Rik and Amtrak
Most of the Jordan family now sits in a dandy Department Of Defense housing billet in Dover, Delaware. Members of the military and former members too, can reserve these homes and thousands take advantage every day all over the world. No doubt, the Fort on the beach in Waikiki is the most sought after, but we met here to hook up with our son coming back from Qatar. But, how we got here is the story.
Up at 2:00 am Saturday. A quick bite and a travel mug of coffee, and three hours later, we pull up to the Amtrak station off University Avenue in the Twin Cities. Check in with the station master; get our roomette assignment, another cup of coffee. The Empire Builder is only a few minutes late from Seattle to St. Paul, so no sweat. After a few glances from TSI and St. Police dogs, we climb into car 8130 and roomette FF. Very small, but private. Did I mention very small. The train didn’t hang around long in St. Paul, so within minutes we are rolling east toward Chicago for a planned 7 ½ hour trip. The Empire Builder rolled through neighborhoods and land that we’d never seen before, including the old caves and tunnels that burrow into the sandstone river banks. Rumor is that Henry Ford built his plant in St. Paul to take advantage of the sand there, turning it into automotive window glass. All I know is that as a teenager, a lot of guys used those caves for other than glass making
Shortly after crossing into Wisconsin, the trouble started. A freight train ahead of us got bogged down by something, causing our passenger train to hold the speed down. Then, more delays at stations along the way. Before you know it, our Empire Builder is two hours behind schedule, and the two Jordan’s on the train are worried about catching their next connection in Chicago, the Capital Limited. It turned out, we needn’t have worried. The Capital Limited was limited by an engine that wouldn’t go. Twice it was changed out. Our first effort at leaving Chicago got about a mile. But, my wife, always positive, loved the crab cakes in the dining car.
Finally, with speeds near 80 miles per hour, we are rocking and rolling toward Washington D.C. where our number two son has a Ford Fusion waiting. We think. Oops. More problems in Pennsylvania. Another freight train is stalled on our tracks. Then another unscheduled stop because of a tunnel construction project near Pittsburgh. Our Capital Limited train should have gone through that tunnel around 5:30 am. We can’t make the time.
The tunnel is a major construction project that starts promptly at 8:00 am and the workers won’t tolerate any trains knocking down the scaffolding they’re working on. I don’t blame them for the fear of getting run over by a train.
So, we got awakened by the car attendant at 5:24 am Sunday with word to pack our belongings, grab a quick coffee and powdered egg mess in the dining car as there’s busses waiting for us in Pittsburgh. Oh joy. A bus ride from PA to D.C. Just what we wanted.
Three big rigs were warmed up and loaded with some 200 passengers, and off we go to the nation’s capital. Not the first class (with meals and bed) that we’d expected, but at least we are finally moving again. Crowded cheek to jowl, the big bus made quick work of the interstate highway system and dropped us at the Union Station, just down from Obama’s house in Washington. Plenty late and plenty tuckered out. We didn’t have time to call our 8th District Congressman or the President. And now, our son’s fancy phone that he brought in the Mideast country of Qatar wasn’t working in the USA and he wasn’t at the station in Washington. Was he driving to Pittsburgh to uncover us?
By some e-mail magic, we notified him that we’d try to get transportation to Wilmington, Delaware. $139.00 for a pair of Senior Citizen Amtrak tickets to Wilmington later, and by gosh, there he is. He even had his daughter Katie at his side alol dressed in Pretty Kitty Pink. What a treat after a horrible trip.
So that’s how we ended up in a handsome three room residence on the Dover Air Force Base. Planes flying overhead, green grass outside, our grandchild and son safe inside. All is good. Now, how do we get home?
