Merri and I rode the NM Railrunner train from Albuquerque to Santa Fe for a daytrip today. As I prepared to leave the house, I put a handful of coins in one of my pockets plus two spare rechargeable batteries for my camera.

Over about 6 hours, we rode to Santa Fe and walked about town. Shortly after 4pm, we boarded the return train and took seats on the upper level. We sat for 10 to 15 minutes, waiting for the departure. At some point, Merri put her hand on my leg and yanked it back, as if from a hot stove. Indeed, my pocket full of change and two batteries was extremely hot. As I gingerly extracted coins, I burned the tips of three fingers to blisters. One of the two batteries looked a little damaged. Once everything was extracted and laid out, it all cooled off quickly. My fingers still sting.

Weird science. I had an exposed circuit in my pocket, finger in the socket. peace, mjh

PS: The trip to Santa Fe was fun. The actual ride was the main event and was worth the trip. We had lunch at Tia Sophia and strolled around town. We toured the Georgia O’Keeffe museum. All along the way, we met people Merri knows. Especially in the State Capitol, where she knew many folks. On the ride back, we had a nice conversation with a woman who works for the Department of Transportation.

PPS: Ironically, my concerns about cameras and photography on the train had been for naught. The subject never came up. There was no official announcement and there wasn’t much I felt deprived from photographing.