Note: This first appeared here on The Blue Parrot on November 7, 2008.

Nostalgia can be funny stuff.

Memories of places, people and events can (and usually are) effected by the passing of time. What we may remember, may not be what actually happened.

I’ve been reading “The Fog of Gettysburg” by Ken Allers Jr. He takes the time to point out the truths and fictions among many legends from the battlefield in July of 1863. As someone whose ancestors fought and died there, I found this an effort well worth the while.

In the foreward, Thomas R. Flagel makes one very interesting point.

     “Of all that is lost to history, worse are the myths and legends that attach themselves to facts. Misconceptions are painfully tenacious, and the more popular they are, the harder it is to dislodge their firm grip on the public psyche. But we historians must charge into the powder smoke of assumptions and slam against the stone walls of apochcrypha.”

This statement is true not only of Gettysburg and the battle, but of nostalgia in general. As time passes, it is all too easy to simply rely on the good stories. Facts tend to give way to myths. The comfortable can out more than the uncomfortable.

Disney fans know that some of the company tales related about various parts of the corporate history have been bent to fit a vision that is less than clear. The safe and happy tends to be easier to digest and repeat for the public.

But the problem is that reality can sometimes be more illuminating. Diane Disney Miller put it best I think when she said that “the truth is more interesting than some of the legendary stories (or myths) that have become accepted as reality.” 

A case in point, from a visit to the offices of the Walt Disney Family Museum:

While looking over a case with a series of medals awarded to Walt, Diane made a comment that “stories get lost.” To illustrate that point, she shared the tale of a 1935 trip to Paris by Walt and Lillian along with Roy and Edna. Over the years since, the story about the trip had been told that Walt had specifically traveled to buy books about European fairy tales as reference materials for various Disney artists. Diane related how a transcript of a journal written by Edna, told of the trip and how one entry noted that “Lillian, Roy and I did this today, while Walt went off to buy more books.” As Walt was always collecting figures, books and other items, this was easy to accept as being the truth about that trip.

The real reason for the trip was that Walt was being awarded the French Legion of Honor medal. It came with recognition of Mickey Mouse as “a universal symbol of goodwill.” And of course, while she was telling that story, there was the 1935 Legion of Honor medal on display.

Disney archivist Dave Smith further related to Diane that it was on that trip that Walt noticed how the theaters in Paris were playing four and five Mickey Mouse cartoons at a time. And he thought, “Aha! People are finally ready for a feature length Disney cartoon.” 

It’s just that kind of thing that is driving Diane’s (and others) efforts behind the Museum – the chance to show the reality, rather than the myth.

And that is not such a bad goal. While we all have fond memories from some point in our lives, we need to recall things with a bit of clarity. The good and the bad balance out. In my own case, it’s easy to overlook hours of hard and dirty work that went into a project. Recalling the achievement rather the effort it took to get there is always easier.

With everything that’s happened in the last few days, one can only imagine how it will be remembered by people years from now. Will they look back and see only the result and not what it actually took to reach the goal?

One can only hope that they enjoy a vision of events a little clear of the fog of time.

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Oh, yes… that quote at the top, today? 

From John Ford’s “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance” (1962)

Do you still send letters?

Pardon the interruption. Okay, more like distraction. Plural, at best.

Yes, I do need to spend more effort into filling this space with content. It is not for a lack thereof. More a lack of following through and spending time at the keyboard.

The next few weeks promise stories to be told, so be sure to check back for more to come.

Honest.

Yes, it’s been a while since I was last at the keyboard.

I won’t bother you with the why but yes, life has it’s moments.

Being semi-retired, time isn’t always a factor. More things seem to get in the way of other things. That doesn’t mean I don’t have tales to share, just putting motivation on my list of things to do seems an odd choice.

The year 2026 has a few things ahead that should prove worthy of sharing. As before, I intend not to make any political observations here. While I do have strong opinions about the way things are heading today, this isn’t what I use this space for. There are plenty of others who use the online world for that.

The image above is a good example the stories ahead. There are some interesting things that weave their way in and out of the tale to be told. And I hope to share them with you, the loyal readers.

So… Looking at what the camera on my iPhone 13 mini captured, it was a bright sunny afternoon down at the station in East Ely on the Nevada Northern Railway. My previous day had started early with a flight on Southwest to Denver. Picking up a Hertz Penske 26 foot box truck, I was in for a long drive back to Oakland. As a part-time gig, I had taken advantage of an app on the iPhone to drive empty vehicles from point to point. Mostly short trips around the San Francisco Bay Area, but longer trips were occasionally available. As I enjoyed long drives, and was comfortable with the bigger trucks, these gigs were as much profitable as they were entertaining. Traveling is almost a hobby and I got the chance to see quite a few miles.

I had made several trips out of Denver before this one. Traveling west, I had a choice of routes ahead. Weather conditions on the day I left called for high winds across Wyoming on Interstate 80 over the Continental Divide. The big empty box of these trucks becomes a sail in high winds, so the northern rout was right out. Traveling south through New Mexico and Arizona was another option but would make for the longest route. It was a bright sunny day, so I chose to take the central route along Interstate 70 through Colorado and Utah, with Highway 50 across Nevada, back to Interstate 80 in California. A reservation for a hotel was made for me in Ely, Nevada. It looked like a pleasant two day trip.

Everything was perfect as I headed west. Sunny skies ahead. Traffic moving freely. That is until I crested the Vail summit. Traffic came to halt. Apparently, there had been a multiple vehicle accident that blocked all lanes of the road. So, we sat while things were cleared ahead.

While we sat, I noticed clouds gathering. And they had company, too. In the two hours we sat there, the sun was gone and it even started to snow lightly. By the time the road opened, snow covered everything. Not deep, but enough to force traffic to crawl down the mountains into Vail. There was still a lot of road to make it to Ely. That and plenty of stops for hot coffee. I finally arrived after 3 am, and checked in to the hotel. Sleep came quickly.

Having an interest in railroads has provided more opportunities to travel and Ely was one of those places that I have visited several times. The Nevada Northern was the last short line railroad in the state. It brought copper from the open pit mine near Ely to a smelter and then to connections with the Southern Pacific and the Western Pacific railroads. When the mine and smelter closed down, a portion of the railroad became a museum. Today, it’s one of the most complete museums of its kind with steam and diesel locomotives and all the facilities necessary to restore and operate them.

A few quick photos and it was time to get back on the road, to deliver the truck back to Oakland.

I always enjoyed getting out and about. This year promises more adventures to share here,

Hungry now?

There was a time when dining car chefs on railroad trains around the world served millions of meals to hungry passengers every day. Often sharing regional specialities that made use of ingredients from along the route through which these trains passed. Yet as times changed, so did passenger tastes.

This meal was one created to lure the budget-minded passengers to make use of the fulling dining car rather than skip meals all together. The Early Dinner offered a full meal at an attractive price. In this case on the second night out aboard the famed California Zephyr, as it traveled across Colorado on the rails of the Denver & Rio Grande,, either east or west bound. Even then, the price of one dollar and twenty five cents per person was indeed a bargain for a meal freshly prepared by the chef’s aboard the train between San Francisco and Chicago.