Milwaukee Road 261: Friday

We took off on Friday morning…actually leaving when we planned to for once, only a bit after 8:00. The trip was uneventful…straight interstate driving, no stopping for pictures…although if I’d seen the cranberry bogs in time to pull over I would have insisted. We got into St. Paul, where our hotel was, sometime after 4:00. We decided to head over to the railroad yard so we’d know where to go in the morning. We wound our way around the edge of it, finding a spot where we could peer in. Leo hesitated because it said ‘No Trespassing,’ but I told him he was going to be 18 that Sunday….so live a little. He rolled his eyes and popped in and took the first pictures. The 261 was running and steam coming out. They always look like they are quaveringly alive somehow.

We saw somebody standing on the other side of the tracks and thought that might be a better vantage point so we wound our way over to that side. Ernie chatted with the man standing there…he had come from England and was charming. His friend came over from where he’d been viewing the engine and it turned out he was from Belfast, Maine. Things seemed to be looking good already. They encouraged Leo to walk over…and Leo even got to go up in the cab of the 261.

I KNOW!

We took lots of pictures and Leo even let me take some of him without his hand in front of his face. He was glowingly happy. I’ve always thought a happy Leo was a wondrous thing.

We headed over to our hotel which was in an old train repair building. The building was very cool. The hotel was slightly odd but it all worked well. Leo got settled in with the laptop so he could upload his pictures and Ernie and I had a drink at the bar. As we sipped our drinks the man across the bar let out a loud and long fart. The bartender walked in from the back room laughing and said, “Was that the movie?” The man said, “No, that was me. Sorry. I thought it was going to be silent.” Then the bartender asked why we were in town. I explained and he said he liked trains and then started saying, “What’s the name of the little ones that sometimes go around the top of a room?” I think he was searching for ‘model trains’ but I didn’t think I could suggest something that obvious so I just shrugged. At that point it all seemed a tad odd so we decided to head back to our room. We agreed that we were all rather tired so we just went to a restaurant a block or two away. It was so-so but we, especially Leo, were so damn happy it didn’t matter at all. We made our plans for the next day and tumbled off to sleep. Day one was over.

 I love that boy so much.