9:00 a.m. The morning breakfast announcement completes 4 hours of sleep. No plans to eat in the dining car today. Granted, that leaves some money on the table since it's included in the ticket price, I'm just ready for some privacy rather than the sit-with-strangers Amtrak custom.
Today's an observation car day. I brought the journal, a bagful of books, and the complimentary copy of U.S.A. Today along. For the most part, it's a serene experience as the New Mexico landscape glides quietly by, and I rotate between reading, writing, gazing, and reflecting. Since the car has some windows in the ceiling, I and my sunburned skin also play a game of cat-and-mouse with the sun, hopping seats as the train bends in various directions.
12:00 Back for a 25-minute service stop in Albequerque, just long enough to grab a quick bite of lunch at the Amtrak station restaurant.
4:00 The late afternoon's bringing a little more noise to the car. A mother's toddler yells out the name of every animal on the landscape (which gratefully subsides after the 100th cow); and older couple spins yarns about growing up during the World War II years. Fortunately, a decade of marriage in a big family has mostly steeled my ability to surround myself in a mental "fortress of solitude."
P.S. Did I mention that the toddler is also prone to fits of spontaneous growling?
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