Large Scale Central

Retirement Travels

Other Hobbies
#61

For RJ, Ken and anyone else interested,

It is December and we find ourselves in the same position as many other people in Florida, south Texas and points south,

nobody wants to hear about the fun you are having in warm temperatures. We suffer with that knowledge.

This is our second Winter at the Ridge Live Steamers, in Dundee, Florida. Unlike some, we do go back north for the Holidays.

We saw the family in Carlyle at Thanksgiving and we are planning to be home for Christmas. Our hopes and plans are to be back

at Ridge for New Year’s Day and then stay through all the excitement of January and February provided by the events of the Florida Live

Steamers at the different railroads in Florida.

When we were home at Thanksgiving, we witnessed the work being done on our “Duplex” on 6th Street in Carlyle. This has been our plans

for the last 5 years and they are finally coming together. The Kaskaskia Valley Railway will move in to one of the rooms of the new digs and be the

location of the Timesaver and Inglenook switching puzzles. Negotiations is still underway with local management (Jan) as to how much area

will be allocated to track. Best plans, include HO track in a bedroom, “Largescale” in the double car garage, (she says there has to be room for one car)

and maybe some trackage around 2 or 3 sides of duplex in area close to flower beds and patio.

All and all, “Life is Good!”.

We end this year, wishing everyone a wonderful Holiday season, with a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, or whatever Holidays your family

celebrates. We are very blessed and think of that often. On my surface of my laptop, I have 3, very worn, little sayings or signs - "Live the Life you’ve

imagined", “Go confidently in the directions of your dreams!” and “Never, never, never give up”.

Hope to see some of you in the Carlyle area, some in Florida, some in York at the end of March and some in the areas of Operations as we plan our

travels for the New Year. All the Best!

#62

Good to hear you two will at least share the winter months with us from afar. Best wishes for the season(http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-cool.gif)

#63

Glad to hear from you Ric (&Jan).

You have inspired me to retry doing a Timesaver with all 20 foot cars to see if that will fit on my table top. The standard size was too big to fit in my basement area.

Cheers, Lou

#64

Lou Luczu said:

Glad to hear from you Ric (&Jan).

You have inspired me to retry doing a Timesaver with all 20 foot cars to see if that will fit on my table top. The standard size was too big to fit in my basement area.

Cheers, Lou

Hey Lou,

Do that Google search on “Shunting Puzzles”. You’ll be amazed as to how you can be inspired to create switching puzzles. Currently trying to figure how to do a

“sector plate” table to reverse direction in a limited space. This is on 1/8th ride on. Always fun to punish the grey matter with usage.

#65

Thanks for the up date Rick. First of year is when we set up our trips. Have not convinced DW to go further south for winter at least for a couple of months. Let you know where we are headed after first of year. Later RJD

#66

It is the end of July, 2017 and “Ric and Jan’s Great Adventure” continues. Spent last night at the Victorian Campground in Nebraska City, Ne. Had a chance to see Marty and Carrie Cozad, yesterday. Marty’s latest adventure in model railroading continues. He has really dedicated his fantastic modeling skills to 1" Ride On and created a fantastic railroad. He’s using all his knowledge of battery inboard operations, Phoenix Sound and track laying roadbed skills to go with an even larger scale. The evolution of his #1 Gauge Garden Railroad continues to progress and has gone back to his original desires to take mainline scenic photos. Always enjoy spending time with Marty and Carrie.

August first, we meet up with Roger and Susie Caiazza of the Finger Lake Live Steamers in Sioux Falls, SD, as we continue our trek toward the Northwest.

This is all new territory for Jan and myself. Clicking off things on our “Bucket List” with lots to explore, lots to see and railroads are the basic common denominator. We carry an RV States map on the side of the truck. Its not where the truck has been (Hawaii would have been quite an adventure), but where we have been in our 45 years of marriage. I’ve always told people, she originally married me because of young puppy love in that first year, but the last 44 years have been her just trying to get even.

This adventure called LIFE continues.

Stay tuned.

#67

Sounds like a wonderful Great-Grand Adventure, Ric. So glad you were able to see Marty and Carrie… (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-laughing.gif)(http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-laughing.gif)(http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-laughing.gif)

Safe Travels and smooth miles… (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-cool.gif)

#68

Stan! and others,

You were a major subject of the conversation at Marty’s. I’m sure your ears were burning. (http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-cool.gif)

We’ve made it to Sioux Falls, South Dakota! A new State for us. Plan to meet up with Roger and Susie Caiazza on Tuesday, today we will take a short car trip up to North Dakota, so we can add that to our “States visited” map and maybe, if we ever watch the movie “Fargo”, we will understand it better. Really can’t come up with another reason to go there, but hey, its an adventure.

August 4th is coming up. For the USCG, its a birthday. For the other 50% of this Country its Obama’s birthday. But if you are in South Dakota, its the week of “Sturgis”. Damn there’s a lot of motorcycles up here!!! Hope none get under our tires. Don’t think we noticed that on the calendar when we were planning this part of the trip. Ahhhhh! another adventure in life. Enjoying the experience.

#69

Ric Golding said:

Stan! and others,

You were a major subject of the conversation at Marty’s. I’m sure your ears were burning. (http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-cool.gif)

We’ve made it to Sioux Falls, South Dakota! A new State for us. Plan to meet up with Roger and Susie Caiazza on Tuesday, today we will take a short car trip up to North Dakota, so we can add that to our “States visited” map and maybe, if we ever watch the movie “Fargo”, we will understand it better. Really can’t come up with another reason to go there, but hey, its an adventure.

