I think my buddy, Troy, sent me these images just to torture me. We regularly met at Pam’s Farmhouse in Raleigh on Saturday mornings before we went into the lab to work on the GaugeCam project at NCSU a few years back. Very high on the long list of benefits of living in Raleigh is the stellar quality of the biscuits and gravy generally available in the South and the very specific benefits of Pam’s Farmhouse Restaurant where they only take cash, they serve their iced tea in Mason jars and the waitresses call you “Hon.” There might be a place here in Oregon that does biscuits and gravy right, but we have not found it yet.
That little bit of nostalgia was the latest in a series over the last couple of days. The anniversary of Lorena’s father’s death was a big part of it, but Kelly’s visit on the train got me to thinking about the several momentous train trips I had taken–A trip to Klamath Falls from Albany to visit cousin Merle when the kids were little (we saw a herd of elk a couple of feet from the train while moving slowly up a steep grade) and a trip from Portland to Idaho where I met a Catholic priest who became a lifelong friend.
I had completely forgotten about a great train trip my buddy Curt N. and I took from Boise to Denver on the train to visit our friend Karen K. That was one of two trips Curt and I took together to visit Karen, but the second one was a New Years eve trip to Seattle. Both trips were momentous high marks of my (relative) youth. The thing that triggered the memory of this trip was Karen K’s comment on the tribute post to Grandpa Lauro. I was so happy to see Kelly is maintaining the family tradition as is just as inspired as us about the train. It really is a great way to travel and all this brought a tear to my eye (especially the part about the biscuits and gravy)!
Betty Blonde #344 – 11/10/2009
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