RIDIN' ON AMTRAK

My mom just asked my dad, “did you see all the cows on the hills?” Followed by, “there were a couple of wild turkeys.”

Something is seriously wrong here.

You see, my mom was never into the cows and things before. I think it’s been a recent thing, since I went to college or so that she’s decided to take an interest in the farm things in life.

Well, the above conversation is the sort of thing that is talked about as we travel the rough tracks from the Willamette Valley to Anaheim. Thus far, we’ve been on the train for a total of 18.5 hours. Well, I should say I’VE been on the train for that long. The other folks got on the train an hour and a half before me up in Salem.

There are five of us: me, my mom, my dad, my sister Shanna, and my nephew Spencer. This is Spencer’s first train. When the four of them first hopped on the train in Salem, my dad asked Spence if he’d been on a train before. Spencer responded, “Never in my whole entire life.” He’s eight!

At this point, we’re in Salinas, California. We’ll be here for a few minutes. My dad’s eating all his train goodies, the bag of nuts, fruit snacks, and whatever else he can get his hands on. My mom is about to get him the egg salad sandwiches I made with my brother’s eggs I’ve had in my fridge for a week or two.

Note: The Coastal Starlight has a food car. You can either dine for about $12-$19 a plate or buy packaged sandwiches or chips for $2-$3 MORE than you’d pay in a store. I bought a can of Diet Pepsi this morning for $1.75. First, a CAN of PEPSI should NEVER cost that much. Second, the can of soda was FLAT! It was FLAT! ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

Well, I’m about to much on some delicious egg salad sandwich with spicy brown mustard. Tootle-oo!

WRITTEN 11:39 AM on March 20, 2010 while on the Amtrak train