Day 1 (Tuesday, 26 June 2007):
Leaving Dodge City
Over the years, I've gotten tired of flying. When I was a child, one dressed up before going to the airport. There, men and boys in suits, women and girls in nice dresses, would board the plane. You could be assured of a nice meal (if the flight was long enough) or at least a nice snack and soft drinks. Adults could have free or cheap alcoholic beverages.
Years later, it was obvious that planes had become little more than flying Greyhound busses with wings. There was nothing to dress up for since flying was not a special occasion. Where once one could have a menu with a choice of two (2!) well prepared meals on medium or long flights, we were being given a choice of peanuts or no peanuts. Then, the airlines "discovered" peanut allergies and they went away; in came baked crap. Yes, where one once could have a salad, small piece of chicken, rice and gravy and a drink, one now had a little bag of some kind of crackers.
I asked a United Attendant (remember when they were attractive young women?) about this and was told: "Nine Eleven".
"Nine Eleven?"
"Do you have any idea how hard security would be if we had to give meals to everyone? The security risk involved in the kitchens and getting the food on the planes is immense."
"The first class passengers are getting meals."
"They are also paying twice what you are for their ticket."
My wife said "thank you" and her look said "shut up". The answer was there and it was a simple one: This had nothing to do with "security" and was all about cutting costs. I decided to take my own snacks onto the next flight. Then, of course, there was edict from "Homeland Security" er- TSA, about lugging bottles and etc onto planes and we couldn't bring our own meals. Also, it seemed cruel to have a hamburger and eat it in my "luxurious" seat whilst others went hungry. I decided to forgo the "privilege" of doing so.
Anyway, I talked my wife into going on Amtrak.
The price of round trip tickets was very reasonable and if we were to leave Dodge City at 12:35 am, well, that was too bad. We left for the train station and showed up around midnight. After a few minutes, Kathie called the Amtrak number to find if the train was still on schedule. It was not!
We left for home and contemplated the two hour delay in arrival. Kathie wanted to hang out at home but I talked her into going back to the depot. We returned and Kathie sat in the car for a while. There was another car near us and we figured these were the "railers", a group of volunteers who showed up to the station and opened it up to provide a nice resting place for those awaiting a train.
The railers never showed up. It was a Mexican couple who didn't seems to eager to talk to "an old white guy". I told them the train was delayed a couple of hours and stumped back to our car. I talked Kathie into moving to the benches in front of the train station.
I broke my ankle 13 days and some hours before this trip. I was on crutches and couldn't carry anything. Kathie had to load the suitcases into our car, drive to the train station, unload the baggage and park the car in an authorized place. I trundled over to a parking spot, with the computer case over one shoulder and an "large carrying case" (men don't carry purses) over the other. Then, we sat down to wait.
The waiting area was two benches made of black metal bands. There were actually comfortable but after a while, I moved around and used my crutches to brace my left leg in an upright position. It helped.
The Amtrak train arrived at 3:20 am, almost three hours late.
A new crew was waiting: this was a conductor and three stewards. They were hustling to get the passengers aboard the train.
I yelled "help"!
The conductor (a formidable looking woman) came over and quickly saw that I was gimped up. She grabbed a couple of our suitcases and one of the stewards grabbed two other and they put them on the train, on the bottom level, in a seat area. Kathie had already put two other suitcases on the train at a different car and she later had to get help to retrieve them.
This conductor said "you have to pay extra to sit in the lower level but you can't make it up the steps or just sit here." She then moved a passenger from the two seats we got and we settled in. They put my crutches up in the overhead storage area and the train got moving. Seating on the lower level is more expensive than the seats we had bought on the upper level. However, getting to the upper level requires one to climb a steep circular staircase with high raise steps. This is something that would require me to rest weight on my broken ankle and that is a bad thing. (It is bad enough that I sit on a chair and let my left foot rest on the floor.) I can't imagine how I would have gotten up and down that staircase four times: first when arriving and the next three when I had to pee! Kathie tried to change our tickets to lower berth for our return to Kansas but she was told "they are all booked up". Well, we're going to show up and they can damn well find some way to accommodate me! I'm not going to raise a stink so they can't throw me off the train. I'm simply going to stand at the bottom of the stairs, look helpless and tell the Amtrak people "I can't climb these stairs."
