Waking up just after 8:00 AM I went out to find a place for breakfast in Reedsport. After walking two blocks south to the edge of town I found Don's Main Street Family Restaurant. Success! I went back to the hotel to get Chris and we went to have a good breakfast. I enjoyed the French Toast Breakfast along with sausage, the best meal of this trip so far. Back at the hotel I sat outside waiting in the warm Oregon morning sunshine waiting for the bus to take us back to the Florence Historical District. Mary our bus driver showed up at 10:10 AM for our 10:30 AM Departure.

Our ride took us about thirty minutes from Reedsport to Florence. Once our bus driver had found a parking spot, I met up with Jim and we decided to walk to the beach. About a mile out of the Historic District we met a local who said the beach was four more miles away. So much for that destination. We headed back to town.

By 1:00 PM we were all back on buses to take us back to the train at Beck. Chris Skow then came aboard saying that he had set up a photo opportunity at the Siuslaw River Drawbridge. We would stop there for pictures of our train our on that bridge. The buses followed each other to the bridge location and everyone picked their photo spots. We were all told the train wouldn't arrive for about thirty minutes. I had picked a spot but after twenty minutes I decided to move to a new location. I walked around a building and found some people out on a boat being built. After I met the owner and his helper to make sure it was cool for us all to be here, I set up for my picture. About ten minutes later, we all heard a horn and soon the train would be pulling out onto the bridge.

They posed our Trains Unlimited Special on the long low approach trestle to the drawbridge. What a beautiful sight our Trains Unlimited Special looked out on the Siuslaw River Drawbridge. With that being done, we all reboarded the buses to return to the train which we raced and beat back to Beck. We all unloaded and returned to where we thought our cars would stop.

Our last sunset aboard the Trains Unlimited NRHS Special as We traveled through the twilight to Albany and it was completely dark when we reached Salem as I enjoyed the fresh air of the Pony Express. Being that it was the 4th of July it then became time to spot the communities firework aerial displays along our route. We learned that our onboard train crew would be dead on the law at midnight so any more delays would put us in trouble. The Union Pacific Railroad did a great job this whole trip of keeping our Trains Unlimited Special moving across their railroad. The falls on the Willamette River at Oregon City were all lit up and very impressive this late evening. We rolled the rest of the way into Portland Union Station arriving there at 11:58 PM. A yard crew boarded the train to split it into two sections as the northbound Coast Starlight was a mere ten minutes behind us. This splitting of our train would give the Amtrak passengers easy access to Portland Union Station.

As I detrained, I stopped to look one last time at this train set that had brought me to Portland. What a great trip it had been! I truly enjoyed all of these unique passenger cars and the chance to meet everyone onboard. The scenery was truly awe inspiring and great to see from our train. Thank you Trains Unlimited Tours for one fantastic trip.

We took the shuttle bus to the Doubletree Hotel and I quickly got my packet and tickets. Bob got everything he wanted and we went to get a cab while Chris tried to get something. We found a cab and waited for Chris and another person also staying at the Days Inn. I went back in and found Chris who got tickets for the Western Star Steam Trip and Port of Tillamook Trip and was very happy. The cab took us to the Days Inn at 82nd Street and we all checked in ending one fantastic way to get to Portland, Oregon thanks to the 2005 Trains Unlimited Tours NRHS Express.