I enjoy riding on a train for the most part. Amtrak is the only choice here in the states and it typically has been a safe ride.
I recently had tickets to go to Denver, CO, back to visit my little grandson Willie, who was our daughter Torri’s little guy.
Due to a couple of recent Amtrak rail crashes, I will admit I was a little nervous about this train ride, but as a minister once told me, you don’t put your faith in the pilot, or in this case the engineer, you put it in Jesus. So faith firmly in the right place I was ready for my trip.
I was going to Ottumwa station this time as I could avoid the rush hour traffic I always end up in by going to the Osceola station. It was about a 2 ½ hour drive almost straight south and all on two-lane highway.
On this drive, I was usually the only car on the highway and only passed two semi-trucks along the route, so it was a beautiful stress-free drive.
The Ottumwa station is like all of them, on the outskirts of the city and not in a particularly “scenic” area. The station had apparently been turned into a museum, so all of the previous places in the nice parking lot for Amtrak were now signed for museum goers only. I’m guessing the museum probably never needs more than two or three spaces, but they didn’t ask my opinion. I was not sure where to park, so luckily, this station is attended, as many are not, and I was able to call them and ask where the parking space was for Amtrak.
I was directed to the other side of a building that sat next to the Amtrak station/museum and behind it was a gravel area that also served as the parking lot. He actually told me to look for the broken-down RV that sat in the back of the lot. I parked my SUV and ate my chicken strips that I had picked up at a fast food place along the way. I was about an hour early, so no rush.
About twenty minutes before the train was set to arrive, I grabbed my suitcase, two bags and my purse and slugged through the snow over to the sidewalk that ran parallel with the tracks and went and sat inside the station.
The attendant was behind the window, so I went up and asked him if we needed to check in as they used to do that. He replied no, and said they’d announce the trains arrival.
I don’t know if he got busy talking to the two guys that were in the little office with him, but the train pulled up with no announcement, so the eight of us in the station made our way out to the train platform, followed by the attendant.
Getting onto the train was tricky at this station as the platform was a lot lower than the train, so a yellow metal step is placed down for you to step up on. The conductor had placed it a bit far from the train itself, so I was trying to balance my two bags and purse while getting up onto the step. I was trying to step across the considerable space to the train with bags in hand and a bad left arthritic knee, which is also my dominant leg. The conductor did at least heft my one suitcase into the train for me.
Let me pause and tell you what was in my bags. My grandson Willie used to come to our house a lot, especially after his mom, our daughter, passed away when he was just 4 ½. I had brought some of his toys here to our house for him, plus the two of us had collected some others at area garage sales. He now felt settled enough in his new home and new family in Colorado, so he asked me if I might bring along most of his toys. Of course I would.
My suitcase was half filled with castle blocks and knights, plastic army figures, and Minecraft figures we’d found. There was literally little room for my clothes, so I packed lightly and luckily leggings are now in style.
The other two bags held various small toys, Minions, Ugly Pets, a coloring book, and more small toys, a bag with my knitting projects and a pair of shoes. It all weighed a ton, but whose weighing anything at a train station.
The train car only had one other passenger on it and she got off at the next stop. For most of the night I had the entire car to myself. It was heaven. The car was on the cool side that night which was great for sleeping and I had brought along a small pillow this time to help make the seats a more comfortable place to lay across. It helped somewhat, but I still haven’t found the perfect solution. I really need to figure out how to pack a full body pillow.
Getting off the train in Denver station is an easy task as the height of the platform matches the height of the train, so you simply step off. I walked what seems like a half mile to Union Station and went to a place I’d seen online called Snooze for breakfast. It would be a couple hours before my former son-in-law could pick me up, so this seemed like a great idea.
Usually I just grab a cup of overpriced but delicious coffee at a little shop inside the station called Pigtrain, but thought I’d go for the whole breakfast bit this journey.
I chose the regular breakfast which included a couple of eggs (sunny side up please) bacon, hash browns and toast. I got a vanilla latte to go with that and asked if I might substitute my hash browns for one blueberry pancake. He said yes, but there would be a small up-charge. Small up-charge ended up being four dollars.
