Brothers and sisters:
Two years ago my wife Regina and I spent a week wandering around the Boston area. In the process we discovered Cape Anne and the absolute quintessential New England town of Rockport, Massachusetts. When people picture a New England seaside town they picture Rockport. I stood at the tip of Cape Anne and could see up the rocky coast all the way to Maine and said to myself “I want to ride that.” Over the July 4th week, my bike Murray and I spent three days traveling along a coastal route from Boston to Portland, Maine through Cape Anne.
We rode the Lake Shore Limited out of Cleveland early on the morning of June 29th. On the train I met a man who was very active in the Cleveland music scene in the late 70’s and early 80’s returning to New York City from the College World Series as well as a Indian national trying to do his medical residency in the US.
In Rockport the hotel clerk was from Alliance, Ohio. We talked about the irony of running into someone from our backyards so far from home. He pointed me to Roy Moore’s Lobster Company where I had dinner with a couple from New Jersey on their way to Maine to visit her brother. We laughed, drank and ate lobster that was literally pulled directly from the ocean that afternoon.
After arriving in Portsmouth, Hew Hampshire and watching the US World Cup team go down in defeat, I found a coffee shop and spent part of my evening talking with a group coming out of their AA meeting. The following day I ate lunch in Kennebunkport, Maine and talked with a man about how crazy the world seemed lately. I arrived in Portland late that afternoon greeted by a rain storm and found out about the hurricane chasing me up the coast.
Early on the morning of July 3rd, I boarded the Downeaster headed for Boston and my long train ride home. On the Lakeshore Limited westbound I sat with a lawyer and we talked all the way to Pittsfield. The conversation we had covered a gamut of subjects from law to politics, nature watching and family relationships. As I sat and listened it seemed like this man lived the life I could have lived had I made different life choices. I am very happy with my life and who I am now versus who I was years ago. The question I ask now is the same question I posed years ago after my trip to Buffalo: “if I had taken Route 5 instead of 20 or turned left instead of right, what would I have found?” The answer is a different life.
It just goes to show – you never know who you are going to meet on a train.
Where are they working?
Jeff Lindell, Heath Kramer, Brendan Hyland, Matt Haussler, Keith Poscocil and
Dave Collins working at the Browns Stadium for Kone,
Dennis Dixon and Anthony Young doing a mod at Cliff Towers for Kone,
Scott Hicks and Taurus Ogletree installing a two-stop car at the Strongsville Giant Eagle for Schindler,
John Brunner and Jim Rogers installing three cars at Rocky River Apartments for Schindler,
Chris Scholle and Tom Lane doing a mod at Granada Apartments for Kone,
Ed Gimmel and Brian Owens doing a door mod at Terrace Towers for Schindler,
Shawn Yatsko and Joe Sumph doing a mod at Shaker Towers for Schindler,
Gerard Szemerkovsky and Craig Nolty installing a two-stop hydro at Honda House for Otis,
Dave Francis and Greg Seaman doing a mod at Notre Dame College for Schindler,
John Patton and Tom Gombar at Presidential Apartments for Kone.
International Union of Elevator Constructors Local 17 