The day I met a real Hawkeye and Trapper John
Back in March 1982, I took a train trip to celebrate my pending college graduation. During spring break, I traveled from the Pacific Coast to Chicago twice. In the middle of the trip, I had an unforgettable meeting with some very unique people. This marginal image evidences a fun story.
The biggest highlight of my trip was going to be a ride on the RIo Grande Zephyr from Salt Lake City to Denver. At the time, the RGZ was the only intercity passenger train in the lower 48 not run by Amtrak. It ran three days a week (never on Wednesday) in each direction over the Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad. The RGZ's 570 mile route between Colorado and Utah's state capitals crossed the heart of the Wasatch and the Rockies. When the Rio Grande once billed itself as the "Scenic Railroad of the World," there was no marketing exaggeration involved.
The first leg of my trip was an overnight journey on the Coast Starlight from my hometown of Klamath Falls, Oregon to Davis, California. After breakfast at a Dennys in Davis, I took a short, 10-mile ride on the short-lived Spirit of California train to Sacramento. I spent several hours at the California State Railroad Museum before I boarded Amtrak's San Francisco Zephyr for another overnight trip - this time to Ogden, Utah. At Ogden, I would detrain and take a limousine connection to Salt Lake for my ride on the Rio Grande Zephyr.
The following morning, I woke around a half hour before the scheduled arrival in Ogden. We were just starting to cross the Great Salt Lake on the long fill and trestle spanning the salty waters. As it turned out, we had lost over an hour during the night. Due to the delay, I missed my connection to the Rio Grande Zephyr by about ten minutes. One of the reasons the Rio Grande railroad ran their own passenger train was so that they would not have to suffer operational issues when Amtrak delays occurred on other rail lines. They did not hold their train for late connections. Needless to say, I was not a happy camper.
Because I missed the Rio Grande connection, I would have to continue riding Amtrak to Denver. Aside from two notable exceptions - Echo Canyon leaving Ogden, and the crossing of Sherman Hill east of Laramie - the Union Pacific line across southern Wyoming was an uninspiring jaunt through arid high desert. Besides sagebrush, often the only things to look at were the thousands of snow fences, built to keep drifts off the tracks.
What the trip across Wyoming lacked outside the windows, it more than made up for inside the train. Amtrak's San Francisco Zephyr crossed Wyoming during daylight hours in both directions. It was basic transportation for local residents, most of whom had some connection to the Union Pacific Railroad. I was sitting across from the train crew's work station in one of the coaches. The conductor from Green River to Denver was quite a character. He was 72 years old and had 55 years of service on UP, holding the number one seniority spot on the Wyoming Division of the railroad. I got the impression he knew most of the local passengers on the train, and they knew him. It seemed like everyone on Amtrak's Zephyr in Wyoming was one big, happy family.
At a spot in the middle of nowhere named Borie, the train stopped to receive and discharge passengers for Cheyenne. A small bus carried passengers to and from Wyoming's capital city. When we stopped during the afternoon, the two couples you see in the attached photo boarded the train. As they entered our coach, it was clear they were enjoying themselves - a lot. It turned out that they had quite a story to tell, which I learned when I talked to them in the SFZ's lounge car.
The men were physicians that had served together as Army doctors in Vietnam. After their military service ended, they returned to their hometowns of Dallas and Sacramento, entered private practice and married. Through the years, they kept in touch and often went on joint vacations with their spouses. The previous year, the couple from Dallas (cowboy hat, seated) were visiting the Sacramento couple (baseball cap, crouching behind chair) in NorCal. During the visit, the couples toured the brand new California State Railroad Museum. They asked one of the museum volunteers for recommendations on an outstanding train trip. The docent told them a ride on the Rio Grande Zephyr from Denver to Salt Lake was the best in the United States.
The doctors decided to take a skiing vacation in Utah the following winter. They thought it would be fun to fly into Denver, ride the Zephyr to Salt Lake, and then head for the slopes. The trouble was, in 1982 there were two Zephyrs that went west from Denver. Three days a week (Thursday, Saturday and Monday) the Rio Grande Zephyr departed Denver early in the morning for the stunning trip through the Rockies and the Wasatch. Amtrak's daily westbound San Francisco Zephyr arrived in Denver late in the morning from Chicago. After a long service stop, it left at midday for the deadly boredom of the run through the sagebrush across Southern Wyoming. When the docs talked to a travel agent, they said they wanted to ride "the Zephyr" from Denver to Salt Lake. The agent asked them what day they wanted to go, and they picked a Friday. Since the travel agent had no idea there were two Zephyrs, one of which did NOT go west on Fridays, reservations were made and tickets were issued. The couples flew into Denver, blissfully unaware they were booked on the wrong train.
