Thursday, July 27, 2017
I fished the Williamson River for two hours from a rest area along Rt. 97. No fish bothered to even look at anything I had. Back at the parking lot, a gentleman asked where I was from. Smoking a Lucky Strike, he told me he was from Bend, about a hundred miles north. He moved there to get away from all the commotion in Portland, but said it’s worse than Portland now. He has done a lot of fishing in this area and said there are some big fish in this river. Walk upstream and you get into private property, but also lots more fish. His wife passed away a couple of years ago. Now at 83, he just likes to roam, although that wasn’t the word he used. It was something from a song. He is heading over to the coast and will go north, or wherever the roads take him. He sold his big camper when his wife died and put a camper shell on the back of his truck, which suits him fine now. “Probably cost less than this fancy box you have on your truck.” He has to go for prostate biopsy next week. I told him not to worry. Just get it out.
After lunch I stopped at the Ranger station and got a top map, which helped a lot, then went to Chiloquin to get a few groceries. I went the back way because of road construction and drove past train cars sitting on both sides of the road. There was a dirt road going through the properties. Then a gate with a sign for Train Mountain Railroad Museum was just ahead, so I turned in. Larry Brannon and Ernie, you would love this! Three groups run it. There is a non-profit that administers it. Friends of Train Mountain help and make donations. Then there is a group of train enthusiasts who come and work on various projects. Many bring their own trains, operating them on 36 miles of 71/2” gauge, 1/8 scale tracks. There are rides you can take through the property, picnic areas. I hope to get back for a ride through the park. They even have a 6-acre campground. Trains are huge in this area, so there are many enthusiasts. You can check it out at http://trainmtn.org/tmrr/.
I made a nice split pea and lentil soup.
Greg, That train museum looked great. I’ll have to add it to my bucket list! Larry
Were you referring to my camper? It was free!!!!!!
We went to Bend for a friend’s 50th birthday which was eleven years ago. It was a nice spot. Sad that so many places have been ruined by over development and too much tourism.