When my breakfast came it was HUGE! It looked great and the single pancake took up an entire small platter all on its own. As I began to tuck into my food, I soon noticed many flaws. The egg was very under-cooked and had runny whites that I slid off to one side. The bacon was on the tough side, like it had just been reheated. The pancake, while delicious was ice cold and the round of butter on top didn’t even melt. The coffee was ok, but for the price of it, was in a very tiny cup. The total plus tip was almost $25.00. Last time I will do that.
I ate what I could and asked for a box for most of the pancake and the bacon. I knew someone would finish it. I went and sat on a big comfy couch in the hotel/station lobby waiting for my ride. There was no sign of the usual crabby hotel attendant who goes around the room constantly giving people disgusting looks and making you sit up, move your bags/feet/purse. I could relax for a while.
One thing you see a lot of at a train station is all walks of life gathered together in one small area. There were people who looked homeless walking next to business looking people in suits and business attire. You can always spot the Amtrak travelers as we are the ones hauling our luggage everywhere behind us, including into the restrooms as there is no where to store your things while you wait for the train.
I was picked up and taken to visit my grandson and his new family in Castle Rock, just a bit south of Denver. We had a great time together over the next few days, and then Sunday morning I had a big decision to make due to the impending weather in Iowa. Funny how weather a couple states away can impact your travel plans.
I was supposed to get back on the train to go home on Monday evening, but Iowa was expecting freezing rain Monday night and Tuesday morning. My original ticket would have me arrive in Ottumwa on Tuesday morning, just in time to be on ice covered roads. I can drive through a lot of bad weather, snow storms, thunder storms, fog, tornado weather, sleet/hail but not ice.
A Sidebar:
One winter when driving home from Torri’s in Wisconsin, the weather suddenly changed to freezing drizzle/freezing rain just on the west side of Dubuque where it is very hilly and deep ditches.
I felt a bump on the rear of my car and still wonder if the car who passed me had touched my rear bumper, because my car suddenly went into a 360° spin. I was able to keep from hitting any other cars and managed to turn it to head straight into the ditch I was fast approaching and suddenly was airborne!
My car landed on all four tires and broke the axels and slid just short of crashing into a stand of trees. My airbag did not deploy, but I had a very sore shoulder the next day from my seatbelt holding me safely in place.
A nice lady (who told me she was a nurse on the way home) stopped on the shoulder of the road above and came all the way down into the ditch to see if I was ok and to let me know she had called it in. I waited in my car for the sheriff to arrive after reassuring her I was fine.
The sheriff helped me jump down out of my car and climb up the steep hill and opened the back door of his vehicle. It was the first and I hope the last time I ever sit in the back of a squad car.
He asked where my cell phone was and I told him it had been in my purse. He went down to my vehicle and after a while came back with my purse, which had spilled onto the floor with my phone laying on the mat. He asked me to unlock my phone which I did willingly as I knew he was checking to see if I had been on my cell phone, and I had not.
After checking it and being satisfied that I was not texting and driving he handed it back to me. He went outside to direct the tow truck and an ambulance showed up and had me get inside so they could make sure I was indeed alright. They both told me I was probably lucky my airbag did not deploy. That does not give me a sense of comfort.
The sheriff and tow truck driver both commended my driving skills in pointing my car straight for the ditch, thereby avoiding what would surely have been a roll over down the hill. I told them some show I had seen long ago talked about that very thing and for whatever reason, it came to me in those split seconds. After being checked by the paramedics, I was back in the sheriff’s car and he drove me back into town to a nearby hotel to stay the night. I called my family to say I was fine, but the car not so much. Jay made plans to come pick me up in the morning.
The roads were now deemed impassible, and all snow plows had been pulled off the road. Ever since then, I am not a fan of icy roads.
Back to the train ride:
I made the very hard decision to call Amtrak and change my ticket to Sunday night, instead of Monday night. I was not happy with Amtrak as I had just checked an hour earlier to make sure there were still tickets available on that day and it showed there were and they were at the same price I had payed for my original ticket.
When I called the agent, she told me the tickets were now $96 higher. I told her I had just checked online, and she would not budge on the price. I was not happy at all.
I thought about it and figured if I kept my original ticket and ended up in Ottumwa with icy roads and travel not recommended I’d be paying for a hotel room for the night anyway, so I opted to pay the additional money and changed my ticket. The hardest thing was having to explain to a seven-year-old why his grandma was leaving a day early. I told him grandma wanted to arrive home safely, so I could come and visit him again, and told him I owed him an extra day the next visit.
