buddy is in town for Thanksgiving. I originally thought that maybe we could get a little time to hang out (like we do frequently, once every other year). With five kids, time is certainly a luxury for him (to me, it’s a requirement). But then he caught me by surprise – “Show us your club!” What a cool idea.
So in our Monday night crew set, a couple of guys helped me clean tracks – that was really nice of them, to take time to help me with this. And my buddy Bill agreed to come out and run a train with me so the kids would have something to run. But then the group grew as another friend (and his wife and two kids) showed up. So now we had seven kids, two trains, and a lot going on.
But the kids were all cool – they listened attentively, they had fun with the trains and said nice things about us (always an egomaniac boost for me). Bill and I ran opposite directions for two hours, and with the kids running slow, it was funny – we met ONLY at Bethlehem station and Weirton, nowhere else (and this was like a dozen times around). We even had the kids setting turnouts at the end. And everyone had a great time.
You know, sometimes we can get a little jaded about the amazing thing we’ve created at the club. And sometimes we can see it afresh through the eyes of someone seeing it for the first time. And looking around the large room with the ranges of mountains marching into the distance, it stunned me about the amount of time and treasure we’ve put into this.
But a great time for everyone. BTW, Harris Glen was working much better. But that dead section at Weirton is still a pain in the ass!
Thanks again, Bill, for hosting with me.