Somewhere in the middle of the West Texas scrub land where it’s dark and raining. Well, the adventure of staying on the train while the cars are booted about in San Antoino was a non- starter. I was asleep for most of the adventure. I looked out the window after the banging and crunching went on for awhile, and we sat on a siding. The next time I looked there was a old Southern Pacific locomotive next to us and we were a train again. Now as with the Texas Eagle the car I am in is at the end of the train and there are three coaches and the lounge car ahead of us before the diner. this morning it made for a bit of a hike to get the the diner and step over all the sleeping bodies and feet and heads sticking out in the aisles. And I wasn’t paying attention when we passed through Del Rio, Texas. That is where the disk jockey, Wolfman Jack got his start selling autographed pictures of Jesus Christ on the radio! One thing I am sure when some one was passing out trees, west Texas was not interested in any. Most of what is passing for trees are oversized weeds with an attitude. Even these are a poor excuse for a real tree. From what I can see from the train, this is a country of high hopes and zero follow through. Even the fences seem to be pretending to do their job. Now that it is light the landscape is flat, the soil is sandy and the ground cover is low and sort of a gray purplish color. Back in the old days when I watched a lot of cowboy movies, Texas was the west and this is where the great cattle empires were, and are. But West Texas the only thing that I can see being raised is rocks. But out near the horizon there are stories. Or the potential of stories. Empty stream beds, fences that might have once been a home stead, wind mills sagging on old rusted legs. No galant men on big steeds riding like the wind, chasing after evil doers, nor parties of native Americans swooping down on unsuspecting wagon trains, it’s too far south and west for that kind of stuff. My imagination did not encompass where the movies were really made and it wasn’t here in West Texas. More like north of Hollywood, USA at Knots berry farm or in the hills around Los Angeles. With a shooting schedule of 18 days or less, West Texas was not in the budget.
Just had a stop at Alpine, Texas a neat little town with things happening besides the daily train. It surrounded by brooding mesas and tall rock out croppings. Not too sure what it’s industry is but it looks like farming and ranching are high on the list. Since we are close to New Mexico and Arizona the land is changing and is more of a “foothill” landscape! And now the bushes have an attitude of becoming trees inspite of the weather trying to beat them down. This is kind of the western land scape that I have always imagined was out beyond the Mississippi River.
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