The Precious Birdlegs Gazette
Vol. 1, No. 4
Well I'm running down the North-South UP Railroad line............you know, the tracks.
Don't know why I really like running the tracks........seems like I always have.
I do know that anytime I take my eyes off them and try to look around at the scenery,
I stubb my toe on a tie. I've even taken a couple of headers and gotten kryosote on my nose............even cut my achilles tendon while running down these wandering trails of steel........but that's another story.
I guess there are certain things that happen in your childhood, that mold you without your knowing it until years later. Today as I am track tramping I am suddenly remembering the name, "sonny boy", the name Grandpa and Grandma gave me in my earlier years when I was about 5 or 6 years old. Dad and Mom, who were active musicians were away a lot. At times I would end up staying with Grandpa and Grandma Chase here on Garden Way.
I remember feeling lonely and sad at times..............and at night I would cry and whine, non-stop..............sort of on purpose. Grandma would ask, "what's the matter sonny boy?" I didn't really know what was the matter.
So, out of desperation, they would take me, whining and wailing, to the train station to watch the train come in. To their amazement, that would always shut me down. I was awe struck by the huge locomotives that made me and the ground vibrate........and those tracks seemed to go forever as I peered down them. I always wondered what was down there. Our trips to the station got to be routine because I learned just how to make them happen.
A few years later, I began to walk on them, and later, to run on them. I liked the unique look of the landscape around them because they went where roads didn't. They seemed more wild and adventurous like a hiking trail............and it was quiet, except when the train came. Then GIANT THUNDER roared as locomotives, railcars, and cabboose approached me and hurled on by, then faded out like a slow fade at the end of a song.............then, quiet again...........just me and the tracks. I still get a thrill when they rumble by, throwing a hat-stealing headwind in my face as I run along the service road.
A few months back, I ran from Garden Way, out past Noti, Oregon on the rails.........crossed a couple of small trestles and a bridge over water. No, it wasn't "troubled water", it was just a slough. I ran until I couldn't run any farther...........that was about 23 miles. I finally got off the tracks and stopped at the home of some friends. They generously offered me some lunch while shaking their heads in disbelief.
I couldn't believe it either except for the pain in my foot............you know, "trackfoot". After a short visit with them and some "thank yous", I hitched a ride back home with my bride who faithfully had come to pick me up...........you know, she's the one who calls me her hero when everyone else calls looney. Maybe so..............I've run tracks in California, Colorado, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusettes, and Oregon. The only thing that kept me off the tracks in Taiwan last year was the electricity!
I routinely run this Union Pacific route as part of my daily workouts......like today.
Grandpa and Grandma never knew what they started, but their "sonny boy" loves running the RR, and living in their old farm house where he can hear the train nightly, making it's way down the tracks beside the river and around the next bend.
I don't whine anymore, but sometimes I whistle. Well, it's time to get off,
I hear a bigger whistle coming.
Chaser
