The older I get the less I like to drive at night, so the earlier I arrive at the train station during the Fall when the sun sets around 4 pm. It’s true I have driven to Ottumwa, IA several times to board the Amtrak train, but it’s also true that without my GPS Waze program aka Betty (the voice of a British female) I would get hopelessly lost. I know I take highway 21 south for most of the trip, after that, it’s a blur. Some parts of the trip look familiar to me as I’m driving along and other parts I feel like Betty is routing me in a new direction every time I drive there.
The train leaves Ottumwa for Denver, CO and other parts west of there at approximately 7:10 pm. At least that’s what Amtrak posts. The reality of the California Zephyr is that it is almost always late coming out of Chicago. I don’t know why, but I know that their 7:10 pm arrival time is pretty much a fantasy. Me being the ever hopeful optimist that I try to be, still arrive an hour or more earlier than the train is to arrive. In the Fall when the sun sets early, that means I usually arrive around 4 or 4:30 pm and sit in the train station and wait.
The day I was to depart for a quick trip to Denver and back to celebrate grandson Willie Jay’s 9th birthday, I was having packing problems. It seems that whenever I take a really short trip, the harder it is for me to pack. I didn’t want to take my usual suitcase on wheels which is great for going through train stations, but for this trip it felt like overkill for my few clothes. I have a gym bag (Torri’s old one, I’ve never owned one, in case that isn’t obvious) so I finally decided on that bag even though it meant I’d be carrying my bag everywhere. I was wishing I had one of those small under seat carry on
bags that are also on wheels, that would have been perfect.
I was leaving on Friday evening, arriving in Denver Saturday morning and heading back home Sunday night and arriving in Iowa Monday so I could babysit as Brittney had college classes, so I really didn’t need much for clothing, or at least that was the initial plan. Somehow I ended up stuffing that poor gym bag to the gills! Then there is the all important snack bag because it is a 12 hour train ride after all! Yes, there is a nice dining car and even a snack car but the prices are like those in movie theaters, $4.00 for a bottle of water, $3 for a small bag of chips, so its better to carry on your own food. I have a red bag that has been my "carry on" bag on my train trips for years, it is also my snack bag.
I had just purchased a new salad bowl from a company that makes lots of take along food savers and starts with a T, so I put in my salad, dressing and toppings in it and set my bowl on the table. I put 2 bananas in my snack bag, PB crackers, a few mini almond joy candies, bottles of water and to be safe, a chocolate cream filled cupcake, because, its cake.
While panic packing that morning I was also trying to get a few last minute household things taken care of and making sure I left a detailed note for Jay on the care and feeding of our two dogs. Ok mostly feeding instructions, he knows how to take care of them, but he doesn’t know who gets which bowl or which bag of dog food is which dogs. At this point both mentioned dogs are now underfoot following me all around the house and eyeing the gym bag and snack bag with suspicion. Kutter knows the signs of when I’m leaving, Jazzy is just starting to catch on.
I was doing all this on Friday morning before Brittney’s two little ones come here for me to babysit while she goes to her college classes. I should have done this the night before, but here I was, as usual. The plan was for me to leave here after babysitting around 1:00 – 1:15 pm at the latest, giving me plenty of time to drive to Ottumwa and beat the sunset. In reality I left at almost 2:00 pm which meant that I would just make it before the sun set at 4:48 pm that day, and yes, I had checked.
The drive itself down there was blessedly uneventful and it was a warm 40 F day after a blast of winter the week before. There was more traffic than I usually see on old highway 21, but I chalked that up to it being a Friday.
I hadn’t made myself lunch before I left and I should have, but I always think there will be some place to grab something along the way. You pass through several small towns, but the reality is your choice is either Caseys or Kwik Star and I was not in the mood for gas station food, I have my standards, some days at least.
I arrived in Ottumwa at about 4:30 pm, the 2 1/2 hours that my GPS Betty had predicted. Good job Betty. I was certain I would arrive a little sooner as I averaged at least 5-7 miles an hour over the posted speed limit, but no luck. Somehow my GPS must factor this all in.
Food was now my first priority since I had skipped lunch, so I headed to the area of town where I knew there were some fast food places and it wasn’t far from the train station. I entered Arby’s into my GPS and Betty asked me if I wanted to go there now? Yes ma’am!
The sun was setting as I drove over there and I was greeted by an Arby’s, KFC, Burger King and a couple others in the area but decided to stay with my first choice as I was feeling pre-Thanksgiving and wanted a turkey sandwich.
If you’ve been following my posts at all, you know two things about this: how I usually have problems with my Turkey Bacon Ranch sandwiches at Arbys, and you also know that I now have a very serious acid re-flux problem, so no spicy foods, tomatoes (ew anyway) onions, etc. I ordered it my usual way, no tomatoes, no cheese with an order of their curly fries and the new cinnamuffin for breakfast tomorrow morning on the train.
I drove over to the train station and parked on the nice parking lot side of it which for some reason you can’t leave your car overnight when you take the train. You have to park on the other side way down the tracks from the station building behind a sketchy looking apartment building on some gravel near the tracks and walk back down a sidewalk to the station. I always feel like I’m going to be attacked when I park there at night.
I had plenty of time to move my car, it was just 5:00 pm. I walked up to the doors of the building expecting them to be open, and they were locked. I walked around to the other side, and those were locked also. You are told by Amtrak to arrive an hour early before the train is to arrive, granted I was very early but I didn’t think the building would be locked. Guess I was eating in my car.
I popped a couple of curly fries into my mouth and immediately regretted my choice. I had forgotten that they are spicy and I started getting a bad reaction to them. Great, another food to cross off my ever increasing list. Then I took a bite of my sandwich, perfectly made for once I might add and realized my error there too. I had forgotten to say no onions, so had to pick those all off and the bacon is a pepper bacon, pepper being one of the main spices that sets off my re-flux! Curses! So basically I was now eating a turkey and lettuce sandwich with bottled water to drink for my lunch-supper (lunper?) I could have made this at home and saved myself some money.
I chatted on the phone a while and then at 6:15 I drove around to the creepy side of the building where you are allowed to park overnight. I had decided to dig out an extra pair of shoes I had packed in my gym bag realizing that I didn’t need 2 pairs of shoes along for basically a day and a half. I also tossed out a pair of leggings and a top. The bag zipped easier now. I had to leave my salad behind because it was too big to fit into my already overstuffed bags. I should have just eaten that for supper instead of getting a sandwich. I layered on my light fall coat over my zip up sweater as I had no clue what to take along for a coat.
I hefted the gym bag on my shoulder first along with my regular purse which I’d mostly emptied out for the trip although it still weighed a ton. Next came the snack bag. It was hard to keep all the straps on my shoulders due to the multi clothing layers. I was really regretting my decision not to use my suitcase on wheels.
The doors to the station were now open and the station master, do they still call them that, was a bored looking middle aged man reading a book behind an old wooden desk. There was a lady sitting in the uncomfortable wooden chairs that line the walls who I guessed to be just a few years older than me, later I’d learn she was 82, I never would have guessed that!
We started talking and I helped her figure out how to mute the sound of her games on her phone (the volume button) after the station master had told her she needed to turn down the volume. She then proceeded to chat my ears off and normally I am happy to engage in friendly conversation with total strangers but I’d only gotten a couple of hours of sleep the night before and had been looking forward to some quiet time followed by a long nap on the train.
Right before the train pulled into the station I learned she was also going to Denver and lucky me, she was also riding in the lower level. I figured then I’d probably end up with her as a seat mate, ending my dream of a quiet nap.
End of Part 1…
Until next time…
Toni