 even. Four of the caches were part of a series called "Historic Highline Canal Series". There are 4 of them and at each one is some information about the highline canal.

Construction on the canal was started way back in 1879 and it is still used to some extent today for irrigation. It's mostly used to fill ponds and small lakes along its 70 mile length. There is a great hiking and biking trail along much of its length and it is along this path that I found the 4 caches today. I have hidden several caches of my own along the trail as well.

After finding the fourth and final cache in the series, I began contemplating what the area might have looked like when the canal was new or even "only" 50 years old. I was riding close to the C470 expressway along the paved trail when all of a sudden, the concrete was gone and the pathway was covered by weeds. C470 and County Line road disappeared along with all the traffic noise. The only thing that was the same was the sound of the frogs croaking in the nearby pond. The cottonwood trees that line the canal were very small. Water flowed through the canal just like it was today. I stopped and wondered what had just happened but then I heard someone say "on your left" and I was back to 2008.

Empire Builder Complete

I acquired the last three of Walthers Empire Builder cars to complete my train. The last three cars are two regular dome cars and one full dome car. All I have to do now is add the details. It'll probably take a week to get that done, maybe more.

Nothing Going On Here

I simply haven't been doing much railroad activity lately. The last thing I did was to get one more of the Empire Builder cars (see below). The latest one is the end of train observation car. All that is left are two regular dome cars and one full dome car. They are both supposed to arrive in May.

Empire Builder Coming Along

I acquired the latest Walthers Great Northern Empire Builder car today. The train I am putting together is abbreviated compared to the real thing. The real train might have been 18 cars and that is too long for my layout. The length of the 12 car train I am settling for is pushing it. This is the train I am doing:

1. Burlington E7A diesel

2. Burlington E8A diesel

3. baggage mail #42 (similar car photo)

4. Baggage-Dormitory #1205

5. 60-Seat Coach #1214 (similar car photo)

(6. 48-Seat Vista Dome Coach) (similar car photo)

(7. 48-Seat Vista Dome Coach lettered for Burlington rather than Great Northern) (similar car photo)

8. Ranch Coffee Shop Lounge #1245 Whitefish Lake (similar car photo in blue)

9. 7-4-3-1 Sleeper #1260 Skykomish River (similar car photo)

10. 6-5-2 Sleeper #1374 Park Creek Pass (similar car photo)

11. 36-Seat Diner #1250 Lake of the Woods (similar car photo)

(12. Full Length Great Dome Glacier View) (similar car photo)

13. 7-4-3-1 Sleeper #1269 Poplar River (similar car photo)

(14. 6-4-1 Observation #1390 Grand Coulee) (similar car photo)

The ones I don't have yet are in parentheses. The complete train will be out by June or so.

Here is a picture of the train as pulled by Great Northern engines.

The numbers by the sleepers refer to the different types of accommodations in the cars. The 7-4-3-1 sleeper had 7 duplex-roomettes, 4 upper and lower berths, 3 double-bedrooms and one compartment. The 6-5-2 sleeper had 6 roomettes, 5 double bedrooms and 2 compartments. The 6-4-1 observation car had 6 roomettes, 4 double bedrooms and one compartment.

The real train in its heyday might have had a couple of baggage cars, another coach and 2 or 3 more sleepers. The train ran between Chicago and St. Paul on the Burlington pulled by silver Burlington engines. From St. Paul to Seattle, the train was pull by Great Northern F units.

You can read my earlier post on this subject.

Passenger Train Idea #1

I would be more likely to ride on an Amtrak train if I didn't have to get to the central depot in the big city. Such as Denver Union Station. That station is just fine for its purpose but what if Amtrak made a short stop on either side of town in addition to the centrally located station? Maybe this isn't practical in Denver given the route of the Zephyr but in some cities it might work.

Imagine a train that ran through Denver from Wyoming all the way south to Colorado Springs and farther. It would make perfect sense for such a train to make a stop in Denver's suburbs of, let's say, Littleton and Westminster.

Lights

I just finished adding lights to several buildings on my HO train layout. Sounds easy but this project has complications. For instance, it is easy enough to stick a light in a 4 story building. However, now that the building is lit up inside, you can easily tell that it is a hollow shell of a building with a light bulb inside. One of the tricks is to put intermediate floors in the structure using cardboard so that the light only lights up some of the building. It's also good to ensure that the light bulb is not easily visible. It looks more interesting if these tricks are used.

I was also concerend with having the lights not be too bright. If the light is too bright, it doesn't look natural espacially with the room lights off. You can make the bulbs shine less bright by wiring two of them in series. This trick was very effective as well in improving the appearance of the buildings.

I am going to continue this project since there are still numerous buildings with no lights. I also need to add some additional street lights to increase realism.

All I need is a bunch of bulbs and some more wire. There must be a mile of wire under the layout now. Why not add some more?

Tucumcari, New Mexico

Here is yet another train station. This time, it's the large Rock Island / Southern Pacific depot in Tucumcari, New Mexico.



According to this page, this station is the only original Spanish architecture Train Depot in New Mexico.

Antonito, Colorado Depot

Here is the Rio Grande station in Antonito, Colorado in 1986. It was built in 1882 and is still there today. The building is 124 years old!



I don't know why it was boarded up at the time. The building otherwise appears to be in good shape. The semaphore signal is especially interesting.

Antonito is the end of the narrow gauge line called the Cumbres and Toltec Scenic which was once part of the Rio Grande as well. The C&TS does not use this station, however. They have a newer one a bit south of this old gem.

Here are some interesting photos of this same station of other sites:

Evidence of third rail to accommodate the narrow gauge.

Photos of various vintages.

Las Vegas - New Mexico, That Is

I have run out of Texas railroad depot photos so I will now move elsewhere. This is the station in Las Vegas, New Mexico which is just down I25 about 111 miles from Raton. Amtrak's Southwest Chief stops here at 12:38 pm westbound and 3:45 pm eastbound. This train runs from Chicago to Los Angeles on the route of the Santa Fe's famed Super Chief.

Train Station in Denton, Texas

Here is yet another train station in Texas, this time in Denton. This is the Texas-Pacific station taken in 1986.



Train stations vary in architecture quite a bit but they also often seem to have some common things about them such as the overhang you see in the picture. They almost always have the name of the town on both ends of the building as well.

Yet Another Waxahachie Railroad Station

Now, this train station is the neatest of the three Waxahachie train stations I have put on this blog. It was built by the Trinity and Brazos Valley Railroad.



There is another station much like it in Corsicana, Texas. See it here.

The T&BV after a bankruptcy, became the Burlington-Rock Island Railroad. It was jointly owned by the Burlington and the Chicago Rock Island & Pacific. Later it was part of the Fort Worth and Denver. Today, it is part of the BNSF Railway.

Another Train Station in Waxahachie

I am pretty sure that this train station is in Waxahachie, Texas. I do not know which railroad owned it.

A Train Station in Waxahachie, Texas

This is one of the train stations I found in Waxahachie back in 1985. It belonged to the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad.

Sherman, Texas

This little depot is really neat. It's in Sherman, Texas. I am not sure which railroad owned it and I doubt if the building is still there. This photo was taken in 1985 and you can see that it is not in very good shape.