Posts Tagged ‘Amtrak’

The Train Has Left The Station

Thursday, May 5th, 2011

At 6:00am yesterday, we hugged our sweetboy and his grandparents “Goodbye” as they boarded Amtrak. We woke up at 3:00am and began the journey to Indy scrunched together in my in-laws little car. Cozy! The trip, for them….is a long one. Like, Wednesday-Friday long. Wanna ride a train that long? Me either. 😉

I’m not sure if I mentioned 6am…..Oh I kid! Did you know that REAL STORES are not open that early in the morning? So, there we were in one of my favorite shopping cities in the world and it was still dark outside. Boo! Oh and everything we wanted to do couldn’t be done until 10am. Darn retail working world! GET OUT OF BED for goodness sakes!!

~We planned to look at (and BUY) a car for hubby. (opened at 10am)
~We needed to shop for prom shoes. (uhh, yea…10am)
~We were on the hunt for ME something to wear to prom. (hello, is it 10am yet?)

So, we did what any smart person would do that’s up too early to do anything else….we went for breakfast! Yum! We stopped at a place called Flap Jacks and it was perfect. I base all my love on a place to eat if they serve flavored coffee creamers or not. Jackpot, FlapJacks leaves a big basket full of different choices right on your table!! The food was great too.

Then we received a text message from the train hobo’s. They had traveled a whopping hour or so but had collided with a motorcycle. They were stopped for several hours waiting on the investigation and for Amtrak to send a new crew. The crew involved in the accident had to stay because they were witnesses. The accident involved a fatality (praying for the victim’s family). Very sad start to an exciting trip out west.

After breakfast, we headed to look at cars. We test drove two really nice choices but couldn’t make a deal (Gee, are we the only people out there trying to get a bargain?). I’m beginning to think we will never find a good car. Discouraged! It stinks having such a puny amount $$ to work with!

By 4:30pm, we were back home and beyond exhausted. Both girls were home and cuddled up on our bed watching tv. We felt like we’d been gone for days. After I took a shower, I literally fell into bed. Can you tell I’m not used to VERY EARLY MORNINGS?

We spoke with the travelers at about 9pm and they were having dinner. After the accident situation, they barely made their connection train in Chicago. An attendant met them at the gate and picked them up in order to get them to the next train. They sat down in their seats and the train took off. Whew! Just made it.

I can’t wait to hear more trip stories. Only another day or so to go…

PS
Prom stuff is finally coming together well. NO, the other dress didn’t arrive. We’re over it. Moving forward with the other one. Looking forward to posting all the pictures soon!