Heading to Chicago

Dear Lucy,
Now that I have had a full night's sleep, a night's sleep actually lying prostrate in a bed after 4 nights sleeping on the train, I feel much better.
The ride from Los Angeles was really fun and I saw lots of different scenery. We went through Arizona, though it was the first night and I slept through it all, and then New Mexico before we started heading north.
New Mexico is a really pretty state with lots of red mesas and Buttes, clear skies, and open space.
There was a time when Anne and I had considered moving to New Mexico before we ended up in Washington. I think we would have liked it there.
I met a man named RJ who said he was the grandson of RJ Reynolds. He had lots of stories (or bullshit whichever you want to call it), spent lots of one hundred dollar bills on booze, (of course I let him buy me drinks. I do let myself rely on the kindness of strangers where that goes), asked me if I wanted to get naked with him in his room (boy, was he barking up the wrong tree)and claimed that he was on his way to Chicago to get his private plane and fly to Florida.
A rich man on a train? Hmmm.
There was also an old fellow in the seat in front of me with a little-screen DVD player and about a hundred DVDs...of trains! He could tell ya every thing ya ever wanted to know about every train ever made. But, who wants to know?
He was friendly and talkative, and had the rapt attention of an entire Amish family gathered around him watching the trains. Imagine what this family would do with "Guitar Hero"!


All in all, for having spent 48 hours straight on that leg of the trip, it was lots of fun, really pretty, and went very fast.

--Kathy