Floyd

I was with my buddy Joel in Atchison, Kansas, working on an upcoming article for the National Railway Historical Society, photographing a railroad swing bridge across the Missouri River that is still in operation. There’s a nice park in town that has a great view of the river and the bridge and is popular with the locals. We had some questions about the bridge and river traffic and thought why not ask someone that looked like they were local? We encountered Floyd.

Each morning Floyd drives into town in his 1977 Ford F-350 he bought new to get coffee and breakfast from McDonald’s. He then comes down to the park to eat and also to feed “his” cats, some strays that live in the park. He then watches any barge or rail traffic that may come by. Floyd has kept pretty busy in his life, spending time in the Navy, traveling to Japan, and even writing plays. He’s never short on ideas.

After breakfast he enjoys smoking his corncob pipe, filled not with traditional pipe tobacco, but with Swisher Sweets cigars he breaks up. He preferred a brand of cigar called Marsh and Wheeling but hasn’t been able to find them locally anymore.

We talked to Floyd about the river, barge traffic, the bridge, and the railroad. He claimed to have had a “five minute railroad career,” it being cut short due to poor eyesight.

After a few hours we parted ways, Floyd returning home to work on whatever project he had in mind that day, us to continue further west into Kansas.

While the meeting with Floyd was brief, it was certainly memorable. You couldn’t meet a friendlier guy!