Thanks to Sumpter Valley Railroad

First off, my apolgies and an explanation. I toured the railroad on June 24 (during a weekend layover for a consulting job outside Boise), but have not been home since then long enough to use my home computer for posting to this board (my house is outside ABQ; I now work in Hobbs) and am writing this at the office after hours.
Having said that, I want to publicly thank all the folks at Sumpter Valley for extending me wonderful hospitality that Sunday two weeks ago. That includes Ron Brinton (who was cutting trees alongside the ROW that day), Jerry Huck, and Brett Bain who answered my endless questions and provided lots of good information.
I showed up late for the first train of the morning (which was late departing), bought a ticket, and introduced myself to Jerry Huck. He asked if I wanted a cab ride in the steam powered loco #19. Did I ever!! He got the permission of "Grandma" (John, the engineer [don't ask, I don't know how he got the name]), and I signed a waiver of liability and we were off. The five miles went by fast and before I knew it we were returning to McEwen from Sumpter. I bought another round-trip ticket for a ride in the open air car and did the trip again.
Finally, on my way back to Boise I stopped by to see Jeff Acock and treated him to coffee and homemade pie at the local cafe.
My thanks to all of you on the Sumpter Valley crew and hope you get that new balloon loop at Sumpter up and running soon! For those of you who haven't visited up there, go see them. It's a very professional, all volunteer organization.
Dave Boyer
Hobbs, NM