END OF THE LINE

The Gulf Harbor Terminal Railway no longer exists.  The layout has been completely dismantled; rolling stock, most structures, figures, vehicles, signs and other scenery items have been packed away.  The layout itself, including track and scenic base, is now scrap in a local recycling center.

This is not a sad event, but one that signals a change in our lives, a change we are looking forward to implementing.  It's a decision inspired by a recent visit to our daughter and her family in Utah.  Having been in Texas eight years, we are returning to the Northwest, back to Boise, Idaho.  Though my wife and I are both Washington State natives, we have lived in Idaho on three different occasions (if I count my Air Force time), two of which were in Boise, and consider it a second home.  While we've enjoyed Texas and have made many close friends here, we no longer have family here and so it's time to go.  Our daughter in Utah will be only a five-hour drive from Boise, and that's a darn sight closer than a 1200- mile plane ride.  Way less expensive, too!

We also plan to downsize, shedding about 1,000 square feet of living space, so there won't be room for a layout.  And I'm fine with that.  The GHT was my sixth layout and, believe it or not, the same rail and spikes were used in all six!  I sure got my money's worth from that rail I bought in 1978 and 1985!  I had countless hours of enjoyment and learned a lot from building and operating those layouts, but it's time for a change.  I want to pursue other interests, such as my other hobby of amateur astronomy and get back into trout fishing and become reacquainted with the mountains.

While I won't be building another layout, I intend to continue to build models of rolling stock strictly for display purposes and someday may even create a couple of bookshelf dioramas.  We'll see; for now, I suspect my equipment and rolling stock projects in progress will be packed away for at least a year or two, if not longer.  Our immediate concern is to sell our house here in Texas and find another up north.

The decision to relocate wasn't easy, but it feels absolutely right, and we trust in God to lead us into this next phase of our lives.  As I said, we have made some wonderful friends here and that's the hard part of leaving.  However, I am looking forward to living again where there are four distinct seasons and, being a native of the Northwest, I have never stopped missing the sight of mountains.  Boise is a very pleasant, very livable city of 200,000 that backs up to a mountain range and has a nice climate.  We will have to get used to snow again, true, but since Boise has a high desert climate, we won't have to deal with the sticky humidity any longer...nor with bug treatments for our house!

I don't know how many people have read this blog and it doesn't really matter, because I've enjoyed writing it.  It focused my thoughts and was fun to do.  I hope some of the experiences I've set down here have been helpful and I hope you have enjoyed my photos, too.

Thanks for reading!