Rogier's North Eastern Road Trip

September 2002

Since the summer of 2001 and his near fatal bout with a very sudden and very serious case of pancreatitis, Rogier has had to come to grips with the fact that he is no longer forty years old. Not that 60 is old, but one cannot help but get a little concerned......So one reminisces about what was, what is and what will be. And that, dear reader, brings us to the following story:

Ever since Elias was five years old, Rogier has enjoyed the hobby of model railroading. With the onslaught of the Internet came all sorts of new and exciting avenues to explore that hobby. The last four years Rogier has been heavily involved in one of those avenues: Worldrailfans.org, a railroad hobby web site devoted to "anything and everything railroad".

An open letter to the Rt.Hon. John Oxlade, beloved Web Master of the Worldrailfans.org web site.

Re: Web site addiction.

Dear John,

It is all YOUR fault......;-) After years of participating ( more or less, mostly less) I felt quite at ease talking to the various members of the Worldrailfans.org discussion forum. I checked the site at least once a day and wondered, always, who is doing what, where and when. Personalities, only defined by the use of language and well meaning advice remained a big unknown. Until I decided to do what all too often one only thinks about. In this world of instant gratification, fast food restaurants and fleeting relationships wouldn¹t it be fun to just up and drive away and go visit some of these elusive participants? A couple of years ago , on his way through Indiana, one Roy Kishore, a member of the forum mentioned above, stopped by. We enjoyed each other¹s company tremendously, spent a few memorable hours in the train room and generally had a ball. So why not?!! One Clinton Ross and one Kevin Brady, who both live in the Boston, Mass. area, really intrigued me and I had grown fond of their participation in the site. What were they like? Would we even get along?

On September 11th, as my personal stand and as a defiant gesture to would be terrorists, I started up the eleven year old Suburban and took off driving across Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York and Massachusetts. What a trip it was! All along the Interstate the overpasses were draped in American flags and patriotic signs were everywhere. People smiled behind the wheel and "Thumbs Up" signs were prevalent all along the route. Good feeling! The last time I had made this trip was 28 years ago when I worked for Amaco doing teacher education workshops during what was then known as my "North Eastern Tour . Things sure have changed! All the towns I passed looked like they were build up twice as much as they used to be and getting around in them proved to be a challenge that I was no longer used to.

Taking my time, I arrived in Buffalo, New York, early Wednesday evening. I had driven for twelve hours and even though my right foot was a little sore, the long stay behind the wheel did not tire me too much. Even though it has over 196,000 miles on it, the Suburban performed flawlessly and was a pleasure to drive. I was pleasantly surprised! I crossed over into Canada and had no trouble finding Bill and Carol's place in St. Catharines Bill, the son of my late aunt Rie Donker-Bannister and his wife Carol have restored an old grist mill and turned it into a beautiful home.

Earlier this summer Bill and Carol had stayed overnight at our house on their way to the Carolinas. Thought I'd return the favor and use their house as a hotel on my way to Massachusetts! The preceding statement all in fun and tongue in cheek of course, since on my way back Carol would schedule a "Canadian Family Reunion" of sorts and we would spend some quality time together. Thursday morning early I was on the road again, going East on the New York Thruway.

My right foot was feeling just fine and I had no trouble keeping up with traffic, especially since most of the time I engaged the cruise control and just sat back and enjoyed the ride through territory I had not seen in 28 years, but felt very familiar in none-the-less. What a beautiful state, what a beautiful country!

By mid afternoon I arrived in Worcester, Mass and found the city quite different from 28 years ago. I had a little trouble orienting myself, but once I was headed in the right direction, I found Pieter Paul and Elizabeth Donker's slice of Paradise quite easily.

My cousin Pieter Paul (66) retired as a journalist from a Worcester newspaper and now spends his time being the "host with the most" while mentally and emotionally supporting Elizabeth¹s creative ventures, that range from beautifully hand decorated ceramic white ware ("Worcester Ware") to oil portraits of friends and family. Next to Bertje's Worcester Ware my stoneware creations look rather sick.... Bertje also tends to a thriving goat, chicken and geese flock and encourages the wood and rock spirits to move into her enchanted forest. Elizabeth showed me all around the "Donker-East Compound" (as opposed to the "Donker West Compound" - ours!) and I was duly impressed by a life time of creative endeavors. Pieter Paul and Bertje¹s wooded acreage is a haven in the midst of hurried city life! It was also very nice to be able to relate to members of my extended family who share the immigrant experience and all the ramifications that that single event has in a person's life. Thanks guys! Later that evening their daughter Cornalijn came for a short visit and that was really fun! It had been 28 years since I played football with then nine year old Cornalijn and her eleven year old brother Coert. Here was "the Kansas City Bomber" (my nickname for her when she was 9) all grown up and mother of two. Time flies when one is having fun! Friday morning Elizabeth and I went to Cornalijn¹s house ,where we were treated to assorted Dutch goodies and flirtations with Lillian, Cornalijn¹s four year old daughter. Unfortunately her son was at school so I did not get to meet him. May be I will have to make this trip again.... A good time was had by all!

