It was a daring feat, but I wobbled to the dining car for lunch. I wobbled only because of the train's sways and jerks. We were approaching the highest elevation of the trip - over 8,000' so I kept close check of my saturation. Though I've tripled my oxygen requirements, once settled I can still use room air, but today I couldn't. The air was too thin.

****

After lunch, I returned to my room and continued to marvel the vistas. New Mexico is an amazing state. I would dare to say one of my favorites.

There's a magazine called Beautiful Decay. It's not for everyone. It's a bit edgy or a lot edgy sometimes. I like it... especially the name. As we've zoomed across the country I've seen a lot of beautiful decay. I've seen more rust than I thought possible - in the gnarled inner city junkyards of Stockton and LA, as well as rusted relics tossed across New Mexico's panoramic red sod. There's a beauty to the decay. Those who live midst it would loathe my observations. I can't help myself.

As I type, we've paused in Las Vegas, NM. Below is a photo of an abandoned building - beautiful in design, left to decay. Because of the smudgy window the photo doesn't show the barbed wire surrounding the building.




Click-clacking along I'm awed by the layers of mountains patiently posing - layers and layers of hills and mountains. I'm surprised I don't have to increase my oxygen it's all so breathtaking, this big picture of extreme beauty.

And then.

We made an unexpected stop to allow a payload through. I looked out my window and my eyes and mind whirred with urgency... trying to capture details I would've missed if we hadn't paused. The grace of a rusted barbed wire fence twisted by some unknown force - or fence poles that more resembled repurposed driftwood... one lonesome pole leaned as though into the wind. Then a breeze scurried through the grasses, which became a calliope of velvety colors - such smooth shimmer, impossible to paint with words though we egocentric writers will always try. Then large bushes with thick leafy limbs seemed to wave as we continued our journey.

If our train hadn't paused - how sad to think I would've missed this exquisite ordinariness. I found it daunting to think that no one else will ever ever look at that tableau like I did this afternoon. I wonder how different the world would be if its populations gazed microscopically - took an intimate gaze of the beauty or decay - an up close look into the very pores of each other. Would it make a difference? I can't help but think it would.

Two of today's thoughts have taken me to interesting places not on my itinerary - that we sometimes miss the details in life because we're too focused on the big picture. It's in the details that we can find the significance of tiny elements we often ignore.

Today I was also drawn to the concept of beautiful decay... what history lies in the layers of rust? I didn't invent a writerly history for the beautiful decay I saw - I let it lie... at rest, keeping its secrets.

Tomorrow might become a day when the big picture speaks to me - and instead of decay I may have more forward thinking thoughts.

Who knows? Life continues to be an adventure.