OPPS

I hope all those folks in Minnesota forgive me. I just noticed I've been misspelling the name of the lake at Currie. It should have been Lake Shetek. I'll post of couple of photos. Also one of the newly formed lake in Nebraska. Apparently they are trying to emulate Minnesota.

more pics

trip photos

Headin' home

June 15th. Arrived back in Santa Fe and was home for three hours when I handed Micki an anniversary card and asked if the flowers arrived. She said “If you ordered them for our anniversary that’s tomorrow.” Somehow the magic of the Minnesota rain, miles of Nebraska corn, and the Red Candy Caboose Time Machine warped me back one day.
TRINIDAD… My last museum visit was in Trinidad, CO. I met one of the docents, but missed Paula Manini the director. I’m looking forward to getting Trinidad added to the RCC program. Trinidad was the showdown location between Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe RR and the Rio Grande RR. Both railroads were fighting to be the first RR into New Mexico. The Territorial Legislature of New Mexico had proclaimed that which ever RR got into NM first got the exclusive right to pass through the territory. It became known as “The Railroad War.” ATSF even brought in Bat Masterson and a hundred gun slingers to guard their work crews. When the folks in Trinidad learned of the Rio Grande’s plan to bypass Trinidad in order to save time and money, they quickly jumped into action and personally led the ATSF team up the mountain to Uncle Dick Wooten’s cabin and convinced Uncle Dick to give the ATSF the right-of-way to come through his narrow pass. So, Trinidad is rich in railroad history and played an important part in building today’s transportation foundation in the west.
PUEBLO, CO… Southeastern Colorado Heritage Center. It was probably about 1989 when I last drove through the city of Pueblo. At one time it had been a major manufacturing and foundry town. When I visited the city during the 80’s it was sad to see the once beautiful brick and stone buildings waiting to meet the wrecking ball. Since then I’ve passed the city a few times on I-25 freeway, but never stopped. I still held the sadness in my memory from my earlier visits. But, my handy-dandy train manual proclaimed a museum along with cabooses and some interesting engines. What a great surprise to find the city had the wisdom to rejuvenate the old rail yard district. Pueblo is no longer a place to whiz by in route to other points of interest. Pueblo has become a destination location. A beautiful river walk, museum, historic buildings, and a fabulous Union Depot all provide the frame work to entice families to come and enjoy the beauty.
WINDSOR, CO…. It wasn’t on my preferred route, but I made a side trip to Windsor. My train guide book had the magic word “Caboose” in it. Windsor is a beautiful northern, Colorado town that sits near the edge of a small lake. The train tracks pass through the back side of most of the businesses and the town has built a small historic village between the tracks and the lake. The village is complete with an old depot and of course the promised caboose. Unfortunately, it looks like you are supposed to wander around and peek through the windows and perhaps make up your own version of what it’s all about. A sign on the door gave a phone number for additional information. I called the number and got a recording that said to call yet another number. I took a pass on that one. Hopefully in the future the town can round up a few history buffs and complete the task of their heritage museum.
STERLING, CO…. The Overland Trail Museum. I passed through Sterling as I came in from Nebraska. My train book made no mention of a museum in Sterling, but I thought it might be a good place to gas up. I pulled into the station and thought my eyes were playing tricks on me. I put my reading glasses on and took a closer look. It was true almost $3 per gallon. I pulled out without getting gas and noticed across the street was a museum, complete with a fabulous red caboose. Sterling needs to do more with their marketing. I had never heard of the town or the museum. It is first rate and a place you could hang out for an entire day; just don’t plan on buying gas there.
KEARNEY, NE…. You’ve got to be determined in your caboose hunting if you include Kearney, Nebraska. Once you get there you will find they have done an excellent job with their caboose and train displays as well as provide other historic buildings on the property. The location feels like a residential neighborhood and not a place you would easily swing into from the freeway. Driving time from the freeway is under five minutes and well worth the effort.
GRAND ISLAND, NE…. You want to see what big bucks can do? Stop at the Stuhr Museum of the Prairie Pioneer. Beautiful modern buildings, ponds, parks, endless displays, gift shop and a static train display. Obviously they had a lot of money to work with. It reminds of one of those places where the family goes two or three times a year, takes a picnic lunch and spends the day. You might do the same.
FREMONT, NE…. Fremont & Elkhorn Valley RR. Unlike the Stuhr Musem, these folks do it the hard way. Lots of volunteers and dedicated ole’ timers keep the 16 mile train running. Nothing fancy, but they are a local favorite and do a great job making the dollar stretch. I couldn’t help but wonder if a good marketing directory couldn’t turn this into one of the area’s premier attractions. (They need a Gene Short)

