The End of a Vacation

I have to get this finished or I will have forgotten the important little details. I’m afraid I have already forgotten so many. Besides I keep getting off onto other tangents I want to write about.

I believe we had reached the weekend. Mom was off work again. We did some thrift store shopping found lots of beautiful clothes and would have bought much more if we hadn’t had to worry about getting it all onto the train. We hit a china buffet for lunch. It was delicious, you could pick your own ingredients and have them cook it or choose from the normal old buffet. It is definitely diet time now that we are home, so why do I get so made when ever a usually sweet husband mentions the D word?

After lunch the husband escaped back to the house with my father to do manly things and we women went riding. This time the sun was out and the weather nice, the goblin child got to ride with mom on Smoke. We bundled her up toasty warm, except, as my grandmother was quick to note, for gloves. She always takes them off, I always forget.

Anyway, we had a nice jaunt around the hay field. It feels kind of weird, but nice, to be back riding around the same hay field I rode so many times clear back to middle school. It’s really amazing that one horse at least is still there from way back then. I thought she was old at that time, now she looks ancient.

Sunday came to soon and it was time to catch our train. We spent the morning packing and triple checking to make sure we didn’t forget anything. It didn’t work I hadn’t been on the train long when I realized I had forgotten one of my favorite Christmas presents. Mom got me a Chao chocolate bar with pop rocks and chilli and I left it there. On the bright side I don’t think anyone will eat it while I’m gone.

We left for the train station in two vehicles again. Mom watches Sabbath every Sunday so he got to come along, but we needed to fit two car seats. The men rode in dads pickup, while us women followed behind with the children. It had been raining a freezing drizzle all morning and Sabbaths loving mother was a bit concerned about him being out and about in it. Wise woman. The roads weren’t bad though, luckily.

It was eerily similar to our last train catching adventure all we needed was a bad wreck to make them completely alike. We got it right off the bat, or nearly did, thankfully. As dad pulled out on to the main road, with a green light that had been green for quite a while, a little red ford pickup came flying down the hill, ran the long time red light and missed dads pickup somehow and only by a hair, as dad slammed on the brakes. We watched with our hearts in out throats, seeing the pickup coming before dad did and knowing they were going to hit. I still swear dad was in the same lane as the idiot and God warped the laws of physics for that moment so they some how missed each other. Once again a great way to start a trip.

We caught the train in the cold wet weather and were very glad not to be driving as it sped on through the snow. Supper that night was a grand affair as we again enjoyed meals included with our ticket, Twenty five dollar a plate steak isn’t usually in our food budget. We added desert and contemplated a glass of wine, it is unfortunate, at times like these, not to drink. Back in our room for the night I once again shared a bunk with the child as we attempted to sleep. She slept at least and I stayed awake to watch as we pulled into Nebraska.

I was thinking about the trip my brother and I made down this same path and wishing it was light so I could see my childhood home. I love the unusual point of view allowed from a train. Instead of the shiny front sides you see the hidden dilapidated back sides. Peoples back yards, the bad parts of town. I decided to become a bum and dwell in the forested space along the track. Those open empty places in the middle of city where nothing seems to be. I realized that the train is the lowest level and exactly how high the interstate overpasses are that we are so used to zipping across.

The train station in Omaha was nothing like I remembered. I thought we got off inside? In a grand old nearly empty train station left over from the railroads heydays many years before? Instead the people came out of a little seventies style building and got on out in the open just like every other stop. We slept a little, I know I napped all the way from Omaha to Lincoln, and finally arrived at our stop. The very nice conductor helped us get all of our luggage off, that just left getting it clear to the car. The car was still there by the way, none of my nightmares about it being towed had come true.

And best of all it started, at fifteen or twenty degrees, at four in the morning, after being parked for a week the good old Buick fired right up. All that was left was to drive home with out falling asleep. Which we managed, the trip went amazingly fast without blinding snow. It was a fun trip and a great adventure I hope we can do it again some day, maybe that tour of new england we talked about.

The timing was perfect, shortly after returning home they started to get snow, and more snow and cold. It was strangely enjoyable to see our train in the news after it hit a twelve foot snow bank in the middle of IL and was stuck there. I’m just glad it wasn’t while we were on it.