By David Simmons
NORCROSS, Ga. | Back in 1988, my best friend, Dave Morley (DAM, his initials) and I were about to begin our thru hike of the Appalachian Trail (AT) after months of planning.
Two Daves, Dave Simmons and Dave Morley, in hiking garb.
Amtrak was our chosen method of transportation to get us from Dallas, Tex. to Gainesville, Ga. Our train route took us up through St. Louis, to Chicago. There our train continued eastward through the visually impressive confluence of the mighty Allegheny and Monongahela rivers that form the Ohio River at Pittsburgh, Penn. and to Washington, D.C., then south to Gainesville.
Unbeknownst to us, our train once in Chicago was to be labeled “The Freedom Train.” There it filled with hundreds and hundreds of Democratic Party loyalists, who gathered together in Chicago, to catch the train to Washington, D.C., for a rally in support of the overthrow of Reaganomics and Republican Presidential Candidate George Herbert Walker Bush. There had to be thousands of details that went into making the Freedom Train happen. And it was well publicized, though we didn’t know of it before we got to Chicago.
We had commandeered the very last row of seats in the last car, no caboose, well before we got to Chicago, and it was to become the Freedom Train. If you have ever gone to Union Station in D.C. by train, you would know that the trains pull past the station and then back up to the unloading platforms there. When we backed into Union Station all the local TV news crews were there with their cameras rolling, live on air. It was a big deal, locally and nationally.
So, as the train backed into the station, we saw the TV news cameras rolling, recording the historic moment, as they filmed the arrival of the “Freedom Train.” As the train shuddered to a stop, the cameramen turned their cameras to the back of the train to record the arrival and the Freedom Train and disembarking of the Democratic party loyalists.
In professional hushed tones, the reporters spoke of the historic arrival and the great societal impact of “The Freedom Train.” As it worked out, DAM and I, grungy and bearded after two and a half days on the train, backpacks on and walking sticks in hand, were the first off the train and into the glare of the television lights as the reporters rushed up.
Surprised and amused by all the attention around our arrival in D.C., we raised our staffs in salute to the assembled media, and just about then one of them yelled out, “CUT…….… dammit!” Ahhh….fleeting fame, it just wasn’t to be for us!
The two AT hikers were not what the media wanted. All that planning and preparation they must have put in for “The Freedom Train” arrival and they never realized who was to exit the train into the spotlight. Like they say, the best laid plans…..
The newsmen had no interest in us, so we switched trains for the next Amtrak to Georgia. There the two of us caught a ride to the AT at Springer Mountain and hiked our way 708 miles into the Shenandoah National Forest in northern Virginia.
At that point we realized our meager finances and equipment were not suitable for finishing the thru-hike. While DAM’s circumstances prevented him from continuing, I scrimped and saved, and resumed my hike in 1990. I became the 2,048th person to complete the AT on October 22, 1990.
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