Re: [gardeners] Louisiana lightning
penny x stamm (gardeners@globalgarden.com)
Fri, 5 May 2000 00:56:32 -0400
Well, George, you've got me there, too..
We've travelled the U.S. up and down and in between with our
travel trailer -- and it was our observation that no camp ground
existed which was not built right hy a rr grade crossing... I used
to wake up and count the freight cars passing by -- which more
often than not came to 100 . . .
I have always loved the clickety-clack of the train wheels. It
spelled adventure for me, and used to mean that I was on my way
to visit my grandparents in Florida, back in the late 30's. There
never was anything more exciting than spending a night in a
sleeper car, and taking myself in all alone to the dining car.
I was sent off to Chicago on a sleeper, too, in 1937, great
experience. Remember the names..? The 20th Century Ltd.,
the Broadway Ltd..... Also took one back, returning at the end
of the summer out in Montana, at which point I had NO money
at all, and could not buy my dinner... The very friendly young
man who shared the daytime seat with me invited me to join
him in the dining car, but I politely said no.. At 17, I wasn't
afraid of his ulterior motives, I just was embarrassed that I
could not pay my own way, should it be necessary..
Covered about 3,000 miles inside China in a sleeper car, and
boy! but it was cold! We all wore our bed blankets around our
shoulders during the day, and finally were persuaded to
share a big bottle of Mai Tai, their rather potent whisky. Drank
it out of empty Kodak plastic film cans...
And for comparison, I was on board the train up to Machu Picchu
in Peru at about 12,000 ft, the whole thing done in switch-backs.
Wonderful experience -- amof, the Great Wall in China and the
Lost City on top of Machu Micchu were probably the two most
exciting things to see in all my life. Of course, that was before
the great tourist onslaught, so the effect was spell-binding.
Penny, NY
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