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July 23, 2004
Riding Around America: the Crescent pt 2
Posted from the train... just like the previous entry below
Birmingham, AL... 1:30 pm
We were supposed to arrive here in Birmingham an hour ago so we must have been delayed somewhere. I'm not exactly sure where because I fell asleep after Atlanta. We've travelled a total of 1023 miles so far, and we have about 7.5 hours to go before New Orleans, if we're not delayed further. The train is relatively quiet today apart from the kids in front of me who are getting a little antsy to reach their destination: Meridian, MS. A lot of people disembarked in Atlanta and I now have an empty seat next to me again.
The whistle on the train blows and we are rolling again. Off to the left I can see the Vulcan statue looking down upon the city. When I was here as a kid my dad said it looked like he's holding a popsicle in his hand.
Time to start a new book: "The Great Train Robbery" by Michael Chrichton.
Crossing the Mississippi/Louisiana border... 8:30 pm
It's been a pleasant afternoon riding along through Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and now, Louisiana. I found out that Kelly, the car attendant, is from Ireland and she likes my trail mix (she was hungry so I gave her a handful). We're still running about an hour behind schedule so I won't arrive in New Orleans until about 9:00.
I just got back to my seat after having my first dining car experience. On most long distance trains there is a lounge car and a dining car. The lounge is where snacks and drinks can be purchased (where I was late last night) and the dining car is for formal sit-down dining. So I walked up to the dining car and was seated... by myself. Now this was not exactly what I had in mind. I had always been told to expect to dine with strangers (and was looking forward to meeting people), but there I was sitting by myself. I was disappointed for a few minutes but then a couple came in from the sleeper car and they were seated across from me. So I ended up having a good meal and a nice conversation with Matthias and Anouk from Rotterdam in the Netherlands. He is a media engineer who specializes in e-learning and she is a teacher so we had a lot to talk about. Like me, they'll be staying in New Orleans for three nights and we'll be riding the same westbound train on Monday.
Found an access point here in Slidell, LA. Gotta go!
Posted on July 23, 2004 at 8:38 PM