2008
i bought a toothbrush, some toothpaste, a flannel for my face
maura @ 9:31 pm
Once again we decided to take Amtrak to the great white north, and once again we encountered strange and potentially maddening delays. Actually we were all remarkably calm about it — maybe we’re just getting accustomed to the Amtrak craziness?
In this episode everything went swimmingly up to Springfield, MA, at which point we were told that a backhoe had struck a propane tank near the track somewhere north of us and the tracks were impassable. The plan was to put us all on buses between Springfield and Southern VT, at which point we’d get on another train and continue on our merry way.
It didn’t sound too bad at first. But then they told us that the buses wouldn’t be there for an hour. And then told us that AGAIN an hour later.
So we sat on the train at Springfield for nearly three hours. They’d closed the cafe car, which sucked, but there was a perfectly acceptable pizza + grinders (har — I couldn’t bring myself to ask for a hoagie) place near the station where I scored us some dinner. Gus watched The Neverending Story on the laptop (thank goodness for electricity on trains!) and Jonathan and I did a little reading.
We all cheered when the buses finally arrived, and hopped on and settled in with the Game Boy + books. When the driver started it up the radio was blasting Loverboy’s “Turn Me Loose,” which was utterly surreal. Dude, it’s a high school ski trip! It took ’til the end of the song for the radio to be turned off, so maybe it was the driver’s favorite?
The train station in Southern VT was a quaint olde timey place, all dark wooden benches and blissfully non-train bathrooms. There were two (2!) Thomas train tables with loads of trains. Gus and the three other kids (all of whom were well past prime Thomas age) seemed happy for the diversion. Jonathan and I were happy about the pretty decent coffee from a machine.
Once we were on the train again we SEEMED to be making good time. Still, we didn’t get in until after 10pm. Gus was still awake and Jonathan stauched the supercranky with the big guns: a new (to us!) Game Boy game. Lots of reading required, too — sneaky parents.
4 comments on “i bought a toothbrush, some toothpaste, a flannel for my face”
I know, that is SO true! We kept saying that the whole time we were waiting. And in some ways it was nice: we got to use the bathrooms in the train station rather than the train.
I just wish the train were a LITTLE faster. 9 hrs is fine, but with delays it’s typically closer to 12 which is a loooooong time.
There’s some lobbying group trying to get high-speed trains everywhere. It would be more convenient.
We learned about the group while visiting tower a of Union Terminal (http://thelope.com/2006/08/cincinnati-union-terminal.html) which I never knew existed (tower a that is). If you come out we’ll take you there! The building looks like the Hall of Justice and it’s so weird, all these odd nooks & crannies (kind of like I-House, where we once discovered a hidden room full of giant lightbulbs).
Oooh, cool! What a beautiful building. Maybe we will take Amtrak out to visit you! I would LOVE high speed trains, I would never fly or drive again, seriously.
Our trip home today was only an hour late, not too bad, and lots of pretty snow to look at in New England.
I’d rather be sitting on a train for 3 hours than a plane! Yes, Amquak is a way of life, a little less predictable but ok if you can just get in that frame of mind.