We were lucky it didn't rain since we would have been stuck in the open.
We pulled the leg rests out, pushed the seats back and tried to sleep. It was impossible because my back hurt. I put my legs on one of our suitcases and this didn't help. I fell asleep from pure fatigue and woke up a couple of times. When I finally realized the leg rest was screwing me up, I "retracted" it and was immediately more comfortable.
The trip was otherwise fine. Kathie went for a walk and came back with a large cinnamon roll and coffee for me, the same and decaf for her. Later, we bought breakfast and still later lunch. The view was excellent and the toilets not too bad, at first.
About five hours into the trip, as I went to the handicapped head for the second time, I noticed it wasn't flushing. About three hours before we arrived, I went in to take a healthy piss and noticed the remnants of someone's previous visit: there was shit and toilet paper in the bowl and I didn't look. Well, I tried not to look but the simple process of "aiming" negated that.
About two hours before we arrived, the Conductor announced in a disgruntled voice that Amtrak had decided not to pump out the toilets in New Mexico. They were behind due to having to put some nutcase off the train, storms in southeast Colorado and possible track flooding. It was inexcusable.
When the Conductor showed up later to apologize, she muttered "Amtrak doesn't think". So, the little plan of Amtrak management to save some time results in all but one of the toilets being plugged and in really bad publicity for Amtrak. I still have to write a bitching letter to Amtrak management and I will do so!
About our fellow passengers:
There was a black gentleman from LA, in his 60s, who graduated from Law School 35 years ago and who is a Democratic Committeeman from the LA area. His name is "Joe" and we had some nice conversation. I can see why he is a politician
There was a rather fearful white woman who was freaked by the (apparent) Muslims.
One alleged muslim was an older lady (50s?) who wore a dark patterned dress, matching scarf and sensible shoes.
There was the very demure young lady (20s?) who wore a white head scarf, white blouse, white shirt, sensible shoes and a necklace with a pendant in the shape of a Scimitar (the traditional Arabic/Islamic sword).
There was a teenaged boy who dressed like American teenage boys but was very well behaved.
I've heard that Muslin women have to be escorted by Male Relatives. Well, this boy was firmly under the thumb of his Mother (the older lady) and so much for the "man of the house" business.
A man had hustled their luggage onto the train and then left. I suspect he was Momma's husband. This strange white woman got it into her head that the Muslims were trouble. She whispered to Kathie and me: "I'm worried about those Muslim. Call the Steward".
Kathie started giving her a lecture on how most Muslims were harmless. This pissed her off and she retorted:
"I don't need a sermon! Just call the steward!"
I tried pushing up on the "call button" so "Joe" told me to pull it down. This lady then went and "hid" in the toilette to await the steward. Well, the steward called on the intercom and we said "we need to talk with you". The steward didn't show up so Kathie went up to the upstairs and found the stewards, "chilling out" in the lounge. Our steward came down, explained to "Miss Fearful" that the young man had simply helped the Muslims move their stuff onto the train and then he left. She was mollified and ended up sitting near the Muslims.
The three Muslims were simply a rather harmless family taking a train trip; there was nothing threatening about them.
When we arrived in Chicago, our steward helped Kathie get our suitcases (6 of them!) off the train. Then, we started waiting for "The Red Hat" to come by on his luggage carrier. We literally got the last one and there were only four of us waiting for the Red Hat. The Red Hat lugged our stuff out through the lobby and left it off near some other Lions.
The arrival folks were supposed to provide a free bus to get us to the hotel. They didn't show up and someone called the hotel. They didn't show up so we hired a large taxi to take us (a group of maybe 8 Lions) to the hotel. The price was shockingly reasonable.
When we arrived at the hotel, we saw there were three (3) busses waiting to go to the Amtrak.
I was disappointed
We trundled in and Kathie checked us in. We checked out my scooter and it turned out to be easy to use. Kathie used a cart to haul our stuff up to the room.
Then it was time for dinner.
The dinner was horribly expensive and completely unbundled. The steak cost US$36, the "rock salt rubbed baked potatoe" as $7 and the soup was $5. They only charged $1.5 for the "Diet Pepsi". Obviously, they are trying to encourage folks to eat at local restaurants!
We crashed for the night.
As an aside: The people in local stores are all quite friendly. I guess they've embraced the notion of happy customers are money spending customers.
