This is just too high tech! Here I am stopped right outside Winter Park, Colorado (probably waiting for another train to pass), looking at two beautiful views--one outside my left window and the other outside my right--writing a journal entry on my laptop. I'm not sure I'm ready for this!

It's now three hours since I wrote the first paragraph. We've been following the Colorado River for much of that time. I've been amazed at its determination to keep flowing no matter what. Everything may be encased in ice and snow, but the river manages to keep a channel open.

OK, a train just passed us--that must be why we stopped. I expect we'll start up again shortly. Yes, we just did.

Fifteen minutes ago, I saw a bald eagle fly to a tree beside the river. Its white head and wing tips made it easy to identify...besides, it was no more than 50 yards away. The eagle that symbolizes Spirit and Vision. May its medicine guide me as I begin this new chapter. For that is what I'm seeing on this journey, that I am being given a priceless opportunity to use the next three months in some uncharted creative way. I need only stay open like the river and trust what is to come.

Two hours have passed since I last wrote. We are now slowly making our way down the other side of the Colorado Rockies. Every time I think I cannot take in one more beautiful sight, a new image appears. Can one get tired of beauty? I've been looking so avidly, snapping pictures every few seconds (it seems), that I almost wish the sun would decide to set. Strange statement from this visually oriented person.  Maybe it's partly the altitude headache that's been my companion off and on all day.

Now we're making a scheduled stop in an old town called Glenwood Springs, CO. It's where folks who are on their way to Aspen for a skiing holiday get off to catch a shuttle bus. I see an illuminated blue-and-red sign for "Juicy Lucy's Steakhouse" to my left and a large multi-storied old yellow brick building complex with red roofs that looks like a monastery on my right. I somehow doubt that's what it is, but you never know.

We've just gotten on our way again and now I see a huge highway to the right with a K Mart. In the Rockies? Ah well, so much for back-to-nature.

It's now 4:30 PM Mountain Time and the sun has just dipped below the mountains. But the sky continues to be blue with wispy white clouds combed through it. Will the clouds turn color when the sun actually sets? And what about tonight's full moon? What a fortunate sense of timing for a train ride across country.

I just took a series of photographs of the sun setting over a distant ridge. And now the sky is taking its turn for grandeur. By the way, my headache has disappeaared since we've entered the foothills. But it's a lot harder to type because they've really opened her up now that we're on the flats. We're probably going 75-80 mph.

All I needed was the moon. I've just spent the last half hour soaking up its radiant golden light as darkness fell. What healing power. I realize all day long I've been looking into bright sun. This deep velvet blue sky with its full circle moon is the perfect antidote.
 

TUESDAY, JANUARY 9, 2001

It's the skies that I love. Big broad expanse of sky that meets the earth as an equal partner. No trees, just sagebrush. Subtle colors ranging from light ochre to burnt siena to sandy beige to deep umber to russet to yellowish brown...all the earth tones I remember using sparingly on my watercolor palette.

It is now 10 AM Pacific Time and we're about an hour east of Sparks, Nevada. The sun has just appeared after a misty, cloudy morning. But grey clouds still crowd the sky, with peeps of blue scattered throughout. A range of mountains stands off in the distance, mostly brown but the taller peaks are glazed white. Now a shaft of sun is illuminating white houses off to the left. We're just passing through a small town with gas stations, wooden houses with trucks parked in front, a school with shining metal bleachers beside its playing field, liquor stores and some small industrial-type buildings.

It is now 11:30 AM Pacific Time. We've just left Reno, Nevada where a lot of passengers came on board. A few minutes before that we'd stopped--and been allowed to get off the train and walk up and down the platform for about 20 minutes--in Sparks, NV. It's serious gambling country through here, but on a small scale. You can almost taste the strange mix of promise and despair. There are a few glitzy casinos with flashing signs but nothing can change the fact that these are small towns in the middle of the desert.

We're now following the Truckee River into California. In less than an hour we'll stop at the town of Truckee which is the closest we come to Lake Tahoe. Within a matter of minutes we've moved from desert to pine trees, mountains with sparkling river rapids and snow-covered hills. What a dramatic shift! We've obviously entered the eastern Sierra Nevadas. For the first time I realize why this mountain range is called such--at least the "Nevada" part. I now see Tahoe's ski slopes in the distance. And now there is snow on the north side of the tracks and not on the south. Here we are in Truckee, CA. A small town, old and quaint. We are now only 45 minutes behind schedule. And that's halved since this morning! We may be on time into Emeryville yet.

Speaking of snow, it's been strange to note that even through the Colorado Rockies, I never saw as much snow as we had in Detroit when I left on Sunday. That includes the ski resorts.

We're now going through a very long tunnel. It must cover miles. Before the tunnel, there was a lovely lake off the the right. Here comes the light. I just saw a ski tow off to the right, and now the pines are covered with snow. It is very beautiful. A snow-covered lake or field is off to our left. And now we're in another tunnel--a relatively short one this time. We just passed a ski hill on our left.The clouds look heavy like it wants to snow. I now remember when I came through the Sierra Nevadas last winter it looked mostly green then. Now everything is white.

It is 3 PM and I've just returned from lunch. I was delighted to spend more time with M., who is visiting the US from her home in the south of England. She'll be in San Francisco for 3-4 days and we're planning to get together.

We've just speeded up going down a hill and the abrupt side-to-side motion is playing havoc with my typing. I think it's time to pack up anyway. So I'll sign off for today. See you in the city!