Thisis to BRINGATEAM! WEARACOSTUME! YOURYEAR YOURYEAR EARNBRAGGINGRIGHTS! EARNBRAGGINGRIGHTS! Join hundreds of brave Mainers for the Natural Resources Council of Maine’s 10th annual POLARBEARDIP&DASH! SUNDAY,December31,2017 EastEndBeach,Portland Help raise awareness AND funds in support of our work to address climate change here in Maine! 5K“warm up”run around Portland’s Back Cove trail: 11:00 a.m. (registration starts at 9:00 a.m., Back Cove parking lot, across from Hannaford). Polar Bear Dip into Casco Bay, East End Beach: Noon (registration at 11:00 a.m., not necessary for race participants). Shuttle will return participants to Back Cove parking lot after dip. Cool prizes from local businesses for 5k winners by age class, top fundraisers, and for best costume! Learn more and sign up at nrcm.org. Be BOLD in the COLD to help protect Maine’s environment. SPECIALTHANKSTOOURLEADSPONSORS! Personalities 98 P o r t l a n d monthly magazine courtesy photo first fling was rekindled when he start- ed riding the Night Owl, an Amtrak train that ran between D.C. and Boston from 1972 to 1995. The friendly dimensions of a train came back to him in a rush: “There’d always be a card game somewhere in the lounge car. The regulars who knew one an- other would pull out a deck of cards and play at a table in the café car.” Next stop? A life changer, for all of us. Against insurmountable odds, Davis soon became the driving force in Maine’s Am- trak expansion B orn in Saint John, New Bruns- wick, Davis moved to Maine with his family when he was six months old, so he’s a local with an asterisk. “There’s a joke that a Maine native is someone who has three generations buried here and no living relatives in Massachusetts. All of my ancestors are buried in Paris Hill.” He first took to the air regularly for work as head of Maine’s Mortgage Bankers As- sociation of America. “I flew back and forth for the bank for years, but what do you see above the clouds? To be able to go through El Paso and look out onto the platform at Hopi Indians selling necklaces is memora- ble. Or to see the Great Hall of the St. Louis Union Station, with its chandeliers, stained glass, and artwork. It’s a classic. The 1930s Spanish style train station in Los Angeles is so beautiful it’s often used for commer- cials. Each city has something unique,” says Davis, his adventurous spirit glowing as he unrolls a map of the Amtrak System, trac- ing the many cross-country routes. “Before Amtrak, many Maine commuters traveled on Buddliners. They were self-propelled railway cars used as a last-ditch effort to try and preserve the train service in the 1950s. The Boston and Maine railroad had one Davis (continued from page 49)