planes, trains and automobiles

The flight from Dublin to Chicago was good. I happened to sit next to a couple from Northern Ireland. The woman was a speech language therapist who trained in the states but moved to Northern Ireland to be with her husband. It was interesting.

On the 16th, John and I took the train from Chicago to Columbus WI where his brother and sister-in-law met us. That sounds uneventful. It took us about 45 minutes on the EL to get to the train station. Then we had to wait for the train to leave. While waiting to get on, there was an Amish family in front of us trying to give the ticket taker their tickets. Problem was that they didn't buy a ticket for their four year old son. Apparently they were told that the son didn't need a ticket but the lady wouldn't let them on. They got sent out of the line. On the train we saw three of the 5 so we don't know what happened to one adult and the boy. The train also left about half an hour late. They were waiting for another train that had people trying to connect to this one. After half an hour, the staff decided not to wait any longer. Once we finally got moving, the train got behind a local passenger train so we had to go really slowly. Then we also had to stop if a freight train was passing in front of us to let the freight train go first. Apparently the US government has determined freight trains have the right of way over passenger trains. We got to Columbus an hour late. That also made what would be a 2 1/2 hour car ride a 6 hour journey in total.

While on the train, the employees made periodic announcements. Some were relevant to people, others were them talking to each other. I guess Amtrak can't afford a private employee intercom/walkie talkie system. All the passengers get to hear whether doors are secured or if they are ready to stop, who is supposed to do what task, etc. It made the ride more interesting.

The train seats were OK. They had a lot of leg room, had some psuedo leg rest things that came out from the bottom of the chair to make it more like a recliner leg rest, and the seats were wide. You'd think with this design they'd be comfortable. Wrong. They were not. I don't know how the girls going all the way to Seattle were going to stay comfortable.

So in Columbus, John's brother and sister-in-law were waiting with John's old Mustang. The mustang does not have very much trunk space. Well, it doesn't really have much space of any kind. We got one of the suitcases in the trunk, the other his brother and I had on our laps in the back seat while we rode the 15 minutes to his brother's house. I guess I should have actually packed light for the week at my sister's.