Shelli Tucker, Steve Grande's sister called and offered to take me to the Silver Rails Event Center here in La Plata, Missouri for a pre-opening look and to meet her in the lobby of the Depot Inn & Suites. I grabbed my camera, jacket and backpack before leaving my room then met Shelli and we walked out to a 1942 pickup truck. The first thing we both noticed was this truck was produced before windshield defrosters had been invented, so it made a very interesting ride with a fogged-up windshield. We made it safely and my mind went back to when Tom Marshall took me through the shell of the former auto dealership last December.
These were the interior views just two months ago as work was beginning to start on the Silver Rails Event Center. Back to the present, we parked the truck and walked towards the entrance.
The main entrance to the Silver Rails Event Center in La Plata, Missouri.
The center was set up to host its first event tomorrow night, the Silver Rails Gala, with 800 paid tickets. I learned that if they had had the space, another 800 tickets could have been sold.
Tables were set up for tomorrow.
It should be a great event.
The stage is made from a bowling alley on which Walt Disney used to bowl in Marceline, his home town.
In the same manner as the Depot Inn & Suites, this building also has a railroad theme.
Railroad pictures adorn the walls.
An interior view.
On the east wall, there is a collection of Carl Morrison's photographs.
Carl believes this picture is the best of those displayed and was taken on a Nevada Northern steam weekend trip in December 2004 and I was standing beside him.
This picture was another one when Carl and I standing together, this time in July 2004, when Union Pacific 3985 was leaving Denver and it put on a fantastic show of steam and sound.
Next I saw the food preparation area outside the kitchen.
The front part of the kitchen.
The rear.
The view from behind the counter.
There were more railroad pictures in the hall along the kitchen.
His Station is the men's restroom sign.
Her Station is the women's restroom sign.
A unique map of the State of Missouri and an area of pictures of La Plata history.
One last picture of a crossbuck and red signal.
This tri-colour railroad signal reading 'proceed to tomorrow night's Silver Rails Gala'. With that, we all returned to the Depot Inn & Suites where Barry Howard, the designer behind the Silver Rails Resort, gave us a preview of the program he would show at the Gala. After all this, it was now near the witching hour of midnight so I walked back to Room J and called it a night.
2/23/2008 The next morning I woke up tired but ready to go and met Chris Parker in the lobby and we went to the Red Rooster for breakfast where I had French Toast and sausage. Chris was going to take Tony Escarcega, Anton Lazzaro and Jonathan Ortiz for a drive out in the Amish countryside and I went to the Chris Guenzler Million Mile Lookout Point, a place I love coming back to and putting up my feet while waiting for trains to come, which they did. Four eastbound BNSF freights and one westbound with two general merchandise trains passed in front of me. I was soon joined by a father and son and later by a family with two young children.
As always we waited for Amtrak's eastbound Southwest Chief running forty minutes late this morning.
The Trainweb.com building, Amtrak and the La Plata station.
This morning we had many visitors to the Chris Guenzler Million Mile Lookout Point, after which I returned to the hotel and went back to work until near noon when I took everything I had with me to the conference room which would be my home for the rest of my stay here. Before leaving Room J, I called Let's Talk Trains, the Internet Radio Show, then returned the key to the ticket counter. My new Toshiba laptop with the Vista operating system would not shut off so with no answer on Steve's phone, I called my good friend Bill Compton who suggested ways of solving the problem and we decided that removing the battery would do the trick. I did that and the computer worked fine again. I loved Windows but cannot stand Vista.
I worked until 1:15 PM when I was asked to go to the Exhibition of Amtrak History so gathered what I needed and made my way out to the rail cars behind the Depot Inn & Suites for the Grand Opening.
