Raven Jake Dawes

Raven Jake on Amtrak

Howdy Folks,

I haven't posted for a while - I think that the whole covid lockdown thing was just too much of a buzzkill for me to go out and get my adventure on much, but thanks to Moderna and a big incentive from Amtrak, Raven Jake is back.

I'm going to preface this by sayin' that all this adventurin' would be impossible without my beautiful wife Jane. Heck, she's even the one who got me my shot. I owe that lady everything! But I'm really here to talk about the vacation she planned, which is going to have to break down into a whole mess of posts, because three weeks on the road is a whole lotta road.   

Ain't nothing to it. Two shots 28 days apart. 

That done, we were able to venture forth into the world again and Amtrak had the answer - a limited-time special of a month of rail travel, 10 stops for $299. It's since gone up to $499 but still beats a la carte. 

I'm like a little kid about trains. I literally lose my mind with excitement. So when Jane said she was thinkin about seeing the West by train, I was in 100%. She planned it out, I went along, but as you can imagine, I brought the Raven Jake touch along with me. Now to be completely honest with you, we made some mistakes. This was our first rodeo. If we were gonna do it again, there's some stuff we'd do different. But this was an experiment.  

To start with, check out these Amtrak Rail Passes then follow along on the Epic Journey

Standin' On A Corner Park

July 1, 2021: The enterprising townsfolk of Winslow, Arizona have come up with a genius way to court tourism: Standin' on the Corner Park. Now if you were born in Tunisia after 2005, you might not get the cultural reference, but for everyone else, the lyrics to Take It Easy are burned into your brain so deep that if you were in a coma and they played it for you, you'd come out of it just to tell them to change the station. 

 

"Well, I'm standing on a corner
In Winslow, Arizona
And such a fine sight to see
It's a girl, my Lord, in a flatbed Ford
Slowin' down to take a look at me
Come on, baby, don't say maybe
I gotta know if your sweet love
Is gonna save me

We may lose, and we may win
Though we will never be here again
So open up, I'm climbin' in
So take it easy".... etc.

 

So in Standin' On The Corner Park, which was quite well attended, one has many photo opportunities to insert oneself into various tableaux suggested by the song. There are bronze statues of Jackson Browne and Don Henley, a real flatbed Ford, a mural devoted to the scene, and the diner next door pipes in the song as well as other retro hits. And lest we forget, we're still getting our kicks on Route 66. 

Winslow is a cute small town which is well worth a visit, especially if you can wangle a trip out to Meteor Crater or Homolovi State Park while you're there. This was a definite downside to train travel - we were on a tight schedule and did not have the ability to go out exploring as much as we would have liked. 

Flagstaff and the Grand Canyon

June 30, 2021: Ironic that the last post I blogged about and this one are both about the Grand Canyon, almost three years apart. These ground squirrels (Otospermophilus beecheyi) are persistent but I didn't feed him despite his cute, friendly shakedown. So what happens here is that the train rolls up to the Flagstaff platform at 5 am, a little bit late, it was scheduled for 4:20. We quickly moved our luggage up the street to the haunted Hotel Monte Vista, where they offered to keep our bags until we could check in later. 

Back at the station, we hop on an Amtrak Thruway bus to go to the Grand Canyon. Amtrak contracts with local shuttle bus services to get their train passengers to places that Amtrak does not service. We got a lift up to the Grand Canyon and were scheduled to have anniversary lunch at El Tovar, the fabled hotel of Teddy Roosevelt. Jane tore her calf muscle while we were at the San Bernardino Station and though she hobbled around gamely enough, she was in a lot of pain. So we moved our lunch reservation up and it was - meh. Really disappointing. It's just mediocre tourist-trap food with diffident service. This will be a recurrent theme because we were doing a mix of cheap and extravagant on this trip. Obviously if something's cheap, it's a pleasant surprise if it is also good - enjoying a stunning view of the Grand Canyon with a squirrel on your lap, for example. But if something is hyped-up and pricey, you expect more bang for your buck. So if you find yourself at the Grand Canyon, buy an ice cream and hang out on the El Tovar porch and consider yourself fortunate indeed. 

