October

On Sunday I woke up, and felt fall in the air.

As I drank my coffee out on the balcony, I smelled the familiar clean, crisp, leafy air that reminds one of this time of year. I thought to myself, today is October 1st, and I will not be here for much longer. I should go see the train yard.

This was a thing that I'd wanted to do since moving to Kansas City. But to be honest, just hearing the lonely echo of freight whistles as trains pass through this city has been heartwrenching. Everyone has heard me say it a million times, but I'll say it again. It was more than just a job, or just a show. And the way it all ended felt like a death...a very unfair, very disgraceful death for a legacy that deserved to go out with dignity and grace. But life isn't fair, and everything dies in the end. And feeling sad isn't a good reason to avoid the places where wonderful things happened.

I drove down to "The Bottoms" for the first time since moving here. One of the great things about the cities where I had to walk instead of drive, is that I remember so much more about those places. Kansas City is one of those. It was a reflex to turn left at the bottom of the overpass, drive straight past the warehouses, to the place where the road turned to dirt and the tracks began.




I parked under the overpass, walked past the "No Outlet", "No Parking", and "No Trespassing" signs, into the yard. Following the fence, so that at least if anyone came to yell at me they couldn't accuse me of crossing live tracks. I crossed under the overpass where the flats and wagons used to sit.




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