Boulder on the Tracks

 

Boulder on the Tracks (mp3) (pdf)

Back in August of 2014 (I think) we indulged in sleeper accommodations on the Amtrak Cardinal for a trip out East to visit some of the kids. Not long after entering the scenic New River Gorge portion of the route our train came to surprise halt, luckily not the kind of emergency braking where everyone goes flying. Our friendly attendant explained that there had been a mudslide ahead and there was a boulder blocking our way. (Our rock was not as large as the one pictured above, maybe half that size, but it wasn't something you would want to drive your train into.)

This was the start of a Grand Adventure involving backing up carefully, waiting hours for engines to come from Charleston, WV to bring us back, boarding buses, having our bus break down in the mountains on the interstate highway, waiting hours for a replacement, driving through the night and, finally, being deposited in Charlottesville, VA around 4 a.m., where we rented a motel room to sleep for four hours until our connecting train would arrive the next morning. The ride had been very pleasant until the unplanned stop and we had an uneventful return on the Capitol Limited a few days later.

This tune may have started around that time but I know for sure that it appears in a 2017 notebook. I made a number of changes to it this year and finally recorded it today. Just the melody three times through; first on mandolin, then with octave mandolin added, finally with guitar playing the tune also on the third time. I took it at a relaxed tempo but it can go really fast if you prefer that approach.