This, Our Valley: When the train choo choos up the scenery

 

"Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it."  Proverbs 22:6

I like to travel the world. Sadly, my income is such that it is mostly limited to what I can see from my laptop or television. Where would I be without Nat Geo Wild? 

I do venture forth from the house, of course. I may not explore the world as such, but I do manage to get places I need to go, like the grocer’s or some of the local eateries. Sometimes I get brave and expand my horizons to a degree that surprises even me.

Last month my wife and I decided to visit our daughter and her family in Indiana. We flew back there a few years ago and then drove back two years ago, so this time we decided to change things up and make it a trifecta, making the journey this year by rail. Like John Candy and Steve Martin, we can now say we’ve gone by Planes, Trains, and Automobiles!

Outside of a small excursion a few years ago from our home to visit our son in Seattle via Amtrak, we’ve never gone anywhere by rail as a couple or family. 

I did travel cross-country by rail one time, but it was as a young teen in the 1960s when our family visited relatives in the Chicago area. That was before Amtrak; we traveled by coach, and aside from the sheer tedium of the trips to and fro, I remember nothing about them beyond the rhythmic clackety-clack as we rolled over rail joints every one or two seconds. 

Those clacks are gone now as the trains glide along on “continuous welded rails,” but they still rock and roll side to side, so sometimes we felt like we were riding a  crabbing boat off the coast of Alaska. In fact, the best way to get to the dining car was to walk crab-like down the narrow aisles. My well-cushioned tush came in handy a number of times, I’ll tell you!

I also confess this trip involved our securing a roomette in a Sleeper car. The seats fold down into a single bed for one, whilst a bunk drops down from the ceiling, making space for the second guest. 

The chief advantage of a roomette is additional privacy, as well as meals in the dining car, which are included in the price of the sleeper unit. The main disadvantage is that the seats aren’t as comfortable as Coach seats, nor do they recline significantly (as they face each other). But the meals in the dining car were hot and delicious and varied enough we didn’t have to repeat any culinary options over the course of our two three-day trips as we traversed the country back and forth.

While Amtrak may not have high speed bullet trains as one might find in places like Japan and Europe, they did manage to zip along at just under eighty miles per hour for much of the trip.

I liked being able to walk around, stretch my legs, and chat with total strangers (as diners sat four to a table). We met people from England, Australia and the Far East, as well as the four corners of our own country. Each was pleasant. Each was polite. Like us, some were traveling to visit family while others were traveling to catch cruises to Alaska or the Panama Canal.

In every case, we were fellow travelers, making our way to destinations, none of which would materially impact the journey of the other. All we needed to do at mealtime was take our seats, break bread together, share a little bit about ourselves – whatever felt appropriate – and then depart in peace to tend to whatever needed tending. 

We were living in the moment, and that was a very civilizing experience for each of us; we were safe and secure from the cares and concerns of the world for those few days and, I think, just a little closer to heaven. At least that’s what I enjoyed about the trip.

I hope you, too, will enjoy civilizing experiences here in this, our valley.

Keith Axberg writes on matters concerning life and faith. Author of: Who the Blazes is Jesus? Good News for a Vulgar World (available through Amazon in Print and e-book)