Jim’s Journey – Feb. 26, 2015

–a recollection of a journey through time throughout Western Clinton County 1934 – present day as told by James Hedgeland to Tracy Embick.

Looking back I remember one day my mother said to me and my sister, Mary that we were going on a visit with my Uncle Frank Parmenter and my mother’s sister Nina. We boarded a train in Renovo and went to Harrisburg. There they put us on a Troop Train to Chicago.

After we got to Chicago, they put us on another Troop Train. We met a lot of nice soldiers on those trains. Every time the train stopped there were a lot of older women and some teenagers (not many) standing along the tracks. They had donuts, coffee and all kinds of sandwiches, homemade rolls and cakes all free to the soldiers. The soldiers would get enough for themselves and they would bring back enough on board for us to eat.

I remember using the bathroom on the train, it was very clean but the toilets didn’t have any water in them, nothing! You could look down and see the ties going by. No wonder they had signs up that said “Do not use at the station”. At evening time, I watched the conductor light the lights in our car, it was pretty neat. This was around 1942, 43.

We were going to Laramie, Wyoming. My dad got us tickets on the railroad to take us to and back no charge to us. That was a fringe benefit for him working on the railroad. It was called an annual pass; you had to work a certain amount of years to get it.

When we were in Laramie we went to the Rodeo and went up to the Snowy Range for a few days fishing. I remember the first day we went, my uncle had a large blowup boat we could use. After we got it filled with air, I grabbed the boat and started to run to the lake. I only got half way there and had to stop and catch my breath. I had a terrific headache. I didn’t know what was happening. My uncle explained that the air was too thin at that height 10,000 feet above sea level. My uncle told me to move slowly. I thought it was great fishing from the large snow bank in August. We caught lots of nice fish that week.

After spending time in Laramie, we rode home on the train. We didn’t have any layovers, connections or stops on the way home. I think it only took us three days to get home. Renovo was a sight for sore eyes.