Tracy

June 13th
TRACY, MN…. Wheels Across The Prairie Museum. I left End-O-Line in Currie late Saturday and thought I would get an early start in Tracy on Sunday Morning. Wrong! I should have done my homework. Tracy’s museum doesn’t open until 1:00 p.m. and according to their brochure they don’t open on Sunday. Not a wasted trip. Anytime you can take the opportunity to tour small towns in Minnesota, it is time well spent. I cruised the town so many times the local sheriff was starting to think I was casing the place and I was developing a phobia about the sheriff. I could always see him a half block away in my rear view mirror. Sunday morning I did my own guided tour of the Wheels Across The Prairie Museum. Again, small towns seem to always rise to the occasion. This multi-facetted museum was established by the skin of its teeth. A land grant almost slipped away due to no building being erected when a local resident donated a barn. A building being erected was part of land grant conditions. The barn filled the criteria, but was destroyed by a storm. Again the community rose to the occasion and rebuilt. Perhaps they should have called it “Phoenix.” The museum hosts a small village, depot and a train complete with the treasured caboose.
Traveling through the border area of Minnesota and South Dakota I saw the largest wind farm I have ever seen and I’ve seen some big ones. Coming up on a knoll I could see wind turbines stretched from my far right to my far left. It looked as if I were going to pass through a gauntlet of turbine blades. I mention this because most things we see end up as paintings or some form of art, I couldn’t help but wonder how this would play out in the mind of some talented artist.

Hurry to Currie

June 10th – 12th.
I left Santa Fe the morning of the 9th and arrived in Currie, MN on the 10th. Normally Micki and Kahuna travel with me. It is lonely traveling by yourself, but you do make better time. I got to Currie a day early. I didn’t know what to expect of Currie. Approaching the town a sign said “Welcome to Currie gateway to Shetake Lake. I’m not sure what happened next; maybe a blink or a sneeze, but somehow I missed it. I turned around and decided to watch more closely. There it was, a post office, bank, restaurant, ice cream shop and a hardware store that opened only on weekends. Some of my largest events have been small towns and I’ve learned the smaller the community the higher the level of interest. On the edge of town stood a sign made from railroad spikes “End-O-Line.” I drove on by and checked into my RV spot on Lake Shetake. An hour later I drove back to End-O-Line where I met Gene Short, the director of the museum. Gene gave me a great tour which included how the project got started back in the early 70’s by some 4-H girls looking for a community project. The name of the museum is just what it says. This was the end of the line. There is still a working turntable that is so well balanced two people can still turn it while loaded with an engine. I didn’t get to see an engine being turned, but the following day I would witness a bride and groom being swiveled on the old turn table as a photo opp.

I found it hard to believe the museum was so old. I would have guessed that the entire project was less than five years old. The buildings, grounds and equipment were all meticulous. As you know, my passion is for cabooses. End-O-Line has two wooden cabooses dating from 1942 and 1945. Both are beautifully restored. One is a bay-window and this is the first restored wooden bay window caboose I’ve found during my travels. The community of Currie has a right to be proud of their efforts to show the importance of their heritage. While there someone asked me how I would rate the Currie Museum on a scale of one to ten. I gave it a 10! One exhibit or one building doesn’t give testament as to who you are, it’s the whole package and Currie’s community pride shows at every glance. The houses, commercial area and of course the museum all reflect the efforts of people working in tandem to achieve a common goal.
The next two and a half days would be filled with meeting the docents, area residents, radio interview, and a tour of the Murray County Historical Museum in Slayton. The world needs more Gene Shorts. Gene acted as my personal tour guide for the entire time I was in Currie. Slayton is another beautiful Minnesota town a few miles down the road from Currie. With me dressed in my conductor uniform, Gene paraded me through Slayton’s businesses and county buildings. I felt a little like the advance promotion of “The Circus Is Coming.” As the DJ said during the radio interview “You won’t mistake this guy for anyone else in town.”

I need to give a plug for the docents and volunteers at End-O-Line. Although volunteers are an important part of their operation, the docents for the most part are students that get a chance to cut their teeth on all aspects of business. With Gene as their mentor, they learn people skills while giving museum tours, retail experience as they help run the gift shop, and an appreciation of all the hard work it takes to make a successful business. I couldn’t help but notice how versatile these docents were; one minute helping tourist, the next cleaning the grounds, cutting the grass, or setting up displays. At some point in the future they will no doubt look back and say “That’s where I learned and grew.”

Most of New Mexico gets eleven to thirteen inches of rain a year. If you want beautiful rolling hills of lakes, farm land and trees, then you’ve got to take a little rain with it. It felt as though I got an entire year of rain during the week I was gone. Gene joked with me suggesting I bottle some water and take it home. That didn’t happen, but as I cleaned out my RV I did notice I smuggled in a large amount of rich Minnesota top soil.
That rain was making me nervous for the open house event scheduled for Saturday. The morning started out with a steady drizzle and almost no one showing up during the first hour. But, the rain let up and the sun came out along with people from towns all over southwestern Minnesota. Gene’s work getting newspaper publicity and radio spots paid off. For the next five hours we had a steady stream of visitors coming to End-O-Line. I spent most of the time in one of my beloved cabooses, spinning yarns and listening to tales from others who had railroad stories to share.
Since returning home I’ve received several e-mails from folks I met in Currie. They have been generous in sharing their photos of not just this event, but cabooses that have passed through their lives.

I’ve rambled on more than usual about my Minnesota experience, but my love of that area, the people and of course End-O-Line merit a place in my travel blog. A big THANKS to Currie and of course Gene Short for helping to create a great memory.