Inside Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln inside Abraham Lincoln (it’s complicated) - Near Othello, Wasthington
One of the great things about bicycle touring with dogs (or without them even) is that you have no idea what might lie in store for you on any given day and today was one of those days for sure. Everything started normal enough, we picked up near Corfu, Washington where the world’s worst sniper had been practicing up in the Saddle Mountains and thankfully, he had decided to take the day off from his training, so we had the world to ourselves.
The ride began on a fairly well maintained dirt/gravel road that went through some stunning scenery. I made numerous stops to take photos even though I knew none of them would truly capture the grandiose landscape in any manner that would do it justice. The Saddle Mountains were slowly beginning to peter out to the south and east, making way for the vast, open, dry desert/plains to the north and east. That said, there was still some cool geology to be found in the form of scars on the sides of the mountains and rock scabs left behind by the last major glacial event on the Columbia Plateau.
(click photos to enlarge and see descriptions)
At the county line between Adams and Grant counties, the gravel road switched from good to bad. I always find it interesting how things like road maintenance change so drastically from county to county, whether it’s switching from one type of pavement to another, or pavement to gravel, etc. We were in luck though, we only had a mile or so to go before getting onto a long stretch of pavement that would come as a treat.
After struggling through the last of the gravel, our tires hit the smooth tarmac heading into Othello. The road itself was a bit busy, but traffic was courteous and the shoulders were ample. That is, until we started running into all the vegetables…. Every so often, there would be a potato, an onion, or a carrot in the middle of our path. Sometimes it was one and sometimes it was a dozen. Apparently, Othello was home to several large vegetable processing plants and we were on one of the two main roads into town meaning approximately half of the vegetable trucks would come barreling down this road, spilling hundreds of vegetables in the process. It was quite comical at first, but at times, there were so many vegetables in the way that I’d have to slow down and swerve out into traffic to avoid hitting the vegetables. It was pretty bizarre. Besides the common potatoes, onion, and carrots, we also found a tomato and some broccoli. We easily could have made ourselves some soup!
Our route through Othello itself was fairly unremarkable aside from all the vegetables strewn about. It seemed like a fairly quiet, agricultural community that was past its heyday. As we reached the northern end of town near all the processing plants, I noticed a really old train car sitting in front of one of the plants and 3 people working on the car. I decided to pull in for a closer look as this car was clearly very old and must hold some sort of significance since it was receiving so much attention. I knew there was a cool old train car about 5 miles away named “Abraham Lincoln”, but as I got closer to this car, I realized that the map must have been wrong and that this had to be “Abraham Lincoln”. This was confirmed by one of the workers who told me that “Abraham Lincoln” had been at the other site 5 miles away for many years but recently had to be moved as the old tracks it was sitting on were being decommissioned.
What a great find! “Abraham Lincoln” is the oldest passenger car in the US that is still in operation and at the time we saw it, it was 111 years old! I’d read up on it previously, so I knew a little bit about it and asked if I could take some pictures from the outside and the workers obliged. After a few minutes, one of the women came up to me and asked if I wanted to have a peek inside, what luck! I jumped at the chance and climbed aboard behind the woman. The inside was in the process of being renovated as well. The woman set to work on some task in the kitchen area and told me to feel free to wander around and explore. I took about 15 minutes checking out the various nooks and crannies and was surprised by how well preserved the interior was. Just about everything was as it had been in the early 1900’s, it was marvelous!
The tight quarters made photography a bit difficult, so after exploring for about 15 minutes, I decided to film a quick, poorly narrated video of the car as I slowly made my way towards the exit. When I made it back to the kitchen area, I noticed a microwave and made a joke about it not being very period accurate and the woman laughed and said that she had to make a few upgrades considering that they’d lived in it for several decades. That’s when it hit me, these weren’t just workers, the people I was talking to were the owners and had actually lived in this train car. In fact, the woman I was talking to had been practically born in this car as it was the first place she ever lived and she grew up in it! I was blown away by the fact that she had invited me, a total stranger, into her ridiculously unique home and not only that, she’d turned me loose for nearly 20 minutes to just wander around and do as I pleased. Such an incredible opportunity that will never be forgotten!
After our riding day was over, we returned a few hours later to the car and brought milk shakes to everyone to thank them for letting us into their home.
(click below for video)
