The Dream, The Challenge, The People
by Bob Kranich
(Excerpt 15)
“The Lodge Called Folkestone”. You may wonder why the first half of the book is about my many adventures throughout the USA. Well, this first part explains just why my interests changed from hot rodding cars to backpacking. How the idea of a lodge came about, and just how the lodge came to be in North Carolina and next to the Smoky Mountain National Park, Deep Campground to be exact.
They thought that it would be a fun activity. We must have gotten at least ten cousins and friends, and a couple of adults who we needed to drive us and chaperone. Everyone got their school backpacks, sketch pads, water carriers, and snacks, and off we went on a nice summer day. We drove to a point with road access about a couple miles from the converging point of the two railroad tracks. Then we headed down the tracks. There were lots of different railroad bridges we walked across. A trestle, a steel girder bridge. We stopped to cool off in a stream. The kids took tracings off of some old tomb stones we found at a church, and one fellow did some sketching.
After that adventure, I began working on another. This time it would be a combination bike and hike trip. I went down to the Waukesha library, and looked around at the Wisconsin travel literature. Then I found it, the Elroy To Sparta rail-trail, a Wisconsin State trail. The state of Wisconsin had bought the right-of-way shortly after the Chicago and North Western Railway discontinued its freight service in 1964. They opened the trail in 1967. Since this was the summer of 1968, it had been open just a year. In fact, when we went on our bike and hike adventure, we didn’t see anyone else on the trail. Today, it is one of the most used rail-to-trails in the United States. Over 60 thousand people use it every year.
This trail is 32 and one half miles long running through three towns, Kendall, Wilton, and Norwalk. There are three tunnels, one between each of the five towns. Two of the tunnels are 1,600 feet long, and the other is 3,800 feet long. The Chicago and North Western Railway ran this route between St. Paul and Chicago. In its heyday, it ran six passenger trains and 45 plus freight trains a day along this route.
I figured that to get everyone organized, drive up there, do a round hiker/biker trip, and come back all in one day, I would have to plan carefully. I studied the maps and found out that the most spectacular tunnel is No. 3, being 3,800 feet long. I decided that we would leave our bikes on highway 71 at the trail. Then, we all would drive to Norwalk and hike the three miles on the trail through the tunnel. After that, we would take our bikes and bike back to Norwalk on highway 71. This was a total of about seven miles. I could tell by the type of road that it more than likely was not a busy highway.
It seemed like a good plan, and everyone liked it. This time, we got a couple of dads, in addition to the moms that had come before. We had to transport a lot of bikes. There were about fifteen of us. We went this time on a Saturday, when the dads with the pickup trucks to carry our bikes were off work.
It was about 160 miles to Norwalk from Waukesha. We got everyone organized, and left at nine. We went right through Norwalk, and locked up the bikes on highway 71 near tunnel No. 3. We then went back to Norwalk, parked the cars, and since everyone had their own lunch, we started our hike. It was very interesting walking along the old railroad roadbed. But it got exciting when we approached the tunnel portal. It was dark in there, and it was a good thing we all brought our flashlights.
The hike went off perfect. Not only did the kids have a good time, but the adults were impressed also!
My time in Wisconsin was about over. I had visited a couple of months, and my money was almost gone. It was September, and I needed a job. I had my resume printed up, and sent some off from Waukesha. I got a quick answer from a contract company. I was to be an electrical technician working in Rochester, New York, for General Dynamics. It was the same job experience and description I had earned from the U S Army. They were building ground support test equipment for the F-111 Fighter-bomber.
I said my goodbyes to my uncle, aunt, and their family, and headed out to Rochester, New York, in my trusty Ranchero. When I got there, they put me right to work. It was exciting being an electronics technician. After I had been there for a month, my supervisor told me that they had a different job for me. They had read my resume, and saw that I had been a draftsman. They needed draftsmen more than they needed electrical technicians. So here I was, back on the drafting board.
In the middle of December, I got caught up in the annual Christmas layoff. They laid me off, and I headed south. Soon I was back home in Florida, living in my parents’ camping trailer. I knew for sure that I had been caught up in the annual Christmas layoff. After the first of the new year, the contract company called me and said that General Dynamics wanted to hire me back. I said no.
