It is Friday morning Sept. 26th. Two o'clock in the morning is not an hour that anyone should be waking. Especially me. I had gone to bed at midnight the night before. I started packing a week prior, doing laundry along the way so that everything that I needed was clean. Of course the day before I had gotten a little full in my huge pink duffel bag so I unpacked to see what I had. Okay everything back in and more on top. Can I get it zipped now with out having it rip out? I put myself on the bathroom scale and now me with my bag. Holy crap that thing is super heavy. Good thing I am not flying, 62 pounds.
The train is running late. I have checked the schedule on the Amtrak app. Only a half an hour though so not too bad. Mark helps me with my luggage and gets me loaded on the train. I am on the upper deck and I end up getting 2 seats for myself. Sweet! The longest i have been on the train was for an hour to the Isaac Walton Inn in Glacier. I am a little nervous of how it all works so Mark was a sweety pie and gets me all situated, luggage on, cooler and supplies (blanket and pillow) at my seat. Hugs and kisses and I am off.
The upper level is dark. Everyone on board has settled down and gone to sleep. I am a little wired with excitement but soon the small 2 hours of sleep that I had gets to me and I drift off.
Exploring the train sounds fun. I go back car to car. There are 4 other cars the same as mine, a dining car right in front of me, a couple of sleeper cars, the lounge car that has tables and benches like a restaurant booth and the observation car. The lounge car has the snack bar downstairs and I go down to grab a fork and spoon for the goodies I brought in the cooler.
The people that you meet along your adventures are really the best part of traveling. Mark and I always say that you get out of it what you put into it. So I start talking to the gal seated across from me. Her name is Karolyn. She is in her mid 60's, from Seattle, was in the Military for over 25 years and is on her way to go. Chicago to golf in a PGA tournament with some famous people that I don't recognize by name.
We spend a lot of time getting to know each other, she has a ton of stories and she is an absolute riot, she has everyone in our car around us laughing hysterically.
She and I spend the rest of our trip together as bosom buddies. We have a few cocktails, dinner togethether in the dining car and after that we end up in the lounge car with our dinner mates. It is loud in the car with raised voices. There are lots of young men here on the the way to North Dakota to work on the oil rigs.
We retire to our seats to settle in for the night. The sleeping is uncomfortable but it could be a lot worse with only one seat. In the morning I awake to find my cell phone has been stolen out of my lap. I search for it through all of my things but in the end it is never found. People can sure be mean at times. Luckily after being in the Bahamas on a boat I have learned to unplug and kick back. I have used my phone and electronics so much less that I am not really distraught. I find it freeing.
Karolyn is in an uproar for me. She says if it were her phone she would have them stop the train right now. No one gets on or off and we dont move again till she gets it back. She is calling her friends and telling them that I should be in a panic. She is having a melt down for me!
Have we become so dependent on this technology that is at our fingertips that we need it 24/7? I don't enjoy being at everyones beckon call. I want a slow paced life and less materialistic things. It just makes you think.
The train arrives in Portage, WI and Mark's mom and dad are there to pick me up. The train is 9. 5 hours late. They ran out of food and alcohol. The boys going to ND drank 8 cases of beer that night. In Rugby, ND a freight train in front of us hit a car on the tracks and killed the driver. That created a crime scene and we waited 5 hours for the tracks to be cleared.
One hour before my stop a man has a seizure and hits his head on a table as he goes down to the ground rendering himself unconscious. Karolyn goes to help him out with her medical training in the Military. We stop the train to wait for an ambulance.
I wasnt in a big hurry and I had no deadlines. I feel sympathy for the 2 people that were killed and injured.
I fall asleep in he 1.5 hour car ride back to the house.
This was a big adventure. My next one will begin again on a bus ride to Gunflint, MN with 45 ladies. Thats a lot of hot flashes!
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