The interior of an old Pullman train car. Tonight. What a trip. Situated on the shore of the big lake, I'd worked on the camp next to it a month back, minor repairs and I'd taken photos of the Pullman and I might have posted one or two online here. But tonight, the customer, who I also met for the first time tonight, having worked for him and his wife on and off for about seven eight years, tonight the customer calls...or emails me actually...says something about needing to close up a camp before the winter hits...plus meet me.
The details about closing up a camp sounded...off. Until I pull into the two-track snaking through the birch trees and park by a car with Wisconsin plates...saw movement in the Pullman, but this other guy, the Herman cartoon character, owned it and I didn't think the customer from Virginia would be inside. The Wisconsin plates threw me, too. But off to the left I can see what looks like a building you'd see in Tijuana, yellow sheet metal, some blue, some brown, windows blown out, missing really....whereas a month ago I thought the place was a new cabin, had that look, and I didn't go over there nosing around although I did put my nose up to the glass on the Pullman.
Was like a trip into the past. This thing is a museum piece, green velvet seats, bunks that you don't know are there, pull down...all these gadgets, call buttons, an old phone from way back, some incredible stained glass, words on the door, forget the name, but it was made in Dayton, Ohio. I'm thinking, solid...has the look and feel like it could withstand hurricane force winds. And it's sitting on the shore of Lake Superior. I should have asked if I could take photos...camera was in the truck. But the customer did say I could bring my wife out, take a look. Too many details to list. 1875? He said they'd found a date somewhere inside.
The work needing done is that other camp...the guy who had it destroyed it out of spite. Cut way half the building, was the Lake Superior Club, way back in the day...probably a fabled speak-easy. But coinky-dink, I'm replacing a window in a couple weeks that will plug into the opening where a window had been...just gotta make the height about 4 inches bigger, close in the sides maybe a foot either way, find a couple old 30" doors i can cut down in height to fit the openings there, hasp, close it up so it doesn't turn into a party house.
There was a separate room for the high society ladies, separate room, bunk, toilet. Sink in the corner...reminds me of what you see on airplanes, only the gadgetry is old, dated. The stained glass is something else. You can't find glass like that, not in those colors, that dark. Something else. Carry me back! Carry me back to my home!