The People You Meet

I just had my last meal in the dining car (the food was above expectations) and I was thinking about the differences to other forms of travel and who you meet along the way. While I didn’t make lifelong friends on the train, I did talk with others and hear stories, some really personal like Jinny who is part of the Ojibwa tribe, a teacher, and was on her way back from taking time away by herself. I met Lynn on my way out to Seattle, she is from Australia and was visiting friends in the States. She was rerouted to this train (as were many others) due to bridges being out in flooded Nebraska. Devin who had a ton of positive energy had just received an accepted offer on a first house with his wife. He hasn’t seen the house in person yet because he works in ND for 3 weeks at a time and was headed home for his 3 weeks off. He is also a proud army veteran who has seen the world. It was amazing how many people travel the country by train; one man even told me how for he and his wife’s 40th wedding anniversary traveled by train to New York to connect with a European cruise. Sadly, his wife passed away last year so this was a solo trip down to CA. Besides the scenery, making connections with others is part of the train experience, something you typically don’t get when flying. I looked forward to meal time not just because I was hungry, but I was excited to see who my companions were going to be and the stories that would be shared.