Van Buren To Winslow Train Ride

For Gary's birthday on September 23, we headed up to Van Buren to catch their tourist train which goes from Van Buren to Winslow and back again.  We had a bit of an adventure getting there after making a wrong turn we got caught by ironically a working train on a different set of tracks which ended up stopping and blocking the road for about 10 minutes.  Fortunately, we had left extra time and still made it to our train station at the right time.

We, of course, were wearing our missionary tags and a couple stopped us by saying "We recognize those tags."  Turns out that they are the Andertons, who live in Paris, Ar, in the Clarksville Ward.  We had never met them but had heard about them.  They have a large pool which they share with the ward for activities and the missionaries had told us that they were very warm and friendly with everyone.

Brent loves trains so once a month they volunteer here on the trains which provide a brief history of the area as you ride along.  They have an interesting story.  They are from Utah and most of their children are married and live in Utah or in the west.  However a few years ago they had a strong prompting that they needed to move away from Utah.  They literally pulled out a map and started praying about where they should go.  Something about Arkansas pulled to them and they flew out to find a house and bought the one in Paris.  They came out a month later with all of their possessions and started looking for jobs.  They love it in Paris and plan to stay for a very long time.  What a great addition they are to their ward and to their new community.

The Arkansas-Missouri Railway---this is their passenger train which they run at special times of the year.  They also do deliveries of goods to factories along the same track.  It is a very local company as I understand it.  I haven't read the book yet we gave Gary for his birthday.

Typically later in October would be better for the changing leaves, but the green is still beautiful.

This time we got to glide under the freeway.  This is the underside of I-49.

More little churches along the way.

In the spring, this would be a raging waterfall.  We did see a number of streams with flowing water along the way as well.

Another small town of Chester.... 

We got to drive on three train trestles and one long tunnel which has no lights which was fun.

Inside the restored train car.  Our car was #105 and about 100 years old.

The restored Train Station where we started and ended our trip.

We are somewhat train geeks and we loved our trip on the train.  The weather was beautiful, the train wasn't crowded, and it had air conditioning--something added when they restored it, thankfully.  It was the perfect birthday event for Gary's birthday.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, GARY!

Thanks for sharing your birthday with me one more year and finally catching up

to my age once again.  I am blessed to share life with you.