Wednesday the 27th after work I drove out to Sweetwater so I could spend Thursday working with various contractors on repairs to my dad’s house. Thursday evening after we were done I drove out to Tecific to see what was happening, and in the absence of any trains I recorded the sun setting in the west over the BNSF’s Lampassas Sub.
When I arrived back at the house a full moon had just cleared the tree line to the east.
Friday afternoon while running errands I stumbled onto the fact that it was homecoming for the Sweetwater Mustangs, and that the parade down Main Street would start in one hour at 4:30pm. Before the crowds gathered I found a good parking spot facing the street so Dad could see the parade from the car. It turned out to be a fun small town mix of bands, floats, homecoming kings and queens, vintage cars and riders on horseback.
After the parade was done we drove west along the UP mainline just as an eastbound train was pulling away from the crew change point. I stopped for this view of the lead unit passing the T&P historical marker in front of the ruins of the old passenger depot.
On Saturday morning Judy drove out to join us, and we had an early lunch at local icon Mrs. Allen’s family style restaurant. Afterwards we drove out east along the Baird Sub, and before long thanks to the radio we were set up between Eskota and Tecific as the westbound ZMQLA train slammed past us with the new UP 7762 leading and the UP 7761 trailing the engine consist.
On the way back to the house we drove past Lake Sweetwater. For several drought-stricken years the lake had shrunk down to only a few thousand square feet in size, but monsoon rains this summer have returned it to its normal size of 760 acres.
The water is now lapping at the spillway much to the delight of landowners whose lakefront property had ceased to exist. We spent the rest of Saturday working around the house and enjoying the solitude of the country.
