Over 15 years ago, Chris Dewitt called to say there was a wood private railroad passenger car in Glen Ellen, a small wine town near Sonoma. The owner was wondering if it was worth restoration. When we located the car, the rear end was on a road truck bogie, and the front end was up in the air on a single jack, leaning on a slope with a cable of 20' slung from the front end to an oak tree to keep it from tipping over. After carefully checking the car out, I took Chris and Lee Hobold to lunch at an upscale dining establishment in Glen Ellen.

For those not familiar, Lee is a dead ringer for Willie Nelson, so of course Chris and I acted like we were his body guards. Apparently Lee and Willie had actually hooked up and done some motorcycling together. Lee was a true craftsman. The NSRM sports many of his works he had a hand in, such as the McKean car. He always drove around in his faded red pickup named "Sunburn", which looked like the pickup in "Bottle Shock". Fun to be around!

Sadly to say Lee reached the end of the trail on August 16th, but the good memories live on.