Back in Flagstaff, we stayed in the Gene Tierney room which is haunted by the mauve decorating ghost of the '80s. Gene had a somewhat crappy life, but did not die in the hotel and if she's haunting anything it probably ain't that room. A guy can dream, though. 

One thing that was a pleasant surprise is that the hotel restaurant, The Lotus Lounge, is excellent. The service is good, the food is great and the vibe is funky and overall, its a great value. Gene ought to go get an orange chicken, wash it down with a couple mai tais and enjoy the afterlife in Flagstaff.  

Ridin' the Rails

Y'all, just so we're clear, $299 does not buy a sleeper berth and dining car benefits. You get a coach seat, access to the observation car and you can buy a limited range of snacks in the café car. There is a two-tier level of service on Amtrak and we weren't riding top-bunk, But the view's the same, the train pulls into the station at the same time, and let's face it, service ain't what it was in the Golden Age of Train Travel anyhow. 

Side note: unless you're actively eating, you're supposed to keep your mask on regardless of vaccination status. 

About the rail pass: From the site "Pass is valid for 120 days after purchase (30 days after first segment is traveled). Coach travel only. A travel segment occurs any time you board and disembark one of our trains (or other scheduled services). If your trip involves making one connection, you will use two segments of your USA Rail Pass." Is it worth it? Heck yeah, we'd go again in a minute. 

The seats are about the size of a narrow recliner with quite a bit of leg room. There's a luggage rack below for bigger bags and an overhead area for smaller stuff. The bathroom is about the same as a plane. 

This is the trip route:

Southwest Chief: San Bernardino with stops at Flagstaff (Grand Canyon), Winslow, Lamy (Santa Fe), Las Vegas, Raton

Greyhound Bus: Raton to Denver

California Zephyr: Denver with stops at Grand Junction, Provo and Emeryville (San Francisco)

Coast Starlight: Emeryville to Los Angeles

 

 

San Bernardino Station

Look at how young and innocent and carefree we are there, hanging out on the San Bernardino Amtrak Platform on June 29 around 8 pm. Amtrak calls this line the "Southwest Chief" after the fabled flagship train of the  Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway  the Super Chief. We'll be visiting some of those old Santa Fe railroad depots along the way. The historic Super Chief as well as the modern Southwest Chief route goes between Los Angeles and Chicago. We'll be riding between San Bernardino and Raton, New Mexico.

King Tut at the California Science Center

Although I am generally as frugal as I am ornery, for King Tut I had to make an exception. Even went full-boat with the IMAX movie package. Now I'm savin' my bottlecaps for some gold sandals. The treasures of Egypt make you think like that. If you're anywhere near Los Angeles, and even if you ain't, KING TUT: Treasures of the Golden Pharaoh is only here for a couple more months, and you've gotta see it.

All of the usual suspects (except the death mask)  are touring along with a few that have never left Egypt before. There are about a hundred artifacts on display and they are not C-list material and they are wonderfully curated. You get an appreciation of the kind of magic someone would need to get through the afterlife - not something that could be accomplished by the poor and obscure - and how close Tut got to being permanently erased both in this world and the next. 

 

 

Grand Canyon Railway

Seems like every time I go into AAA to pay my insurance. someone's hollerin' "Hey Raven Jake, when you goin' on the Grand Canyon Railway?" and handing me a brochure. Y'all know I love trains, but I've got beer tastes and a tap water budget.  That changed August 4, 2018. We took the plunge, and it was awesome! 

You see that motley crew to the right? They're notorious train robbers. Ruthless rascals. Their level of criminality is such that they generally shoot each other before law enforcement even shows up. Which is good, because the sheriff is a total layabout. 

Now you see up above where it looks like I've got the whole car to myself? That's 'cause I did! (with lovely Jane, of course) Now surely your results are going to differ, but we upgraded to "first class" (there are a few price points and they all have posh-sounding names) and literally there was no one in the car with us. We even got our own steward. There were folks coming in and out - the sheriff, musicians, the conductor and goodness help us, even the robbers, who would come by, do their thing, jawbone a spell. Entertainment and food included.  Train drops off right by the rim and then you've got a few hours to wander around and enjoy the breathtaking views. 

I count this journey as a total win. Grand Canyon Railway will be seein' us again!