About an hour after Amtrak departed Denver, the doctors discovered they were not on the train they wanted to ride. When they asked the conductor when they were going to get into the mountains and all the scenery, he smiled and told them that was the 'other' Zephyr - Amtrak's version went around the Rockies, not through them. Dismayed at their mistake, the doctors pondered their next move. The conductor, bemused by how anyone could possibly be on the wrong train in 1982 Colorado, told the doctors that they were on the Union Pacific, and the UP could handle it - just like their corporate motto suggested. He told the docs to detrain at Borie, go into Cheyenne on the bus shuttle, and explain their plight to the agent.
When the doctors and their wives got to the train station in Cheyenne, they related their story to the Amtrak personnel there. Some phone calls were made, and passage to Salt Lake on the next day's Rio Grande Zephyr was secured. The couples were sent back to Denver on the eastbound train in the afternoon. As a souvenir of their adventure, the doctors were given "UP - We Can Handle It" baseball caps.
Not long after the doctors related this story to me, we reached the outskirts of Denver. The Amtrak Zephyr passed a military train loaded with battle tanks. One of the doctors wondered if the tanks were on their way to some new war, and the other suggested all it would do would be to take the lives of a lot of young men. It was clear from the disgust in their conversation that they knew all too well of what they were discussing.
Before the train reached the station in Denver, I asked if I could take a picture. The two couples were happy to pose for me. As you can see from the image, they were having a great time, despite it all. I suspect they had not yet realized that their checked luggage was enroute to Salt Lake on the westbound Amtrak Zephyr.
When the train finally came to a stop at Denver Union Station, we went back to the coach to gather our belongings and detrain. The doctor from Sacramento took me aside and quietly asked why I had wanted to take their picture. I told him that without a photo, no one would ever believe the story. Also, I said that when I showed the picture to people, I would tell them I had met a real-life Hawkeye and Trapper John.
After I made that observation, the doctor got a very serious look on his face. Very deliberately, he said, "You're very perceptive. You are a helluva lot closer to the truth about us than you'll ever know." With that, we went our separate ways.
I completed my vacation with rides on the SFZ, Southwest Limited, Sunset Limited, Eagle, Empire Builder and Coast Starlight. However, I never forgot my chance encounter with these two couples. In case anyone recognizes these people, please thank the docs for their service from me, and also thank them for the memory.
The day I met a real Hawkeye and Trapper John
Back in March 1982, I took a train trip to celebrate my pending college graduation. During spring break, I traveled from the Pacific Coast to Chicago twice. In the middle of the trip, I had an unforgettable meeting with some very unique people. This marginal image evidences a fun story.
The biggest highlight of my trip was going to be a ride on the RIo Grande Zephyr from Salt Lake City to Denver. At the time, the RGZ was the only intercity passenger train in the lower 48 not run by Amtrak. It ran three days a week (never on Wednesday) in each direction over the Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad. The RGZ's 570 mile route between Colorado and Utah's state capitals crossed the heart of the Wasatch and the Rockies. When the Rio Grande once billed itself as the "Scenic Railroad of the World," there was no marketing exaggeration involved.
The first leg of my trip was an overnight journey on the Coast Starlight from my hometown of Klamath Falls, Oregon to Davis, California. After breakfast at a Dennys in Davis, I took a short, 10-mile ride on the short-lived Spirit of California train to Sacramento. I spent several hours at the California State Railroad Museum before I boarded Amtrak's San Francisco Zephyr for another overnight trip - this time to Ogden, Utah. At Ogden, I would detrain and take a limousine connection to Salt Lake for my ride on the Rio Grande Zephyr.
The following morning, I woke around a half hour before the scheduled arrival in Ogden. We were just starting to cross the Great Salt Lake on the long fill and trestle spanning the salty waters. As it turned out, we had lost over an hour during the night. Due to the delay, I missed my connection to the Rio Grande Zephyr by about ten minutes. One of the reasons the Rio Grande railroad ran their own passenger train was so that they would not have to suffer operational issues when Amtrak delays occurred on other rail lines. They did not hold their train for late connections. Needless to say, I was not a happy camper.
Because I missed the Rio Grande connection, I would have to continue riding Amtrak to Denver. Aside from two notable exceptions - Echo Canyon leaving Ogden, and the crossing of Sherman Hill east of Laramie - the Union Pacific line across southern Wyoming was an uninspiring jaunt through arid high desert. Besides sagebrush, often the only things to look at were the thousands of snow fences, built to keep drifts off the tracks.
