Day #3:  Denver to Chicago

“He who would travel happily must travel light.” -Antoine de St. Exupery

I thought we'd be a little stir crazy by now, but we're really having a great time.  I highly recommend train travel.  We've met quite a variety of interesting people, and seen so many different views of this country.

When we woke up this morning we were in Nebraska.  We had heard some about the flooding (and knew that some train routes were still closed due to the flooding), but riding through it was remarkable that our route was open.  Lots of farmland under water, and rivers reaching far beyond their banks.  Pretty devastating to see up close and personal.  At times it felt as though we were riding the train right across a lake.

You certainly meet all kinds on the train (Boo, the Train Hippies, the Nice Man, the Old Lady who fell down the stairs, the Amish Family, the Bad Luck Boy who got arrested when he stepped off the train right into the drug dog, ...)!  There were families with kids (one tween shared lunch with us yesterday and said she was "Soooooo bored."  When we asked when they had gotten on the train, we learned they had gotten on an hour before)!  Lots of solo travelers, and mostly older couples (Older than us?  I think so, but as I write this I'm not so sure!) . The workers on the train are, for the most part, very friendly and helpful.  We did have one guy (he ran the snack bar) who had quite an inflated sense of his own importance, and a love for hearing his own voice.  I got publicly shamed on the first day of travel because I was walking around in my stocking feet.  I went into the snack bar, and rather than just telling me I needed to put my shoes on, he got me my drink and waited until I was leaving the snack bar when he got on the intercom and gave a long speech regarding the danger of losing toes in the plates between the trains and the unsanitary nature of not wearing shoes.  Okay, buddy, next time just ask me to put my shoes on!  As the 3 days went on, his speeches got longer and with more dire consequences for offenders (not me, thank God!).  For any SL friends, this was very reminiscent of the Sr. Helen, "park between the lines," "This is LIFE, ladies" announcement!

We napped, listened to more of "Rebecca" (with frequent rewinds because it lulled us to sleep), met some new people, and had a pretty uneventful ride into Chicago.  Although the train was about 3 hours late, we still had a couple of hours to kill in Chicago.  We jumped in the cab and the driver said, "Address?"  We said, we've never been here.  Just take us somewhere people like to go."  Good decision! 

We couldn't leave without some deep-dish pizza and trying to get in our 10,000 steps (we got 9840!) before getting back on the train.

We checked into the new train expecting the same accommodations, only to find that this train does NOT have luggage racks.  So, despite the "2 bags and 2 carry-on items each" guidelines on the Amtrak site, we had to fit 4 bags and 3 carry-ons into our tiny compartment.  After stacking, re-stacking, unpacking, and repacking, we got 2 bags in the overhead space and were on the verge of tears with nowhere to sit but the toilet (oh yeah -- surprise -- there's a tiny sink and tiny toilet in our compartment).

How convenient!  The flush button is just an arm's reach away!

Our new compartment attendant, Quami, came by to see us crying and struggling with our (2 months worth of) luggage.  He told us to sit down, breathe, and enjoy the beautiful world around us.  Then he whispered "Come with me," and took my giant bag and stowed it in an empty compartment down the hall.  No worries.  After leaving us, Quami knocked on the door across the hall and a man opened it one inch saying, "What do you want?"  Quami said, "I just wanted to introduce myself.  I'm your attendant and can answer any questions you might have."  Rude passenger #8 said, "We're experienced train travelers and we want to be left alone."  When Quami said, "Fine.  Call me if you need anything," Rude man proceeded to ask him 20 inane questions ("What's on the dinner menu?" No dinner.  It's 9:30 p.m.  "What time is breakfast,"  "What's for lunch,"  "How long are they serving?" "Where are the sheets?"..., and on and on and on).  When Rude guy finally slammed and locked his door, Quami leaned into our compartment and said, "You can't make this stuff up!"

You know it's a crazy shit show when the attendant says to us, "Thank you for being normal."

We're off to explore the train and then "Crawl beneath the kivvers -- and with the bed they gimme, that ain't easy." [Tennessee Ernie Ford on I Love Lucy].  Nightie night.