The ride home was less than satisfactory. Again, I was glad for the safety and that someone else was driving, blah blah blah, but there were just a few factors that made it not-so-fun. I don’t want to complain, though, so I might just leave it at that.
No, I’ll just ‘bullet point’ this or else it will be a mighty short post.
1. We went sloooooooow. In the heat, the rails can actually become misaligned (they called them ‘sun kinks’ in the olden days’) so the train has to follow ‘slow orders’ and go 10 miles per hour in several stretches. I am not kidding you that at one point we were passed by a bird.
2. The full moons. As we followed the river, it is the custom of the river rafters to moon the train. The first one was a little kid, which was a little funny. The next two were older, and it was a little sad.
3. The clacking. I kept hearing a clacking coming from the rear of the car and figured it was something mechanical. I napped through it so I wouldn’t notice it. Later I hear it stop, then start, so I looked back. A young girl had a toy – two lengths of rope tied together with two acrylic balls on the ends. Bounce the rope? The balls clack! I let it slide because it didn’t seem to be bothering anyone else, plus what it she was a special needs kid and this comforted her? After I looked back twenty minutes later….. her mother was playing with it. I did go say something, in a very nice way. “I thought someone was hammering back here.”
“Nope! We’re just playing with our balls!”
“Oh. It’s a little loud.” She smiled sheepishly and stopped.
4. A couple who was on the train out got back on and told me about their lovely time in Glenwood Springs. He sat down in the chair next to me, which promptly broke. The seat ratcheted all the way back and wouldn’t stay up. They were able to switch to different seats together. Later I moved to the broken seat so that a 92-year-old veteran could sit in my seat.
5. The veteran was in many ways a dear, dear man, and I enjoyed hearing his life stories very much, but he had some strong views about our government and had some strong solutions for fixing it, and I just remained quiet and didn’t answer him. The lull passed and I changed the subject. This happened several times.
6. I did not sleep well in the broken seat.
That is all. Sorry for sounding whiny, but I am a little tired.
Peggy says
Hahaha! Oh please whine away … it makes me feel so much more normal. I cracked up at #2. (I said cracked AND #2 in the same sentence)
I’m not sure if I would be in the mood to talk to someone on the train or not. I do know that I don’t like to talk when I get my hair cut. I like to just sit, relax & enjoy someone fiddling with my hair.
Kristi says
I never knew about the “mooners.”
“playing with our balls” -- grow up, mother.
It’s good to respect our veterans, even though our views may differ.
Glad you had a relatively uneventful trip home.
Brad says
I heard about the hot rails thing on the radio yesterday. Baltimore commuter trains were all on restricted speed status.