What the trip across Wyoming lacked outside the windows, it more than made up for inside the train. Amtrak's San Francisco Zephyr crossed Wyoming during daylight hours in both directions. It was basic transportation for local residents, most of whom had some connection to the Union Pacific Railroad. I was sitting across from the train crew's work station in one of the coaches. The conductor from Green River to Denver was quite a character. He was 72 years old and had 55 years of service on UP, holding the number one seniority spot on the Wyoming Division of the railroad. I got the impression he knew most of the local passengers on the train, and they knew him. It seemed like everyone on Amtrak's Zephyr in Wyoming was one big, happy family.
At a spot in the middle of nowhere named Borie, the train stopped to receive and discharge passengers for Cheyenne. A small bus carried passengers to and from Wyoming's capital city. When we stopped during the afternoon, the two couples you see in the attached photo boarded the train. As they entered our coach, it was clear they were enjoying themselves - a lot. It turned out that they had quite a story to tell, which I learned when I talked to them in the SFZ's lounge car.
The men were physicians that had served together as Army doctors in Vietnam. After their military service ended, they returned to their hometowns of Dallas and Sacramento, entered private practice and married. Through the years, they kept in touch and often went on joint vacations with their spouses. The previous year, the couple from Dallas (cowboy hat, seated) were visiting the Sacramento couple (baseball cap, crouching behind chair) in NorCal. During the visit, the couples toured the brand new California State Railroad Museum. They asked one of the museum volunteers for recommendations on an outstanding train trip. The docent told them a ride on the Rio Grande Zephyr from Denver to Salt Lake was the best in the United States.
The doctors decided to take a skiing vacation in Utah the following winter. They thought it would be fun to fly into Denver, ride the Zephyr to Salt Lake, and then head for the slopes. The trouble was, in 1982 there were two Zephyrs that went west from Denver. Three days a week (Thursday, Saturday and Monday) the Rio Grande Zephyr departed Denver early in the morning for the stunning trip through the Rockies and the Wasatch. Amtrak's daily westbound San Francisco Zephyr arrived in Denver late in the morning from Chicago. After a long service stop, it left at midday for the deadly boredom of the run through the sagebrush across Southern Wyoming. When the docs talked to a travel agent, they said they wanted to ride "the Zephyr" from Denver to Salt Lake. The agent asked them what day they wanted to go, and they picked a Friday. Since the travel agent had no idea there were two Zephyrs, one of which did NOT go west on Fridays, reservations were made and tickets were issued. The couples flew into Denver, blissfully unaware they were booked on the wrong train.
About an hour after Amtrak departed Denver, the doctors discovered they were not on the train they wanted to ride. When they asked the conductor when they were going to get into the mountains and all the scenery, he smiled and told them that was the 'other' Zephyr - Amtrak's version went around the Rockies, not through them. Dismayed at their mistake, the doctors pondered their next move. The conductor, bemused by how anyone could possibly be on the wrong train in 1982 Colorado, told the doctors that they were on the Union Pacific, and the UP could handle it - just like their corporate motto suggested. He told the docs to detrain at Borie, go into Cheyenne on the bus shuttle, and explain their plight to the agent.
When the doctors and their wives got to the train station in Cheyenne, they related their story to the Amtrak personnel there. Some phone calls were made, and passage to Salt Lake on the next day's Rio Grande Zephyr was secured. The couples were sent back to Denver on the eastbound train in the afternoon. As a souvenir of their adventure, the doctors were given "UP - We Can Handle It" baseball caps.
Not long after the doctors related this story to me, we reached the outskirts of Denver. The Amtrak Zephyr passed a military train loaded with battle tanks. One of the doctors wondered if the tanks were on their way to some new war, and the other suggested all it would do would be to take the lives of a lot of young men. It was clear from the disgust in their conversation that they knew all too well of what they were discussing.
Before the train reached the station in Denver, I asked if I could take a picture. The two couples were happy to pose for me. As you can see from the image, they were having a great time, despite it all. I suspect they had not yet realized that their checked luggage was enroute to Salt Lake on the westbound Amtrak Zephyr.
When the train finally came to a stop at Denver Union Station, we went back to the coach to gather our belongings and detrain. The doctor from Sacramento took me aside and quietly asked why I had wanted to take their picture. I told him that without a photo, no one would ever believe the story. Also, I said that when I showed the picture to people, I would tell them I had met a real-life Hawkeye and Trapper John.
After I made that observation, the doctor got a very serious look on his face. Very deliberately, he said, "You're very perceptive. You are a helluva lot closer to the truth about us than you'll ever know." With that, we went our separate ways.
I completed my vacation with rides on the SFZ, Southwest Limited, Sunset Limited, Eagle, Empire Builder and Coast Starlight. However, I never forgot my chance encounter with these two couples. In case anyone recognizes these people, please thank the docs for their service from me, and also thank them for the memory.