Dreaming sounds
There was a mountain near my grandma's ranch where we kids used to ride our saddle horses. The Northern Pacific ran through the deep canyons of the Clark Fork and Flathead rivers to the south, so if the wind was right we could hear the haunting whistles of the big steam engines pulling their winding loads of passengers and freight to mysterious and faraway places like Chicago or Seattle. I often daydreamed about the magic lands beyond our mountains…where those trains went; but to a kid of the depression 1930s, that seemed a dream with out much chance of coming true.
Near as I recall, the last ride I took to the mountain at Camas Prairie was in 1940…still a kid, still dreamin of far away places. I'd seen a few trains… a couple close-up, but never actually rode one. Trains were played down in my family because my grandfather and his brother were both engineers and both had died in wrecks…. one of them down there in the Clark's Fork Canyon near Paradise, but even that didn't stop me from thinking about getting on a train and going someplace far away.
It is around 70 years since my kid dreams at Camas Prairie. And I got my train-ride dreams…from sea to shining sea…across many foreign lands, from snowy Alps to steamy jungles. I know I'll probably never again hear that haunting call of a big steam engine, pulling a train bound for far away, but the tingle and the memories will be with me always.
Last Monday I walked out on the roof of our office just as the sun was rising, and a multi-engine passenger jet was majestically climbing out of Glacier International, slicing through scattered clouds 8,000 feet over the valley. Couldn't clearly see the plane, but heard those big powerful engines, and I wondered where the people up there were going. Thoughts went back to the mountain of my childhood…and the haunting music of far away trains.
Things haven't really changed all that much. Just the sounds, and the speeds. I heard the steam whistles. My kids heard the diesel trains and the jets. The grandkids may well listen to starships heading for Jupiter and Mars.
I hope it will always be fun to listen to travel sounds…and dream.
"First Wife Iris" and I were discussing the latest in personal telecommunication devices and it occurred to me she might like one as a gift—so I asked her.
It should be noted right here that Iris is all business when behind the wheel of her car and she doesn't have much patience with people who don't behave the same way. I should have anticipated her reaction to my question about a cell phone, "Yes George! It would be nice to have a cell phone. Then I'd have something to do…while I'm driving."