August 4th is coming up. For the USCG, its a birthday. For the other 50% of this Country its Obama’s birthday. But if you are in South Dakota, its the week of “Sturgis”. Damn there’s a lot of motorcycles up here!!! Hope none get under our tires. Don’t think we noticed that on the calendar when we were planning this part of the trip. Ahhhhh! another adventure in life. Enjoying the experience.

Minot Air Force Base? About the only thing I can think of in ND that is the least bit interesting…

#70

Why not Minot Air Force Base… Freezin’s the reason… (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-cool.gif)

#71

We drove up to Fargo, ND. Crossed over the North/South Continental Divide. Topped up the tank and got coffee at a Love’s in Fargo. Drove back.

North Dakota is flat, South Dakota is hilly. It was hotter in North Dakota, than in South Dakota. How many model railroaders live in North Dakota? Any on this Forum? Garden Railroading is probably something they read about. We did cross over a number of railroad lines, rails were shiney, but they just disappeared over the horizon to the east and west, never saw a train. Saw a couple of huge grain elevators and grain cars sitting at the ready to be loaded. 4 combines working one field, wheat grows on short stems and corn is tasseled, but short. Glad we visited on the last day of July and not in January.

#72

Theodore Roosevelt National Park near Medora, ND. Well worth the trip.

#73

I second Theodore Roosevelt National Park. Redefines the notion of open space. Great place to visit, but remote.

#74

In Wyoming a neat place is the Snowy Range, west of Laramie. Nice road from there thru Centennial,(rent cabins there) then up to Lake Marie and on over to Saratoga. Saratoga Inn was a nice place to stay. Great thing about it is that it is realtively unknown. So not a lot of crowds and you get real close to the mountains.Beautiful drive, lots of curves. Old pix here, mine is pretty well gone since 1970.

#75

Hi Rick been a while since I’ve been here to follow your travels. For got about listing our destinations for the year. We did go to FL in April and stayed at East Point and and the cg was awesome. I really got involved with the Camping rallies especially the Forest River Frog rallys. I hosted one in June in Helen GA had about 40 rigs and 100 folks. Looks like I’ll be doing another next year.

We are getting ready to head to Sevierville, TN camping and visit friends then head to Sweetwater TN for the solar eclipse. Sept and and Oct have us traveling to Amana, IA for Frog rally then on to Gadsden, AL for another Frog rally. BTW Frog stands for Forest Rivers Owners Group. Nov will we be in Brunswick, GA for thanksgiving as the camp ground provides the turkey and camper furnish side dishes. Then we head home for the holidays and winterize the camper… Safe travels. Later RJD

#76

We are in Great Falls, Montana. Had about a 4 day black out of internet and extremely limited cell service. We have added 4 more States to our map of where we have traveled together in our 44 and 11 months of marriage. Got to ride the 1880’s train in Hill City, South Dakota, that Bachmann used for its 2-6-6-2T narrow gauge engine. Climbed right up the 6 percent grade pulling 7 cars. On a straight track with the doors of all the cars open, you could see right down the aisles. A couple of the cars were prior interurban units, beautiful detail. Recommend the ride to anyone.

Today, stopped at the Milwaukee Road Division Point in Harlowton, Montana. Nice museum. Had a display of one of the big B(?) units. Beastly! Also video of the “Little Joe’s” running in pairs. Stopped there for lunch. Another “railroad town” that has almost turned in to a ghost town after the railroad left.

Great trip and I’ve learned the true definition of vast. Headed to Glacier National Park, tomorrow. All is well!

#77

Roger had some pix on Facebook…(http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)

#78

Just finished a short book titled “E57B” by Bill Wlkerson. Story of the Milwaukee Road in Harlowton, Montana. Admittedly, I’ve know little of “The Milwaukee Road” and most of that came from photos that I really didn’t understand. Great Book! Tells the story of these great mountain monsters and their efficiency. We visited the museum and the display of the Milwaukee Road monster the other day. What I didn’t understand that the E57B was really only half of the 1915 engine unit and operated basically without much maintenance, until taken out of service in 1974 and operated at a great profit. Politics can certainly screw up common sense. Great story!

#79

Today we are trekking in to Glacier National Park, outside of St. Mary’s, Montana. For such an isolated places on poor roads, there is certainly a lot of people around. Explored an isolated area, yesterday, away from the larger entrance to the park that we will use today. The area was called “Many Glaciers”, found out that means piles of lots of snow that doesn’t melt very fast. There is a fogginess in the area, that may be fog, but may also be results of forest fires in other parts of the State. All is well and back on small twisty roads, tomorrow.

#80

Ric Golding said:

Today we are trekking in to Glacier National Park, outside of St. Mary’s, Montana. For such an isolated places on poor roads, there is certainly a lot of people around. Explored an isolated area, yesterday, away from the larger entrance to the park that we will use today. The area was called “Many Glaciers”, found out that means piles of lots of snow that doesn’t melt very fast. There is a fogginess in the area, that may be fog, but may also be results of forest fires in other parts of the State. All is well and back on small twisty roads, tomorrow.

Too cool. That was one of many stops we made on our Honeymoon (last century!). I think we got there in July and it had snowed the night before. The roads were cleared, but it looked like they were working on new glaciers… We ended up buying souvenir sweatshirts just to keep warm.