I hope everyone’s enjoying their Thanksgiving today. I know I am. The breezy, sunny, mid-70s day certainly doesn’t hurt.
We awoke after 8 AM (!), had a fun, leisurely breakfast, dawdled a bit and then set out for a nature hike around Durant Nature Park. We got to the corner of our street when we heard what sounded like a train horn, at which point we turned towards the tracks to see the train.
Once reaching the tracks, I decided what we heard was a truck horn, as today is a holiday and CSX ran a bunch of trains yesterday evening so that they wouldn’t have to drive ’em today. Realizing that, we decided to take advantage of the quiet tracks today by taking a stroll to either end of them, exploring parts we’ve never seen.
The kids loved the trek! We first headed north on the landfill side, walking along a gravel road almost to the curve before the Neuse river. Turning around, we then walked south alongside the tracks near our house. The kids got a big thrill seeing what our house looks like from the engineer’s point of view: surprisingly, you can see a lot through the trees!
We then continued south along the tracks until we reached the siding for the lumber yard, at roughly mile marker 148 for those railfans out there. The tracks into the lumber yard bore the manufacture date of 1951. They were pretty rusty, not showing much use. We frequently see trains loaded with lumber, so I assume this is one yard they visit.
The gate to the lumber yard was of course locked so we hiked around the property’s fence and on to the city property once proposed for the gym near Durant Park. From there it was a modest walk into Durant Nature Park, where we snacked on apple slices and almonds and the kids played on the playground for a bit. We then headed down our familiar path through the woods back to our neighborhood and had lunch proper before the kids took a nap.
Kelly and I are extremely proud of Hallie and Travis for walking the entire way by themselves today! It was certainly the farthest walk we have ever taken and the kids did superbly. Each kid whined only once but kept on walking. I think it helped that we were on an adventure, seeing things we don’t normally see. Of course, we kept stressing to the kids that our train-side walk was a special case and the tracks are not a place for them to play. They are both pretty responsible and respectful of the train so I don’t forsee any problems.
Now everyone but myself is taking a nap in preparation for Thanksgiving dinner at my parents house tonight. It will be good to get the family together again (most of it at least)!
