This is just a quick thing I wanted to share with people I know will appreciate it. Its long but bear with me. This summer I rode Amtrak from Osceola, Iowa to Manassas, Virginia. My mom, dad, girlfriend and I all showed up in Osceola 30 minutes before the scheduled departure time as Amtrak advised. Well, the Zephyr was 2 and a half hours late. Due to the delay, I missed my connection with the Cardinal. I detrained in Galesburg, Illinois to take a bus to Indianapolis to meet up with the Cardinal. The bus was 45 minutes late. I ended up spending 5 hours on a bus on an Interstate I travel 10 times a year, the exact reason I took Amtrak to avoid this Interstate. So I arrive in Indy at 2 a.m. and board the Cardinal. At this point we are an hour behind, and only 420 miles into the route 1100 miles long. I arrived amazingly late into Manassas, where my uncle and aunt picked me up. After spending a week at the Naval Academy, I reversed my route. The train was only 30 minutes late to Manassas, but the four hour layover in Chicago was somehow converted into a four minute sprint from the Cardinal to the California Zephyr. Heavy rains prevented my train from arriving in Osceola on time, and I finally met my family 45 minutes behind when I was supposed to. Now this trip sounds like a ride from hell. I remember freezing through the night on the Cardinal, the free dinner they provided because we were so far behind, and the tantalizingly slow progress on my way home. But what happened is hard for many to conceive. I have become entranced by passenger rail. However far behind I was, I still didn't worry. The best memories I have are the people I met and the places I saw, both of which I never would have experienced on any other mode of travel. I vividly reminisce about somewhere in West Virginia, with the sun setting and my computer in my lap, a beautiful river valley laid out my window, and complete relaxation coursing through my veins. In my short 18 years on this earth, Amtrak has provided me with a fantastic memory. Thank you Amtrak, and it leaves me to wonder how people have lived without a trip by train.
The rights of neutrality will only be respected, when they are defended by an adequate power. A nation, despicable by its weakness, forfeits even the privilege of being neutral. -Alexander Hamilton
YOu have a wonderful attitude. I have had similar experiences. And approached them with the same attitude.
Attitude is pretty much a choice and it sounds like you've got a good one.As for why people don't take the opportunity to travel in such a way, it's because they've become inured to sealing themselves up in a little box and never learning to interact with those around them. They do this in the way they live, too. How many of us truly know our neighbors? I've met people on trains that I still have some contact with, from all walks of life. I prefer travel by rail unless I've got the time to kill driving and things enroute I want to see. I detest flying. Rail travel gives you a view of backyard America, something you can't see from 35,000 feet. Life won't always give you the best of circumstances, but what you make out of what you get says much about you. That was a nice piece of writing!
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