Day 16: Trains and Rain

Up and at 'em early again this morning.  Headed south to Silver Plume to ride the Georgetown Loop Railroad.  Kids were excited about going on a train ride; they were less than enthused about the 2 hour ride there.  Thought the Scenic Byway would be a nice way to pass the necessity of the ride there and it would have been if Sophie hadn't been screaming about going to the potty so we take side turns and stops in little towns until we find a potty.  We get in there and she says, "I didn't really have to go potty, I just wanted to be done riding in the car."  Almost strangled her.  Tickets for the train were pre-paid for and here we were racing against the clock with all this extra drama.  Get her back in the car and on the way and Max says he has to go potty.  Fortunately, he gets right down to business when you pull his pants down so that didn't add much time.  We ended up getting to the train with a few minutes to spare, so in the end no harm was done.  I did have a talk with Sophie about fibbing though.

The train ride was neat; I especially enjoyed the narration for the first part of the ride that told a little bit of the history of the train and the towns and mines that it connects.  The kids liked the first part of the ride better because the steam engine was far at the other end so not so loud when it blew it's whistle.  When we switched over in Georgetown for the ride back and the engine was suddenly just feet away, the whistle was a little too loud for the kiddos.  Fortunately they held on until the end of the ride and we were able to avoid meltdowns in a confined space.  We headed up to Georgetown for lunch after the ride because my trusty Trip Advisor had said that The Alpine was the place to eat.  The food definitely did not disappoint - best stromboli ever and my salad was delicious but it was unbelievably slow.  

While we were eating, the rain clouds opened up.  The radar made it look like it was just one little cell that was going to be through the area by the time we got back to camp.  This was important because Sophie was VERY eager to show Nana and Papa how good she was doing swimming.  I was eager to get back out there too so that she could have one more day of practice in the environment that she felt so confident in.  Mother Nature however had different plans as that one little cell just kept rejuvenating itself and the rain kept falling.  Mom, Sophie, and I did some last minute shopping in town.  Came back to the campsite.  Still raining.  We made the decision that if we were going to sit inside and look at the camper all night, we might as well do it on the way home.  So began the rain-soaked packing of camping goods and the readying of the camper for our final departure - Destination:  Home.

I called ahead to Enterprise and they were good with me dropping off the car after hours (just leave the keys in the box).  The guys there were so nice and awesome.  If they are representative of Enterprise everywhere, I may never rent from another company.  That pretty much catches us up to where we are at now:  on the road.  It's almost 10:30 and we should be crossing into Nebraska and jumping on 80 soon.  Driving through Nebraska is sort of like Georgia though, it never ends.  Hopefully we'll be out of it by the time the sun rises.  The other big concern for the drive tomorrow is the heat.  We may have to plan a longer break in the middle of the day to get out of the hottest part of the day and help the camper (and ourselves).  I haven't checked the weather yet but I'm hoping that the heat wave is on its way out of Au Gres - I really could do without coming home that!  I am looking forward to my own bed though.  The thought of it just brought a smile to my face.  I should wrap this up - I'm supposed to be keeping Tom company on his drive and I'm busy talking to my blog instead of him.  

The other unfortunate news about leaving early is that I didn't get a chance to organize my pictures tonight so I imagine I'll have a late night at home on Saturday as well finalizing the blog.  I know it will be worth it in the long run though.