We spent the day all together in Colorado Springs walking and climbing, well they climbed, I walked, through the Garden of the Gods park which is absolutely beautiful and free and dog friendly. It was a gorgeous day out and we only needed t-shirts. I highly recommend it to everyone.
I packed my things up when we got back to their house and was taken to the train station after lots of hugs and teary good-byes. It’s always hard for me to leave any of the grand-kids, I wish they all lived nearby and I never get to see them enough.
My wait at the station was short as they started boarding the train about a half an hour before it was set to leave. I was pleasantly surprised to be offered a ride on the tram car that usually only takes handicapped and very elderly people to the train, but there was only one other person who was riding, so I guess I looked elderly enough to warrant a ride. It was wonderful not having to pull my suitcase for that half a mile trek especially after having walked all over hills and mountains all day. My short little legs and bad knee are not geared for hilly or long travel.
I was taken right up to the car I would be on and got onboard and into the lower level car I was ticketed for. I saw there was only one other lady on board and my heart was once again full of glee! How had this good luck happened twice?
I started to go back and sit in the other very last seat across from her as those seats are my favorites, no one walking past your seat all night long. She said to me, “wouldn’t you rather sit up front?” I will admit I was a little taken aback, but she seemed kind of fidgety and I thought maybe she wanted to sit alone in the back. I started to put my things on the next seat up and more people started coming into our car. Then suddenly she asked me if I’d like to sit back there, where I was originally going to sit. She apologized for her earlier comment. I think I must have looked like an okay choice to sit across from after all.
I moved into that back seat as others began to file in. So far it was all women. A few sat together and a few had double seats like myself. In total there were two rows of double seats or room for twelve people. Our lady car attendant came in and announced we’d all have to partner up as a family of five were coming onto our car and would like to sit together.
After she left our car, a general rumbling went up and musings about how young the kids would be and how noisy. It is hard enough to catch a couple of hours of sleep anywhere in coach on a train, but crying and noisy kids don’t make it any easier.
The lady across from me and I decided we would double up when the time came, but for now we both stayed where we were. Close to departure time, one younger man came into our car and we now only had four seats available. Our attendant came back in and we inquired about the family, which she told us they had gone on the other lower level car. I think there was a collective sigh of relief.
During the entire trip, both the lady across from me and I had a double seat to ourselves. The elderly lady in front of her offered up a prayer of safe travel for all of us before the train left the station and we all chimed in with Amen. That was another first on a train.
The young man’s family was outside the train waving good-bye as we started to leave. so all of us ladies leaned over and waved good-bye to them as well. It turned out to be a fun group of with everyone chatting about this and that and sharing laughs along the way. Best group of strangers I’ve traveled with so far.
Soon the train lights were dimmed with the announcement of quiet time, so we all plugged in our headphones, and watched or listened to our various electronic devices and settled in for the night.
About midnight I woke up sweating as our car felt like it was 90° and I noticed others were awake and looked hot as well. I went out of our car and stood on the platform between the cars where it was cooler. We soon came to a small town stop and when the conductor came down to let out the few passengers I asked if he could turn down the heat for us.
When I went back in the car everyone said thank you except the lady who was across from me. She was sound asleep and under two heavy blankets! I had learned earlier she was a nurse and was vegan. Apparently, she also had no body fat which the rest of us in the car had plenty of and the heat was stifling.
I got into Ottumwa station at 9:00 a.m. right on time. It was foggy out as I made my way from the train to my car with much lighter luggage and only one other bag and my purse. I found a local Starbucks in a Hy-Vee store not too far away and got a breakfast sandwich and white chocolate mocha latte to go. Just as good of a breakfast at less than half the price of the one in Denver.
The drive home was long, foggy and either drizzling or full out raining all the way to Waterloo. It was so great to get back safely. I stopped at a grocery store in Waterloo to grab a couple of things before finally getting home.
My dog Kutter was there to greet me and he was so happy mom was back home. My husband Jay said Kutter had gone and laid on my bed every night while I was gone. What a sweet pup.
I let everyone know I made it home okay. That night we did have freezing rain and it continued into the morning causing bad roads and most of the schools to cancel. I was sad I had to end my visit a day early, but so thankful God helped me make the right decision and got me home safe and sound.
Until next time….Toni