Friday afternoon I set out to go to Rockland, forty some miles South West of Plymouth, Mass and only a couple of hours drive from Worcester. At four in the afternoon , twelve hundred fifty three miles away from home, I pulled up in Clinton Ross's drive way, the ultimate destination of this adventure. I was greeted by Clinton, hanging out of the second story window. In his usual eloquent way he shouted : "Who the hay goes there?" .......or eloquent words to that effect.....typical clintonesgue speech.... "The only person you would be expecting" , was the response..... I think we "clicked" upon meeting and immediately felt that we¹d been the best of friends all along. WHOA!! Talk about doing something just on Faith......

It's all YOUR fault John O.!

After meeting Joan, Clinton's wife, we enjoyed dinner and then disappeared to the basement empire. Oh Boy! Words cannot describe my feelings. Oh Boy! What beautiful beasts! Red and black, as far as the eye could see. Super smooth track , installed at eye level all along the wall made watching these superlative engines an experience I will not soon forget!. Better go to bed now, tomorrow is a busy day...:-)

Saturday morning at seven o'clock Clinton and I drove up to George Sellios's South Manchester and Franklin RR. where we were to meet Kevin Brady. Kevin showed up and after finishing our respective cups of coffee ,up the stairs we went to see the famous F&SM RR. One word again: "WHOA!"- three fold. Those who have seen the picture book of the F&SM know George's way of modeling : detail, detail and more detail. Ad Infinitum. Almost too much, but Whoa! what a job. A good time was had by all. Then it was off to Kevin's house and his fantabulous lay out. We¹re talking museum qualitiy here ,folks! Absolutely beautiful ! Where George¹s lay out was full of superfluous details, Kevin¹s had all the details necessary to present true to life, true to prototype if you will, scenes that are very , very convincing. Congrats on doing a fantastic job, Kevin! :-)

Next it was off to Barry Kriegsman's attic empire. The three of us in Clinton's Passat, 85 miles per maniac hours. What a joy! Gotta be nuts to enjoy the high speed fury of Clinton's driving! Welcome to the mad house and New England drivers! :-) Barry has an awesome lay out that occupies all of a spare bedroom in his spacious house. He plays with it some, but lately spends most of his time upstairs in the newly remodeled attic. There is no lay out there yet, but if his treatment of the available attic space is any indication, the lay out itself will be awesome. May just have to make another trip east...Of course, Barry will probably not yet have opened all of his boxes... His computer is having a hard time and is in overdrive, trying to keep up with his purchases and his ever expanding inventory. A hobby shop, you say?

Next it was off to Alex Leonard. His garden railroad was nice to see, but his overstuffed basement took the prize for most trains/biggest lay out in available space.....trains went everywhere, under, over and in between.....whatever turns one¹s crank....whoa!

Next it was back to Clinton1s and more red and black goodies as well as my Thalys and Eurostar. Awesome to see these long illuminated snakes at eye level! Oh by the way...gotta run Kevin back home to Beverly.......Midnight run in the Passat....hit the sack at 2:30 a.m .....been up for 21 hours, nothing but high speed driving, high speed trains, pizza and lotsa enjoyment being in the company of good friends....That VW Passat sure was put trough its paces and netted almost four hundred miles on the odometer. Thanks Clinton!

Sunday morning we were treated to a beautiful Cape Cod sunrise and later in the afternoon Clinton ,Joan and I went for a relaxing beach walk. Nice to play in the Atlantic again!

Sunday afternoon I left Clinton and Joan's hospitable mansion and drove back to Worcester , Pieter Paul and Bertje. Bertje fixed a typically Dutch evening meal, consisting of ³gehaktballen² (meatballs) ,potatoes and lima beans. Boy! the taste of those "gehaktballen" definitely brought back childhood memories. Monday we ran around Worcester and had a great time playing plumber, repairing a leaky valve in each of Pieter Paul and Bertje's bathrooms. Nice to know how to do some stuff in the home repair department!

Tuesday morning I was on the road again ,headed to St. Catharines , and a reunion with Bill and Carol's kids, Robert and Deborah.

Tuesday afternoon, running early, I took time to go see the Niagara Falls, that I had not seen in 28 years. They were still there....but I was amazed just how much the area around Falls had changed. Couldn¹t even park right at the iron railing anymore! :-(

Wednesday morning early it was off to the super slab again and by seven thirty Wednesday evening I was back home in Indiana. Two thousand five hundred fifty six miles in seven days.......What a trip!

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