Sunday, July 20, 2008
It's 5AM...Where are we?
I slept soundly for three hours and then at 5:01 (according to my travel clock) I woke up to the sound of a muffled voice calling out, "Sleeper for Portland!". Looking out the window I saw a couple of passengers pulling wheeled luggage toward the car. I thought about taking a photo of every stop but didn't due to sleeping through some and being on the wrong side of the train for others. I eventually took a station shot at Devil's Lake.
The train moves forward a little and then stops with my window directly in the middle of of what must be the town's main street. I see people in a truck waiting for the crossing guard to raise, looking right at me. I wave but they might not see me through the tinted windows.
I must have nodded off again because I wake up and find myself in the large Dilworth freight yard near Moorehead MN. There is a lot of rail action here and a good look at locomotive facilities.
I try to take pictures of railroad points of interest. Some come out but others are blurry because of the train's speed or my inability to stabilize the camera as the car rocks.
I stay awake long enough to see us through Moorehead and across the river into Fargo and then apparently nod off again. I awake to the sounds of Bill making coffee. It's about 6:30 and I'm ready to get up.
The shower is busy so I do a "camper's bath' in the very small utilitarian bathroom (think: Phone booth) and come out feeling more alive.
When I return to my room I see Bill has efficiently converted my bedroom into a sitting room again.
He has also made provided everything needed for coffee. The urn is just to the left of my roomette so I see and hear a lot of my fellow passengers going by to get a morning pick-me-up. The coffee isn't Starbucks but it was very welcome.
While I was sipping a cup in my roomette I overheard a woman talking to some one else about how much she needed that first cup of "joe". I leaned out of my door and pretended to derisively call out, "hopeless addicts!" and then saluted her with my cup, making her laugh.
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