"I'm so glad we can turn these fuckers of at night," Dan pulled his glasses off, stowing them in their pouch. The flexible solar charging panel provided, worked on all their devices including the batteries for their radio.

"That means we can pull out the soda and put it in the spring we found. Nice going spotting the green around it, bud."

Sky was driving stakes as they set up their camp between the few trees. Two towering Ponderosa pines anchored the green slope above the railroad siding. It was likely this tiny spring spewing water over a sandstone cliff which decided the location of the small marshalling yard with several short sidings. The tanker cars they'd been riding on were sitting, waiting for the next northbound freight train to pull in and shuffle them back into line.

They were lucky to find them again as they caught up to the freight, they left near Mexico City. Sky recognized a couple of the serial numbers, and he hoped he'd find his hat. He left it wedged into a small opening under one of the dirty grey rail cars. The top of his ears blistered from too much sun.

The subtle shades of green, from the pale, almost yellow of the Paulo Verde to the deep olive of the Mesquite tree, and the stately straight towering pines were a pleasant shady relief from the stark sand of the desert mountains of central Mexico. The water was clear, and Dan's test strips showed it as good enough to drink.

Judging by the number of animal tracks in the mud around the lowest pool, it must be potable. They weren't going to risk it though, except to boil for use with their MRE's.

"What do think this is?" Sky pointed to the weirdest looking tree of the lot.

"Elephant tree," Dan replied. "Doesn't have hardly a leaf on it, and it looks like it's dead. Not so." He picked up his hatchet and chopped a low branch off, leaving an oozing scar on the trunk. "It'll give us some smoke to keep the bugs away from us though."

"So that's what those weird bushes were back where we got on this train.?"

"Yeah, you'd never believe they're alive."

He used the hatchet to make the branch into smaller pieces and tossed two into the hot flames. The oddly scented plumes of grey rising from their fire pit had the desired effect. Mosquitoes disappeared as the crackling consumption of wood continued.

"Man, we were lucky to get our asses away from the train." Dan grinned as he opened foil packets, dropping the contents into the boiling water.

"Close call. I think he might have shot us right where we were if we hadn't been over the hill on our way up here. Jumping off was a great idea. Our buddies forgot their boss wouldn't approve of passengers in the cab." Sky was smiling at their escape.

"Remind me to time it better next time. Damn good thing we dressed right. Putting chaps over our jeans saved me from the Yucca leaves."

"Just avoid the big needle cactuses. That would put an end to this adventure." Sky's blue eyes crinkled with his wry smile. "I wonder if there's any fish in this little system. Even small ones would make a good addition to these MRE's."

"We're not going to be here long enough to find out. Remember to set your phone to wake us up at 2am. They're supposed to shunt those cars to move for 4am."

"I'm gonna go check the soda, it should be cold enough to drink now." Sky rose from his squat by the fire to scramble up the rock wall over to the weeping waterfall glistening against the dark beige of wet sandstone.

"Leave the coke in there, we'll need the caffeine when we wake up," Dan called after him. Even orange Crush was better than the tepid water they'd been drinking.

"Hey, there's some OJ in with this stuff, want that?"

"God yes, bring it."

They settled their backs against the stone beside their tent. The sun heated it and as the sunset painted the sky, temperatures dropped rapidly. Feeding the fire, they sat in contented silence, until Dan dumped the rest of the wood they'd gathered, into the fire pit.

"Time to turn in, five hours till we need be up to break camp." Dan reached for Sky's hand to pull him up from his comfortable sprawl.