Cincinnati to Kissimmee

[Squeakz2001]

So my hubby and I got to the train station Friday morning at 2am for our 3 am departure. The train did not arrive until 6:42 am. Thats a lot of wasted sleep time! As soon as we boarded, the sleeper attendant put us in the dining car and told us he would get us when our room was ready. So we ate breakfast and watched the world go by. When we got to our car, it was made up for the day, so we put it down so I could attempt to sleep- which didnt happen. First time on Amtrak, ya know? We ended up pulling into Charlottesville, VA about 5 hours late, to meet the thurway bus which was waiting for us. In the pouring rain we got our bags and sat on the bus on its way to Richmond. We heard #97 was running only 10 minutes late, and we were glad because we were tired of waiting at stations. It ended up being around 40 minutes late, and we got on, our attendant, Lee, was fabulous. He had everything ready to go. This morning I woke up late and my hubby had already went to breakfast, so Lee brought breakfast to me, complete with a tablecloth. He was so sweet.

At the Kissimmee station, we got out of the train and saw our cab driver getting in a verbal fight with some other cab drivers. Apparently they thought he was there just to find someone and that he didnt have a 'real' fare. So when we told him that we were the 'real' fare, he said 'see! Here they are' and he loaded our stuff and left. He complained about getting into fights the whole way to the hotel and on average drove 15 mph over the speed limit.

This is going to be an interesting trip! Get back on 98 on Tuesday, cant wait!

 

[AmtrakWPK]

If you get to the station with some extra time before 98 arrives, check out the murals on the backside of the buildings that parallel the track by the station. There are back porches, and people, that appear to actually be there but are all only murals, and pretty darn real-looking. Also, the main street there (on the other side of those buildings) is old downtown Kissimmee, and it's interesting to walk around. Also there is the oldest continuously operating hardware store in the Southeast, right close by, with a big wooden horse out front, and an amazing two-story mural painted on the outside brick wall of the hardware store, showing the old downtown, with old cars and horse-and-buggys. There's a steel bumper at the bottom of it in case somebody thinks it's real and tries to drive down it. On the other side of the track (toward the big lake) about a block further down is an interesting pyramidal obelisk with stones and artifacts from all over the world. That area around the Kissimmee station is pretty interesting, much more so than most stations, I think.

 

[Sam Damon]

So my hubby and I got to the train station Friday morning at 2am for our 3 am departure. The train did not arrive until 6:42 am. Thats a lot of wasted sleep time!

It's always a good idea to check Amtrak.com's "train status" feature on those 2:00a and 3:00a departures. In fact, the station agent at Pittsburgh gave me her direct line at the station when picking up my tickets, flat out advising me to check before I left home!

That's a sad commentary on Amtrak OTP.

Hope all goes well with your return trip.