RailFanLNK
Conductor
Ok, I will admit, there's not much majestic about the plains of Nebraska, Iowa and Illinois but after 1/2 year of a grinding work schedule with dispatch, peak season (Christmas) ice storms, blizzards, melting, more ice, falling on the ice, getting stuck, terribly plowed city streets my fiance' looked at me and said, "isnt' it time for a train ride?!?" :huh: And I said YES! This was Thursday night so I did a quick status report on the CZ and it had been running well for the 5 days prior so I decided to do a quick "day" trip from Lincoln NE to Galesburg IL. If everything went well I would leave at 4:21am out of LNK and arrive in Galesburg at 12:18pm then have a 4 hour layover and back on the CZ #5 to LNK and arrive at 12:08am.
I was overheard talking about this trip at work from a guy who has ridden Amtrak with me two other times and both times he has loved it. Since he has had the EXACT same problems at work, he wanted to go on this trip but he said, "But I don't want to miss the Super Bowl" and I said, "you won't!" He couldn't figure out how I was going to pull it off until I explained, "we leave Saturday morning and come back Saturday night, if all goes well, you may even have time to go to the bar for a drink before they close at 1am!" :lol: So he said he would think about it and then call me by 8:30pm Friday evening. Lo and behold my phone rings and its Bill saying, "hey, count me in, I can't wait to do this!" What was even more fun was to see this bleary eyed guy get in my car at 3:40am and say, "did you sleep much? I was so excited I have hardly slept at all!" :lol: Good...he's getting hooked! I pulled out my latest addition of LNK Trainaholics Anonymous meeting and welcomed him to our support group! :lol:
Train was on time arriving which makes for our trip to start well. Mike the Amtrak Station attendent is more than just an acquintance now, he's a friend. He got us lined up for tickets and the bad part was the train was almost full so the coach price had jumped to $83, the good part is that we aren't the only people on the train that supposedly to part of the tax paying public "no one rides trains anymore". We settled in to our seats and was in a real quiet coach. I fell back to sleep and awoke in Omaha NE as we had a service stop. I chose not to detrain but to doze/sleep in my seat. I awoke about 40 minutes later and rousted Bill awake and we enjoyed a very quiet breakfast in the dining car wih another man named "Al". He was moving back home to Northern MIchigan from Denver. He had compliments for Amtrak but not for the guy that snored like a punk rock band (Angry Samoans) so loudly by him from Fort Morgan to Omaha. We had a great visit and was moving back home to be close to his aging dad. I had the omelet and so did Bill. We had "George" as our waiter which was different. He was African American and I know how the name "George" can be a derogatory term but that was his real name. I quietly explained this to Bill and about the Pullman Co etc. Bill has an appetite to learn. So much so that I took my book "Waiting On A Train" by James McCommons and gave him that book as a gift. Brenda put it in a gift back with that tissue stuff and he was very grateful, AU friends I in the midst of creating a new 40 year old foamer!
One agreement that works for both Bill and I when we travel together is he goes and gets lost and hangs some by himself and I do the same with not hurt feelings from either of us. This is the end of Part 1, I have to go to church now!
I was overheard talking about this trip at work from a guy who has ridden Amtrak with me two other times and both times he has loved it. Since he has had the EXACT same problems at work, he wanted to go on this trip but he said, "But I don't want to miss the Super Bowl" and I said, "you won't!" He couldn't figure out how I was going to pull it off until I explained, "we leave Saturday morning and come back Saturday night, if all goes well, you may even have time to go to the bar for a drink before they close at 1am!" :lol: So he said he would think about it and then call me by 8:30pm Friday evening. Lo and behold my phone rings and its Bill saying, "hey, count me in, I can't wait to do this!" What was even more fun was to see this bleary eyed guy get in my car at 3:40am and say, "did you sleep much? I was so excited I have hardly slept at all!" :lol: Good...he's getting hooked! I pulled out my latest addition of LNK Trainaholics Anonymous meeting and welcomed him to our support group! :lol:
Train was on time arriving which makes for our trip to start well. Mike the Amtrak Station attendent is more than just an acquintance now, he's a friend. He got us lined up for tickets and the bad part was the train was almost full so the coach price had jumped to $83, the good part is that we aren't the only people on the train that supposedly to part of the tax paying public "no one rides trains anymore". We settled in to our seats and was in a real quiet coach. I fell back to sleep and awoke in Omaha NE as we had a service stop. I chose not to detrain but to doze/sleep in my seat. I awoke about 40 minutes later and rousted Bill awake and we enjoyed a very quiet breakfast in the dining car wih another man named "Al". He was moving back home to Northern MIchigan from Denver. He had compliments for Amtrak but not for the guy that snored like a punk rock band (Angry Samoans) so loudly by him from Fort Morgan to Omaha. We had a great visit and was moving back home to be close to his aging dad. I had the omelet and so did Bill. We had "George" as our waiter which was different. He was African American and I know how the name "George" can be a derogatory term but that was his real name. I quietly explained this to Bill and about the Pullman Co etc. Bill has an appetite to learn. So much so that I took my book "Waiting On A Train" by James McCommons and gave him that book as a gift. Brenda put it in a gift back with that tissue stuff and he was very grateful, AU friends I in the midst of creating a new 40 year old foamer!
One agreement that works for both Bill and I when we travel together is he goes and gets lost and hangs some by himself and I do the same with not hurt feelings from either of us. This is the end of Part 1, I have to go to church now!
Your penalty is you're sentenced to take another trip! 
