Sunday, August 16, 2009

home at last

Three weeks ago I left Memphis (and T-rav) to embark on a trip around the east/mid west. I flew 760 miles, drove a total of 1510 miles (205 from Richmond to the Outer Banks; 697 from the Outer Banks to Palmyra; 610 from Palmyra to South Bend, IN), and after realizing I somehow needed to get myself back to Memphis, took the train 549 miles from Chicago.

Total miles traveled: 2819

Aside from the guilt I felt for ditching my husband hard at work while I went to play, it was a great trip. I was able to relax at the beach, spend some time with my family, buy lots of books, and visit my dear friend Zillah.

And I took a train! I really, really heart trains. And train stations. And train platforms (which should always be called platforms, not "tracks" like they apparently call them in the Amtrak system). And the tracks. And really everything about them. But I had never ridden a train in the US before. I went expecting all sorts of unsavory folks, kind of like the ones you find on the Greyhound bus. But I stand corrected; there was a lovely assortment of people aboard Amtrak, most of them very run-of-the-mill.

Anyway. It's good to be home, although Memphis will only be home for 1 more week. Then I'm back to Utah by way of New Orleans.

Oriental Institute, Chicago, IL

3 comments:

Brooke S. said...

Unsavory Gray Hound folks, huh? That's too funny.

When we trained from Naples (read: armpit land) to Rome we were squished between a sweaty man who laid over the isle, taking up two seats, scratching and wiggling the whole way, and a man who let his obnoxious phone ring and ring and ring the whole way. It was an old train without AC and it was a million degrees. Awesome.

We figured out that Max's break is September 19 - October 18. ...I'm just saying...

Zillah said...

hooray for buying too many books! hooray for visiting! hooray for amtrak!

Kristi said...

We miss you. Come home!