This post is for my friend Tom Burlingame, someone I haven’t seen in a long time but who recently found me on Facebook. I have multiple “Tom” stories to tell, all of which involve significant laughter. My favorite has to do with a jockey named José Corrales who was a great rider but known to not always give a horse his best effort. Tom, who was training thoroughbreds at Longacres at the time, told me, “You just don’t know if you’re going to get José or Jos-B.”

Get it?! Jos-A or Jos-B?! That’s funny!

Anyway, back when we were in high school, Tom and I regularly drove down to Portland to go to the racetrack there. About 3/4’s of the way to Portland from Seattle is a little town called Kalama. And EVERY time we went to Portland, Tom and I would have to stop in Kalama at the Burger Bar for what we called a Kalama Burger.

I took this photo from the freeway on our way down to Portland on December 23rd. I was pleased to see the Burger Bar, with its exact same sign, is still there.