Texas State Railroad

This one is going to be picture-heavy. I think I will show the pictures on the ride from Palestine to Rusk today, and the pictures from Rusk back to Palestine tomorrow.



I took 64 pictures yesterday. Does not quite put me into the paparazzi league, but that’s a lot for me, especially when the subject is not yarn! Most of them were taken from the open window of a train that was chugging along at 25mph. I am amazed how many lucky shots I got.

This is Texas. Specifically, the Piney Woods of East Texas. So naturally, there were cows.



Middlest, do you remember when we took that road trip to the hammer dulcimer festival, and you got out of the car to take pictures of the cows, and they all turned and mooned you? Pretty much the same thing happened to Trainman on the way home.

OK, we have pretty well established that I am not Nature Girl, that I do appreciate Heaven’s handiwork but prefer to observe it with a nice layer of glass and air conditioning between it and me. I am still a little amazed at how much fun I had. We rode in the open-air cars, and there was a nice breeze, and the occasional bug or butterfly flitting through the car, and showers of the last dried leaves from fall. But there was no sun beating down on my head, and I felt safe and enclosed, without feeling cooped up.

We all agreed that we were glad not to have chosen the climate-controlled cars, even though they were closer to our coolers and the loo.

The morning light was awe-inspiring. I tried to capture it on film; this one, I think, shows both the motion and the magic.



The white blurs are dogwood blossoms. Here is another one tucked in among the taller trees.



We ate all day. A little coffeecake and some fruit when we got to the station. Then lunch in the gazebo.



Some of you may want to sit down for this next bit. I took my knitting, and I intentionally left it in LadyZen’s trunk for the duration of the train ride. [You knitters OK? Breathe deeply, if necessary.]

And I didn’t miss it. [I’ll wait; go get a paper bag.]

We could not have ordered up a more beautiful day from the Sears catalogue. We ate again when we got back to Rusk, and that’s when things took a turn. Trainman was blindsided with a kidney stone, so LadyZen played ambulance driver and got us back to Fort Worth smoothly and safely. We dropped him at the ER and went back to her place, where we loaded his stuff into my trunk. I went back to the ER [this time with yarn and needles] and waited with him while he had a CT-scan and bloodwork and an IV of anti-nausea medication.

The good news is that it was a small one and will pass. [The other good news is that I had been inspired last Sunday to tell my girlfriends at church that I would probably not be back from the trip in time to take them to the dance last night; they all are comfortable driving during the day but have given it up except for local hops at night.] He was cleared to drive himself home last night. I followed him partway, and his hand was steady on the wheel. I sent LadyZen a text when I got home around midnight with half of a sock foot in my bag.

And now, for those of you who have been waiting so patiently, a shot of the Trainman.



Time for me to hop in the tub and drive like a bat out of Highland Park to get to church. More pictures tomorrow.