Waltz across Texas…

by buddhabitch

Posted to Roadgoing on 2004-01-14 05:56:00

Parent message is 581882
It would take two days to travel across Texas on the train. It’s a damn big state and getting there from here takes a long time. As we left New Orleans we passed through the ship channel and the big cargo ships seemed to be plagued with the gulls wheeling above.

I snuggled into my two seats and lay down so I could see the treetops whiz by. We crept through parts of the swamps, cypress trees with their knees above water, flocks of snowy egrets, and the spanish moss clinging to the upper branches. It seemed that parts of the tracks were not safe as the train crept though these areas with slow deliberation. Water was right up to the banks of the tracks.

Sometimes the train would speed up and the world would fly by so fast…it was a blur. Riding the train is a very meditative thing, I read, I played solitare, I wrote in my journal and sometimes I just sat and looked out the windows at the scenery. I gives one time to think, to ponder, to just be in the moment.

I wasn’t due into El Paso, my final destination, until the following day so I made use of the lounge and the dining car, enjoying a meal with Daisy and some small talk. We had a wonderful salad with field greens, olives, hard boiled egg, white asparagus and grilled salmon on top. The balsamic vinegarette was just right. That evening I retired to the lounge and a movie, Seabiscuit…being a ‘horsey girl’, it was just perfect.

In the San Antonio station after Houston, we picked up a woman and her kids that I wished were on a different car. The three oldest, about 12, 10 and 7 were in the seat in front and beside me. I still had my two seats but they weren’t near far enough away from this troop of wild ones. They proceeded to fight, scream, throw trash and generally misbehave all the way into El Paso and the mother never said a discouraging word. I did though, when they woke me up at 5am with their squealing…then I became the ‘witch’ in the car, scowling and raising my eyebrows at their antics. The mother was a few seats back with a tiny infant which she proceeded to foist on the older kids at inopportune moments…when it was crying, of course. I wanted to slap her instead of the kids but o well, such is life.

Despite the ‘houseguests’, it was hard to spoil the ride for me. I could just get up and walk to another part of the train to find some peace and quiet, which I did frequently from San Antonio on.

We got into El Paso early and after disembarking from the train, I was a bit disappointed that my dear Cecil was no where in sight. I hadn’t had a smoke since San Antonio and that was the first thing on my agenda. I hauled my heavy overnight bag to the front of the station and waited…I was home again.




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