 

42 Spirits Eco Farm and Art Community

Y'all the primary reason for our little trip across Arizona was to scope out how Dragon and Zia's new ranch was takin' shape.  For as long as we've known 'em - around 15 years - they've been wanting to get back to the land and set their souls free, and looks like that's happening with 42 Spirits.

Folks can contact them about staying there as part of a spiritual/work retreat and eat some homegrown vegetarian food, learn some skills and make some friends in McNeal, which is midway between Bisbee and Tombstone. It's remote, but not far from amenities. 

While we were stayin' out there, nature put on quite a show - huge thunderstorm every darned afternoon. It was glorious. We'll be rollin' by there again for sure. 

42 Spirits Eco Farm and Art Community

 

 

Raven Jake at Tucson's Hotel Congress

Raven Jake at Hotel Congress

Here I am at Hotel Congress, possibly the most haunted hotel in Tuscon, AZ. I say "possibly" because Tuscon is choc full o' ghosts, and I don't know where all of them hang out. Probably a couple of 'em are sittin' in those phone booths waitin' for a call that never comes. Hotel Congress has better air conditioning now than when it was built in 1918, but otherwise it's still about the same. Youngsters will be delighted to know that there are rotary dial phones in the rooms to call the front desk. Oldsters will be delighted to know that there's a ouji board table on the second floor to contact the Spirit Realm. Everyone will be delighted to know that there's a tap room with ice cold air conditioning and terrific craft beers in the lobby. So you can't hardly miss.

Hotel Congress revels in it's old timey-ness: small rooms with full or twin beds are the norm, but it's also very hip. All of the common areas have great paint jobs including a circus mural in the stage area of the bar, the room rates are low, the restaurant has a lot of vegan options and the hotel is committed to sustainability on a
bunch of different fronts. 

I almost joined in with acoustic karaoke night, except I'd been driving for 6 hours and was all sung out, but in general Hotel Congress has a pretty good music lineup as well. One of these years, I'm headed over there for All Souls Procession Weekend and see what comes up. 

THE HOTEL CONGRESS

• 311 East Congress Street
• Tucson, Arizona 85701 USA

• Phone: 520-622-8848
• Toll free: 800-722-8848
• Fax: 520-792-6366

 

 

Tombstone 2018

215 E. Allen Street Tombstone, Arizona 85638 USA Phone: (520) 732-1048

Folks, last time I was in Tombstone was around 2005 or so and I'm pleased to tell you, they ain't ruined it. As you can see up above, the Earp posse was fixin' to have a shootout at the OK Corral when I met up with them.  Tombstone is, of course, a tourist stop, but the folks who live and work in the very-much-alive small town take history seriously and encourage local industry as well, What's not to like?

Speaking of which, I met a young man who, with his lovely wife, recently opened up the White Raven Trading Company & Museum of the Strange down in the "Hoptown" district.  Now as far as I know, you can't buy Chinese girls and opium there anymore, which I say is all for the best as I ain't in favor of human trafficking and hard drugs, but you can stock up on some rather obscure Voodoo ingredients, visit a Fiji Mermaid , and of you're really feelin' it, he's got a mounted Assquatch specimen or two. 

As always, the Birdcage Theater is a highlight and it too did not disappoint. It's one of those places that tangibly puts you back in history where the scale was smaller, life was dirtier, and there wasn't no air conditioning.  It doesn't exult the "simplicity of the past" of any of that nonsense - it shows you that folks ain't changed much 'cept that in order to survive in challenging times,

Birdcage Theater, Tombstone

you'd better be resourceful. And that's if contagious disease or gunplay don't bring you low first. 

2018 Garden Update

That's a 9-foot ladder, y'all. I'm growin' some exotic Peruvian corn this year as a bit of an experiment and it just keeps getting taller and taller and tasselin' and don't show much interest in makin' kernels.  Go figure. Gettin close to 16 feet tall now. Making some "toes" aka anchor roots - up to 6 feet in the air. What do you think yer goin' to anchor to, Corn? The cucumbers are producing right along. the okra did exactly nothin' and grasshoppers have been munchin' on the tomatoes.  So here's hoping that the too-tall corn stalks come through in the end. Fingers crossed! 

anchor roots on a corn stalk

Ironically, I don't like raw tomatoes - cooked or dried is alright...

The pumpkins are the stars of the show!