RGS country

It's only been this year that I've really discovered the RGS from the Narrow Gauge Pictorial series. I'd seen pics of RGS trains and movies of them also, but That book that showed all the stub turnouts and hte atmosphere really had an impact on me. When work gets going better and I have the cash, I'll need to start collecting some of the RGS books.
However, in about 1984 I made a trip by Amtrak to CO and Las Vegas. I took my Mom. After Vegas, we got off the train in Salt lake and was bussed to Grand JCT. This was the spring of the Thistle slide. We rented a car and drove down to Montrose and Ouray and then to Durango via the RGS and Telluride.
I have lots of pleasant memories but the one item I wanted to mention right now was that there was snow and flooding on the north side of Lizard Head.
Mom is from a railroading family and a lover of the west and the dessert and was all for following the old rail grades. We found the route back to Trout Lake tank and ate lunch on the trunk of the car within site of the tank. Then we headed upgrade.
We passed the trestle there on the back side of the lake. I'd have loved to examine it further. However there were two dummies parked there - she on the hood and he in front banging away.
I drove on up grade without slowing to get back to the main road and darned if there wasn't about 3 feet of snow across the grade not far from the end. I had to back up and go by the dummies before continuing on to Dolores and Durango.
Mom has never said a word but I did see her face as red as a beat out of the corner of my eye. It also did not help that Dad had died in june 1982.
Yeah, There are some mighty unusual things to see along the RGS ROW if you time it right.
Doug vV
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