Re: Going to Chama in early October, what to expect?

I believe it is appropriate to spend money to get a good mattress and good shoes. After all, you spend most of your life on one or the other (unless you sit around too much, like I do in an office). I have a pair of Red Wing steel toe boots of which I am particularly fond which should handle anything I encounter. I tend to shy away from synthetic fabrics anyway, so that's not a big deal. I take hearing protection very seriously and always wear earmuff style protection when mowing the lawn, but I agree that inexpensive, and portable, earplugs would be far more appropriate for railroad duty. There is a great deal of variation regarding earplugs, and I didn't know if anyone here favored one type over another.

Keep up the recommendations, this is making my week!
Dave