All aboard! Discoveries by rail.

On my recent Colorado visit we played Ticket to Ride, a board game for three generations, ages six to almost Medicare.  If you have family get-togethers or blizzards in your fall/winter schedule, I highly recommend it.

After blogging Sunday about my dad's letters to his Ma during WWII, I could not let go with such a meager sampling of the contents. Reading through all the letters was delightful and revealing, as I found clues to later family dynamics reaching ahead for decades.

Let's start with delightedness on a train, or as Sam-I-Am might ask, "Could you would you on a train or in the dark or in the rain?" Not yet twenty-years-old, my dad took his first long train trip courtesy of the U.S. Army in April 1942, and it was a mind-blowing education. I am envious of his opportunity and enthusiasm for seeing the landscapes, the cities, and understanding physically the sizes and distances and time of our country. When we fly, or drive with movies playing for the kiddies in the back seat, we don't get that spatial feeling in our bodies or heads.

"I have decided to travel east this year. It shall be rather interesting."

Who wrote that? Marco Polo? Samuel Clemens? 

The  very young men riding from their Army intake at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas to their basic training spa and resort at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, went by way of St. Jo and Hannibal, Missouri to St. Louis. "The steamboats on the river were of great interest for me." Illinois and Indiana had cherry orchards in bloom, oil fields, and small coal mines. On to Cincinnati!

"I will hate to sleep tonight for fear I will miss so much. But it will be dark anyway."

Another tunnel.

Roast beef and rolls with butter in the dining car! The next day the train went through Harper's Ferry to D.C. The Potomac River made a big impression, winding slowly through the country. I wonder if Dad was reassessing those stories about George chopping down a cherry tree or throwing a silver dollar across the river.

"I'm afraid I walked around with my mouth open most of the time.

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© 2013-2018 Nancy L. Ruder