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So First off sorry that this blog post is late. I have had no access to the internet until late night before last, and by then I was ready for bed.
Anyway, we left Los Angeles late on Wednesday evening, the latest I have ever left on a train which is at 2200 hrs. We left on time headed east with a train consisting of 2 engines, baggage car, sleeper, lounge, diner, three coaches and our sleeper, more on that later. After a short visit to the back window, I turned in for the night. I woke up briefly somewhere around Palm Springs due to the lights coming in the window. Jennifer didn’t sleep until sometime around 0200 as she was wide awake.
I woke up about again about 0530 somewhere between Yuma and Phoenix. Seeing as no one was awake yet I went down and took my shower before we got to our “smoke stop” (Fresh Air Break) somewhere outside of Phoenix, Jennifer joined me out on the platform before we walked outside the train down to the diner for breakfast. Jennifer and I both had the continental breakfast of Greek Yogurt, Grapes, Raisin Bran, Croissant as well
Eastbound Track of the Texas Eagle from Los Angeles to Ft Worth
Some Stats:
1703.5 Miles
39:26:45 was the time on the train
Our Average Speed was 43.2 MPH (This includes the speed of 0 during each stop)
Our Highest Speed was 88.6 miles per hour.
Our highest Point was 5097 ft above sea level
Our Lowest Point was -196 ft Below Sea Level
as a sausage. We then returned to our rooms where Jennifer took a nap, and I read my book with my eyes closed. Somewhere after Tuscon lunch was supposed to happen the crew however on this diner couldn’t run on time if their lives depended on it. We ended up having lunch sometime around 1430 for our 1300 reservation. That was an adventure as we weren’t stopped this time and we had to walk through 3 coaches to get to the diner another first for me on the train. Usually, on the train you have the consist looking like this:
Engine, Engine, Baggage, Crew Sleeper, Sleeper, Sleeper, Diner, Lounge, Coach, Coach, Coach
Anyway, I am digressing after lunch we returned to our rooms where I worked on writing this missive and realized I didn’t have any interwebs. As we came into El Paso, we could see “the wall, ” and at times we were so close to the border that our phones thought we were in Mexico. Sometime around 2100, we were called for our 2000 dinner reservation (notice a theme). After dinner, I sat up and read until I fell asleep somewhere near Alpine Texas or maybe
it was Del Rio Texas, either way; it was the middle of nowhere and again close enough to the border that our phones felt that we were in Mexico again. I never realized how flat parts of Texas were until I woke up between Del Rio and San Antonio.
We arrived into San Antonio somewhere around 0530 which was only a few minutes late; this was great as we had been running pretty much on time the entire trip so far...that was about to end. So back to the way the train was laid out, this unique layout is because in San Antonio the train splits in two with some cars going the rest of the way to New Orleans as the Sunset Limited and our car being added to the northbound Texas Eagle which ends up in Chicago on a good day. Well, today was not one of those good days as we were soon to find out. Things were going along great we were running about a half hour behind and had lunch at the first seating thinking we were going to be getting off soon. The train then got stuck behind a slow freight which happens
from time to time nothing to sweat about and then about 4 miles from Ft Worth the train came to a stop...an announcement was made that all those going past Ft Worth, please standby for Plan B or C as arrangements were being made due to a derailment. Well luckily Jennifer and I were getting off at Ft. Worth so we didn't care other than it took an hour and a half for those final four miles. We got off and grabbed our luggage from the station before going in search of the rental car that was in the train station we thought. Turns out that was Enterprise, not Avis, so we grabbed a Über and grabbed our rental car.
By this time it was a prime rush hour, so we grabbed dinner with Christopher (Jennifers Brother) and his friends Exo at a Tex-Mex place called Chuy's. By this time Jennifer and I were ready to head to our Air BnB and grab some shut eye. But first, we had to stop at Target to pick up a few staples and then when we arrived we decided to go swimming.
The next day was Saturday, so we joined
Christopher and some friends of his to see Spiderman: Homecoming (a great movie by the way.) After that, it was dinner and a theater show at a place called Pocket Sandwich Theatre. This was an amazing experience of an authentic old-fashioned melodrama spoof of Star Trek. We had such a good time, and Jennifer must have spent close to 50 bucks on popcorn at 50 cents each to throw. As it got close to the end of the show, they decided that she had been a good enough instigator that she deserved a popcorn shower. Then I guess I was guilty by association as I got a popcorn shower as well, I now know what it feels like to have popcorn in places where popcorn isn't supposed to be.
That catches you all up to where we are today. I will write more, later on, tonight as it is about time for Cards Against Humanity and other shenanigans with the folks out here and I need to get some drinks in the fridge and other things. Enjoy the videos and pictures.
Links to YouTube Videos from the Trip Click Each One:
