Charlie's Train People in Elko 2007
In January 2005 we discovered www.flyingunderradar.com and we started talking to Charlie Hunter about a Cowboy Music Train trip from Vancouver to Toronto. Our first trip was March 2005 and after that we became hooked. There is something about riding on a train and music that just seems to go together. Charlie chartered 6 cars on the Via Rail and the 65 passengers have exclusive use of those cars. Tom Russell has been the primary artist on all the trips we have taken so far and he has put together the performers. The 2005 Cowboy Train included Wylie and the Wild West, Ramblin Jack Elliott, Don Edwards and Paul Zarzyski. We had afternoon seminars and evening performances with jam sessions in between. There wasn't much time for sleeping.
The Copper Canyon Trip was in March of 2006. Tom Russell invited Peter Rowan, Steve Young and Eliza Gilkyson to participate on this trip. We met in Tucson and then we were bussed to Nogales to board the train. We had the whole train to ourselves. In fact, we were the largest group to charter the Sierra Madre Express. We also spent two night at Divisadero where all the rooms overlooked the Copper Canyon. From the balconies you can see the cave houses of the Tarahumara Indians. We enjoyed the trip so much that we have signed up for the September 2007 Copper Canyon Train Trip.November 2006 we took our second Cowboy Train trip with Tom Russell, Wylie and the Wild West, Rosalie Sorrells, Stephanie Davis and Sourdough Slim. Almost half of the passengers on the train were on previous train trips. The Performers are great, but the passengers have become part of our family.