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Today was a leisurely day, time to relax. We went back to our tents after breakfast, did some laundry (mostly the crew shirts we plan to wear home) and got our stuff together for checkout.
The Trading Post was selling rainbow colored suspenders, apparently as a novelty item without a Philmont logo. Quite a number of people were buying them, including one whole crew. I bought a pair, and we presented them to Eric "to promote the decorum of the crew." He wore them good-naturedly for a while, but decided he didn't like them a lot.
At 10 we went to the Villa Philmonte for a tour. The Villa is the home Waite Phillips built when he ranched this land, before he gave it and the first Philmont tract to the BSA in the 30's. It is now a museum, and part of it is used for the training center. It is quite an impressive residence, in a very Southern European style.
Then we had lunch, had a last run through the Trading Post (even less stuff left), and a wait for the bus to Ratón.
The bus left right on time. We all made sure to look at the Arrowhead Formation on the Tooth Ridge as we approached Cimarron. That ensures that we will return sometime.
The bus first took us to the train station where we left our packs, then dropped our crew at a Pizza Hut about a mile away. (The scouts rebelled at the idea of eating on the train.) We ordered pizzas for the crew, thinking we'd have plenty of time; the place was deserted except for us. After waiting a long time, we asked what the delay was. It seems that a delivery order for 10 pizzas had come in just before we ordered. It was going to the train station. We elected to take our pizzas and walk back to the station to eat. We had a pleasant dinner sitting on the grass next to the tracks. There were many comments such as "Where's the sump?"
At 6:30, with the train now a half hour late, I called Amtrak to get an arrival estimate. I was told that the train was 20 minutes late, and should arrive at 6:20. Not very helpful. It did finally arrive at about 6:45, and we loaded and boarded in good order, departing about an hour late.
About 1½ hr later, between Trinidad and La Junta, the train came
to a fast, hard stop, with much smelling of hot brake shoes. We were worried
that we had hit something, but they announced that there was a leak in
the air line that had activated the brakes. They turned the power off and
fixed it (we imagined them wrapping duct tape around a line), and we were
on the way again, another half hour behind schedule.
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