Beyond Platform 9 and 3/4 - Part 2 of 2

I now conclude my travels.

A young couple sat behind me--boyfriend and girlfriend I would guess. Originally, I thought they were enemies who were forced to sit next to one another. I kept hearing comments like, “You are so unintelligent” and “I don’t want to see you ever again!”, said with much more colorful language, of course. I got the impression that they both took a lot of French in high school. