J.P.

So I just had a lite breakfast in the café car here on the Amtrak Lakeshore Limited. After I got my breakfast I found out that there was a full blown diner car at the very end of the train and that I could have had french toast or something down there. I’m not disappointed or anything, but I did find it surprising that the diner car is at the very end of the train, mostly because the sleeper cars are in the front and it would seem logical to me that the diner car would be in the middle so it would be readily accessible to all passengers. Maybe I should have asked for a map.

After getting my food from the man with the delicious UK accent, I needed to find a place to sit. Both of the seat areas were pretty busy, though there was no one singing “Snow Snow Snow”. Not being the crazy outgoing type, I worked up some courage and asked a woman if I could sit at her table that she was sitting alone at.

We ended up having a very nice conversation.

It turns out that she’s from Rochester, N.Y. and that she teaches comedy and improv there. I didn’t know that the folks in Rochester even had a sense of humor so this was something that I found to be a little bit fascinating. When she asked what I did, I told her whom I worked for and she was quite familiar with the company (it is the telephone company, after all). She admitted that she no longer had phone service, having opted for her iPhone, but she liked it when she had it. Ah, technology marches on.

The first question that popped into my head was how one teaches comedy and improv, since I have always thought that to be an inherent ability. I didn’t ask her this, though, because I didn’t want to sound insulting, especially since formulating sentences this early in the morning can be a struggle for me. So we talked about art and iPhones and the like. It was a pleasant conversation.

One thing that I was excited about was that she was using Siri on her phone to set reminders and all that. Now that was something that I could relate to.

Maybe these little attempts at being outgoing aren’t so scary after all.

Waking up from a nap on Amtrak, I ask Siri: “where am I”?

Kind of impressive.

I am currently sitting in the roomette I mentioned in an earlier blog entry today. I just walked to the café car (which is two cars away) and had the specialty sandwich of the day, which is a pulled pork sandwich served a la Radarange. The café attendant was a fine man from the U.K. and had a delicious accent. The sandwich was quite tasty and surprisingly low in calories. I saved my appetite this evening for such a feast.

I am now enjoying Bud Light in a can in the privacy of my roomette. I hope I can do a little craft beer exploring on this long weekend that I have just embarked on.

I am surprised at how quiet this room is. I think we are two cars behind the last engine; there’s a baggage car in between. I’m not overly familiar with how things work yet, so I did what I’ve done in coach and just walked around, looking for the café car. There might be a different diner car in the other direction. I haven’t explored that way yet.

There are lighting options all over the place. Ceiling lights, reading lights, seatback lights. There’s also a toilet and a sink. Both double as the ladder to the upper bunk. I have to say that I have a hell of a lot more legroom than I would on an airplane headed for the same destination.

From the seat facing the front of the train:

And looking down on the seat I’m sitting in, facing the rear of the train. The bunk will be lowered down when it’s time for me to go to bed.

Sitting in comfort as I type on my iPad.

I’m excited about this train ride for several reasons, including that I’ve never been west of Syracuse on a train before. I’ve always headed east to Boston or southeast to New York. In both instances I rode to Albany where they split the train in half and you had better be in the right part that is going where you want to go.

I’m enjoying sitting here in the dark watching the scenery go by. I’m going to be on here for the next 13 hours or so and I think the time is going to fly by amazingly fast.

We are just getting to Syracuse; I recognize several landmarks from a city that I still thoroughly love, including the tiny James Street Wegmans.

I have to admit that I was nervous about the thought of using the toilet that is built into the room, but now I don’t feel bad. During the composition of this blog entry I have heard several flushes from adjacent rooms. I guess there’s no reason to be nervous after all. And it’s a lot more comfortable than doing it on an airliner.

I just noticed that the bed has seat belts. Heh.

Another reason I am excited about this trip is because I will see my husband after being apart for four days. We’ve been together for over 17 years, but I still miss him very much when we are apart. It’ll be good to be in the same time zone again.

So tonight I am leaving to meet my husband at our long-weekend vacation destination. I am excited about this trip for a number of reasons, including the fact that I am trying a new adventure for this trip.

Now, normally I would hop on a plane and fly the friendly skies because my love of flying is not a secret from anyone. However, since I’m feeling rather feisty these days, I decided to do something different. I’m taking a train. But not only am I taking a train, I’m taking a train for 14 hours. It’s an overnight and I’m sleeping in what Amtrak calls a “roomette”.

From what I have read, this Roomette is approximately 3 1/2 feet by 6 1/2 feet. There’s a bunk that folds up into the ceiling and another bunk that turns into two chairs and a table. There’s also a fold up sink and toilet.

I’m not only excited about this little adventure, I am über excited. I’m sure that I’ll be blogging and posting photos and the like from my little Roomette tonight and tomorrow morning. If this ride goes well, I might be able to convince my husband to try a train trip on one of our adventures together.

If anyone has a Roomette experience they’d like to share, feel free to post a comment. I’d love to hear how others have enjoyed the experience.

So Earl and Jamie left for Chicago this morning. They are off to start the ball rolling for Jamie’s move to the Windy City later this year. Earl has more vacation time available than I do so I’m going to meet up with them this coming weekend. He’s also going to be doing some work while he is out there so it’s all good.

This makes me a bachelor for the week.

Bachelor Mode has typically included a supper of soup and popcorn every night and being a complete geek about the house. I think my focus this week will be on getting some extraneous chores done as I have had things sitting on my to-do list for a while now and haven’t found the energy or motivation to do them. It’ll be easy to embrace my loner tendencies and get some of these things done.

With the marvels of modern technology, Earl is just a FaceTime call away, so it’s not like I’ll be lonely or anything. Actually, I will be lonely because that’s the way I can be, even though I’m on a loner, but with the little projects I have planned I’ll at least keep my mind occupied.

Who knows, maybe I’ll even write in my blog a little more. And share some cat photos. Because it’s always good to share cat photos.