Thursday, June 21, 2018

Not only was this home stunningly beautiful, but is was relaxed and peaceful. A refuge, no doubt. It recharged our batteries and we were ready to hit the road in pursuit of a train. Brew@602's waffles were legendary so we made a stop to treat our taste buds. Conductor Joe (also known as Hobo Joe) cranked our our waffles with a broad and friendly smile. Now I've had waffles before, but never on the grand scale of these culinary delights. Terry and I were unable to narrow down our choice so we decided to each get something fun and split them. We sat on the top row and feasted on Maple Tap and Mile High Waffles. While refurbishing #602 Mary found a May 1984 Caltran monthly ticket. What would the owner of that ticket thought if you'd told him 34 years later you'd be eating waffles in Soldotna, Alaska in this car?

So many choices!	The Waffle King
Nice T-shirt Terry!	Mary and her custom painted sign

We thanked Mary profusely for her wonderful hospitality and then headed to Trails Lakes Bridge for our photo op. Why Trails Lakes Bridge? Well several of my friends had taken photos at the bridge and I wanted have the opportunity as well. One of my Alaska Railroad employee buddies had confirmed the arrival time of the train so there would be minimal down time. There was a narrow gravel road leading to the end of the bridge. However, a monster size pothole appeared at the end and I decided not to jeopardize my buddy's Honda Pilot by testing its depth. Terry and I walked the last several hundred feet on foot. With several minutes to spare we scoped out possible photo spots. It was great having Terry there as she "poo poo'ed" my idea of standing on the rock pilings at the end of the bridge and possibly saved me from falling into the silty waters.

My ancient digital camera captured about a dozen photos as the Coastal Classic roared passed us with a friendly toot of the horn. Well, it wasn't exactly a friendly toot. It was an insanely loud deafening horn blast which sent a shock wave through my body. Gosh, I love these trains! This combined with that roaring jackhammer sound of a 4,300 HP prime mover is enough to quicken any railfan's pulse.

Just as the train passed I heard someone yelling my vehicle had blocked them getting access to the river. Ah oh! Now I'm in trouble! As the couple approached I realized it was my friend Robert Krol and his wife Rae Ellen. They were just yanking my chain. Whew! With that said, I loved the fact they had taken time to meet up with us. Both of them assured me my friends vehicle would've forded the pothole without incident. I still could not get the visual of the YouTube video showing a car driving through a large pothole and then disappearing.

Overcast skies and intermittent rain overshadowed our drive back to Anchorage making me grateful for the brilliant weather yesterday. Several easy geocaches were calling my name so we made a few brief stops. We had a good laugh at the geocache container at the Turnagain Arm Pit BBQ (GC78EJ4) as the container was a plastic flying pig. At McHugh Creek we undertook a fun earth-cache dealing with lichen colonies dating the age of exposed rock using Lichenometry (GC2W0QD).

After arriving at the Rudd's home we had a little bit of down town before their dinner extravaganza. Curt is quite the chef and prepared spare ribs, roasted chicken, homemade muffins with honey butter, corn on the cob, baked beans and for dessert rhubarb pie and ice cream. Everything looked and smelled amazing, but the proof was in the taste. Nirvana! I felt like one of the gods on Mount Olympus.

The evening was spent swapping railroad stories (some of which will never be repeated) as well as our mutual admiration of Don Prince. Although it will never happen Curt really should write a book about all his railroad experiences. He cut quite the swath through history over his long and illustrious career. Curt was also curious as to the progress and operational direction of steam locomotive #557. And in true Don Prince form, he wanted to here in detail of all our experiences thus far and what our plans were for the next week. Ever the man to roll with the punches, when I informed him of our Seward train run disappointment he said, "Well you wanted an adventure didn't ya!"