On my way down through the gorge to the train station in Vancouver, I thought about how I would be seeing it all again soon but from a different perspective. I was excited to finally be going on my first train trip and had been thinking about doing this one for several years now. I day dreamed about taking the trip with Grandpa but never made that happen. I was driving down highway 14 right on time to be early for my train that was supposed to depart at 5:09pm. Somewhere around Salmon Falls Road I remembered that I had forgot my copy of Dope Bucket. That was the name of the old newsletter magazine made for the employees of the SP&S. I was too far along to turn back to get it and it was ok because I could still see the cover in my mind's eye. Grandpa on the cover with his motor car near the base of Mount Pleasant.

According to the Amtrak app, my train was running a couple of minutes late. Now, supposed to be 5:11pm. It was a beautiful day for the drive and on my way around Cape Horn I noticed how Skamania Island is slowly rebuilding itself. I reflected on the summer of 2006 when we took my boat there and camped for Ty's bachelor party. Then later learning that it was inundated and washed away in 2012 or '13. Here it was making it's comeback one grain of sand at a time. I look forward to the day when I see the first cottonwood sapling reappear there on the north side of the river and directly across the from Multnomah Falls.

It's hard to believe that in all these years, I have never been on a train besides the little one that circles around at the Oregon Zoo. I've never had a real reason to. Even this trip had no real destination except for the Amtrak station and The Little House in Pasco. The purpose of my trip was simply to get away and see what I could see in the time that I had there. Wherever I go, I always want to get up close to the river so that was my only agenda item besides enjoying the ride.

I kept driving and almost to Washougal watched for the likely place on the tracks where that Dope Bucket photo was taken. Then, the road descended close to the level of the tracks. I knew I'd just passed the spot and thought about how I'd watch for it again in an hour or so from the train. One more small hill to go up and down and I was in Washougal, looking down at the new old lake at the wildlife refuge. It was all flat cow pasture there when I was a kid. I'm glad it can be a wetland again for awile.

It would be fascinating to see this all again, right over there. That's what I kept thinking the rest of the way to the station in Vancouver. That and, I sure hope I'm able to get a seat on the south side of the car.