Park Yourself Aboard This Train for a Fun Trip and Learn Some Local History

I guess you’re never too old to learn something new.

Especially if it tickles the old bones again…like your first job on a newspaper…. trying something new can perk up your interests and keep the old blood flowing.

I’ve been casting around for some sort of volunteer job…one that seemed very interesting and since I enjoy meeting people, one that met that also met that criteria.

Awhile back a couple of paragraphs in the newspaper caught my eye and sounded very interesting.

The Cuyahoga Valley National Park Service was looking for Rail Rovers on the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railway….

I applied and after meeting with a very outgoing Ranger (Pam) I was accepted into the program.

A four-hour orientation program followed shortly thereafter. About 30 folks showed up as Ranger Pam explained that we’d been park representatives aboard the train…trying to keep passengers informed about park facilities and history and what ever else we could do to make their visit enjoyable.

So now I would learn first-hand a lot about the region I lived in.things that I didn’t have time to really enjoy over the 40-plus years here because when you’re on the job, that and family takes up most of your time.

I wonder how many stories I’ve read, placed in the paper with a headline I’d written, and then forgetting about that for there would be more the next day.

Before taking a seat with the other folks I picked up a shirt and a hat—those were my official “badges” of a park volunteer.

Ranger Pam had some great stories and examples of life in a national park. And she had pelts of some animals that could be passed around.

As for the stories, one that really stuck with me, she told about the Grand Canyon (been there and saw it about 40 years ago)

But she related how people arrived on the days the canyon view is sock in from fog and such. Of course they’re very disappointed, but having no big, big fan, there wasn’t much the rangers could do.

She told a story that goes around there about an old fellow who decided the fog was so thick, he could walk on it.

He put a foot out and sure enough, it was thick enough to hold him. So he started his journey across. About half way the fog decided to start lifting and the old fellow found himself standing on a mesa with no way of getting to either side.

And he was struck there for several days until the heavy fog rolled in again!

That session was my initial contact with the park volunteer program. I was expected to take two trips on the train with veteran volunteers to learn the rope and also hear tales of the area.

Those are due in April.

In the meantime, one of the seminars I could attend was coming up before then. A ride on the train to hear all about Train wrecks, Shipwrecks and other Spooky Tales.

So I put on my shirt and cap (my ticket to the train ride) and showed up at the Akron station with daughter Amy Dee,

The car I was in was just about filled with other volunteers, among them a familiar face, fellow named John, a veteran volunteer and retired mailman.

I had met him at Chapel Hill Mall as one of the daily mall walkers…those folks who get their exercise with shoe leather.

Also sitting with us was one of the train lady volunteers (they’re all dressed in “railroad black”.

So we pulled out of the station and began the journey and that sound of the wheels on the tracks and the engine whistle brought back memories of childhood and the trains that passed right by my home.

Ranger Pam started her ghost and wreck stories. She had help from folks dressed in period costumes, each taking his/her place in the middle of the car and then passing the microphone to the next person when their presentation had ended.

Funny stores and not so funny, but very interesting. Would be great on a Halloween Train ride.

We stopped at the different stations along the way, ending up Rockside to start out trip back to Akron.

The program was given on the way back, but in an the next car, so those in my car could use the GPS system…earphones plugged into a receiver and as you passed certain points, it would kick on with what was in that area and a bit of history about that spot and the park.

I learned a few things. For instance, why this is called the Western Reserve. Seems we’re even with the state of Connecticut. one of the original 13 colonies, so being west of that state Ohio was known at the Western Reserve of Connecticut.

As we passed one of the nesting areas of the blue herons we saw a bigger nest than the others. And, yes, there was a bald eagle sitting there.

Seeing that bird was worth the price of admission to daughter Amy. It’s a sight you don’t see every day.

But to hear the history of the area back to the days of the Indians was very interesting, along with the uses that can be made of the park today.

Hey, there’s a great little piece of “paradise” just outside you door.

Enjoy it. I know I will.