Framingham, MA March 31
Wednesday started out lousy. Rain, 29 degrees F, driving over central Pennsylvania mountains with their curves and hills—and very aware of the crash on Interstate 81 Monday a little east of here with a 80 car/truck pile up that killed six people. Chris and I are very familiar with that stretch of I-81, we always knew that if fog was around, it could be found in that stretch. In Monday’s situation, though, it was a sudden snow squall. For us, our drive had no problems although we drove a bit slower and left later to try to reach above freezing temps. It was not until we reached Scranton, three hours later, that the temperature was above freezing.
Our one stop of the day was at the Steamtown National Historic Site, a National Park Service (NPS) unit. I had thought we had been here before many years ago but it did not look familiar. Chris was sure she had never been here. In any event, the complex is large and impressive. The major focus of the exhibit is railroading, specifically the Delaware Lackawanna and Western railroad. This railroad was a major connector between New York and the anthracite coal mines of northern Pennsylvania. Like many other railroads, it was the result of the merger of several smaller, local rail lines.
The National Park Service’s role at this site is to interpret the role of railroads in the development of the United States. In particular, Steamtown focuses on the industrial development of the Lehigh Valley around Scranton, the steel factories and coal mines, and the role of immigrants newly arrived in the US who filled jobs in this location. Steamtown has a 18 minute video, and a wonderful series of exhibits surrounding a central Roundhouse. The buildings have been well restored, as have the railroad locomotives on display. During warmer times of the year, train rides are offered.
I found one display of particular interest. There was a Railroad post office car included in the collection of train equipment. These cars were used for sorting mail along the train route, even to the point of dropping off mail at locations without a formal stop by means of a bag tied to a hook. In my talks for the NPS Trails and Rails program on the Amtrak Empire Builder, I try to mention this old time process while speaking in the observation car.
The park ranger we met, a woman originally from Hagerstown Maryland, was gracious and accommodated my request to pick up Junior Ranger booklets. If you are not aware of these, most National Park Service sites have a booklet designed for young visitors to help them explore and learn about the purpose of that specific NPS site. While called Junior Ranger booklets, they can be used by people of any age.
The Ranger responsible for these booklets at my park site, Mississippi National River And Recreation Area in the Twin Cities, will be receiving a packet of Junior Ranger booklets that I will be picking up as we visit 30 or so NPS sites during this trip. Here at Steamtown, the Park Rangers have developed a series of four booklets designed for different ages. One booklet is for ages five and under, one for ages 6 to 8, one for ages 9 to 12, and the last one for people like me, ages 13 to 130. The Steamtown booklets are less fancy, printed with a color printer. In contrast, the Junior Ranger book at Flight 93 National Memorial was printed by a commercial printer on heavy, glossy paper.
Each booklet requires the user to answer questions, draw pictures, and in general interact with the knowledge presented at the NPS site. Completion of the booklet allows the person to be sworn in as a junior ranger and receive a badge. We have found that it can be quite popular with people interested in learning about American history and culture.
The rest of the drive was uneventful. Heavy traffic once we hit New York, then really heavy through the usual traffic jam around Danbury Connecticut. Over the years, most of our visits to Boston from Minnesota have been by air. It was nice to drive old familiar territory, even being surprised by local restaurants that are still in existence from 30 and 40 years ago. When we stopped at the first rest stop in Connecticut, we recollected that this was a dramatic improvement to the trip we used to take from Minnesota and then Pennsylvania to visit Chris’s parents in Connecticut. The rest stop was completed in 1971, a year before we were married. It has an older style than what is now common Interstate rest stops design, but it still was a nostalgic and useful stop. One new addition was a vending machine, see picture, that we have not come across previously. Either it is new or we are just out of touch.
For the next several days we will be in the Boston area. Lodging is a Airbnb, a former garage apparently converted into an attached dwelling unit. I still usually prefer a nice Hampton Inn. There are two people on this trip and cooperation in lodging choices must be made.. The Hampton Inn Monday night in Crawfordsville IN, offered dinner for guests from 5 to 7 pm. We took advantage of it. Over the course of this month, we will be staying at three Airbnb‘s, about a dozen Hampton Inns, a Hilton Grand Vacations Club offering in downtown Washington DC, and three nights at a West Virginia state park resort.
Ed and Chris, Framingham MA March 31.
Chris Klejbuk and Ed Heimel travel adventure 
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