getting ready for the summer road trip season

well we changed the rear brakes and the oil and were getting ready for our summertime roadtrip. this yrs trip will include Tombstone, Rhyolite in death valley national park, across the Hoover dam to the Grand Canyon where we take a glass roofed train to the south rim . From there were off to Antelope canyon in Page az, next up is the Golden spike national historic site for the 150 anniversary of the trains meeting up, next up is time to feed the bear cubs in Rexburg Ia on our way to Bannack state park before we hit Yellowstone for a tour on the historic yellow buses and a cookout that we ride out to in a stage coach. then to custer state park, mount rushmore, wall drugs , the badlands of sd as we head home some bbq in Memphis ,a stop at Branson and the arch in st louis , and a few others along the way. And if i'm really lucky while passing thru Cheyenne i'll get to see the freshly restored big boy 4014 steam locomotive

 

Wow. What a summer excursion. Sounds like you’re hitting a lot of great spots. Enjoy, and make sure to waive as you go through NM.

 

Too bad you won't be at Glacier NP, as their historic buses are red, and drive along the famous Going-To-The-Sun Road. Both parks are majestically beautiful, and Yellowstone, of course, sits on a caldera. Just do not go for a swim.

 

Wagon man, wished we could meet again at the little diner near Fanning Springs, Florida. You do know that there are great BBQ joints in Memphis and south of Gainesville, Fl. On your way to that Arch you could stop in the middle of Illinoiz and I'd be right proud to buy ya an Arby's BBQ roast beef. Just 50 miles west of Rt 66 or I-55.

If you do swim in Yellowstone near Old Faithful don't drop the soap!

 

Wow! That sounds like a fantastic summer road trip! Are you taking the 59?

Somewhere I had heard that a Big boy was being restored to operational. Is this the one you are reffering to?

 

You swim with soap?

 

NO UNFORTUNATELY THE 59 ISNT READY AND MY DAUGHTER JUST GOT HER LICENSE AND WANTS TO DRIVE SOMETIMES SO THE MAGNUM IS READY TO GO

 

Aw, maaannnnnn!!!!!!

 

Yup, Jeremiah, UP 4014 was completed and tested this year, in time to make the Sesquicentennial of the Golden Spike ceremony in Ogden, UT. I've seen 4014 personally at the Pomona Fairgrounds, back in the '80s, and man, is she gargantuan.

 

Bummer that the 59 isn't ready, but it sounds like you will still be seeing the country in style.

I have never seen a Bigboy in person, but I would love to. And seeing one in action... that would just be amazing.

 

There are plenty of videos from when they brought out the loco at the steam shop and steamed her up to test her out.

 

Aaaand, then there's this:

 

Our son put lots of old movies on a memory stick and stuck it in our Smart TV. We recently watched "The Great Train Robbery" and "Silver Streak". Now and then brief glimpses of the old train stollen at Cedar Key, Fl to transport gold to Michigan is on History.

I can actually remember walking to school down the small RR siding and tracks when a kid. Black smokey steam engines were still in use, as were old wood sided RR cars and the little red or green caboose.
My uncle was a switchman for the C&IM using green cabooses.
59wagon man, enjoy that vacation and don't forget to borrow some hotel soap!

 

Dad used to hop trains leaving out of Olympia to get home from school more quickly, because they would run ever so slowly...until one day, it actually accelerated very quickly and was going too fast to jump. Grandma and Grandpa got a collect call from a town EAST of the Cascades, Dad needed a ride home!

 

School was only a mile from home and the small, really small, switch yard . The RR line went diagonally past where the hospital main entrance now is so jumping on board was never a good idea. There were small and medium switch yards, round houses, and train tracks in and around our town.