Crossing the Mississippi River

Spent the afternoon in our little roomette watching the countryside. Very comfortable. Dinner at 6:30 in the dining car. Sat with a woman also travelling to Denver to visit family and a young man who was travelling around just to see the country. He was headed to Reno, NV then into California, and hoped to spend the summer in Alaska. How much fun is that?

The sun came out and weather finally cleared once we got west of Omaha. Saw lots of corn fields being plowed and prepared for planting in Iowa and Nebraska. After dinner we sat in the scenic viewing car for a couple of hours playing cribbage and generally enjoying the ride. Then back to the roomette where Sandy our porter had made up the beds. I was not sure how or even if I would sleep on the train so was not surprised at a restless night. There was quite a bit of side to side motion and at one point I wondered if I might get thrown out of the upper bunk. There is a sling installed so I guess getting thrown out is not unheard of. Thankfully I did not have to avail myself of the sling. Around 0530 this morning I decided sleep was not going to return so got up, dressed and found the coffee. Sandy pointed me in the direction of an empty room to sit in. Watched the sun come up over the Colorado countryside. Breakfast at 0630 (some really good french toast) and arrived Denver pretty much on-time at 0715.

Got to our hotel and able to have an early check-in so we were napping by 11am. There is still a little bit of snow on the ground from the big Springtime storm last week (42"). Temps in the 70's today so it is disappearing quickly. We can see the Rockies from our hotel window. Always breathtaking! Will get some photos tomorrow.

Spent the afternoon with son Tom and his wife Lisa. Making plans to get up into the mountains in the next couple of days to play tourist. Talked with granddaughter Mandy this evening. Hope to see her tomorrow and meet our new great-grandson Brenden. Of course there will be a ton of pictures taken then.

For now, good night from Colorado.