wrap up

Monday we woke up in Kingman and headed for the cemetery. The motel owner said it was the best place to walk dogs. He was right. We tried a couple of others on the way home, and they are perfect; well fenced and quite.

Anita Cheature at the Santa Fe, Depot in Kingman was the person who made contact with us and asked us to include Kingman in our tour. I told Anita that we were hers for the day. Boy did she keep us hopping. Three elementary school groups, a retirement home and then back to the station by 4:00 p.m. for another reading.

Anita is a one-man army determined to keep railroad history alive in Kingman. She has personally done a great deal of the building restoration at the depot. She admitted to hiring skilled help for the electrical and plumbing, but tackled all other aspects of the restoration. Anita works a regular job at Dollar General, but spends all of her awake hours at the depot working on the building and assisting tourist that stop in. I don't Anita will mind me mentioning she is 71, but has the energy of two thirty-year olds.

One thing I forgot to mention about Topeka. I was shocked when a man and his wife walked into the first storytelling session and showed me my RCC business card and said "I saved your card. We rode your train in Santa Fe and when I saw the promotion for you being in Topeka I told my wife 'We've got to go down there and see him." I can't tell you how touching that was to have a connection reach across multiple states.

The whole purpose of the book tour is to promote family entertainment that erases generational boundaries. There are very few forms of entertainment that allow five generations to participate at an equal level. One of my inspirations was the lady who celebrated her 100th birthday on our Santa Fe train. They filled an entire car with family members. At that point I realized that no other activity would have provided that family connection.

We made half the drive back to Santa Fe Monday night and wrapped it up Tuesday. We are back home for a couple of weeks. I will do the local train run once or twice while here and then head to Jackson, Missouri for National Train Day. They have an old steam engine that runs through the mountains. There are three tourist trains in Minnesota and we've been asked to do a Minnesota tour Father's Day week.

A big Thank You to our loyal followers who hang out on the blog while we bounce around the country.