Ruby and my mom had another sister, Doris, who lived in Southeast Oklahoma.  In Heavener.  Her husband, Oscar, was a brakeman on the train that ran from Siloam Springs, Arkansas down to Howe--which was a few miles from their house.  In the summer, mom and dad would take me to Siloam and put me on the train.  Fun, fun, fun.  Everyone who had a job on the train knew I was Oscar's niece--so I was pampered.  And Doris was waiting for me at the end of the line.  Doris had a daughter, my cousin Patricia, who was my age.  They are all gone now.  And all those childhood memories are gone with them.  Life is full of sadness mixed in with the joy.

I was probably seven or eight when I started riding the train by myself.  Back then we had wonderful passenger trains--before Eisenhower built the interstate highways, and the semi trucks pretty much put the trains out of business.  The interstate highways were wonderful for America--no more patched up two lane roads.  But losing the trains was not good.  Now when I go overseas, I love to ride the trains.  The countries in Europe have perfected their train system.  It is excellent.

Once when I was going from Paris to Prague on the train, we had a sleeper car and during the night the Czech military boarded when we crossed out of Germany.  They got on at the front, and as the train moved across the border, the German crew got off at the back.  Interesting.  They avoided each other while transferring responsibility for the train.  The Czechs had guns and were in uniform.  I don't think there was any love lost between the Germans and the Czechs.

I was sick with a sinus infection, was half asleep and a little bit dopey, so when the Czech officer asked for my passport, I wouldn't give it to him.  I kept asking for a receipt.  He wouldn't give me one.  It was a standoff.  With Becky hissing in the background, "Mother!!  Give him your passport.  You have to give him your passport.  You don't have a choice."  I guess they could have arrested me so I finally relented.  That was a long, long time ago.  Back when the country was called Czechoslovakia.  Now it is the Czech Republic.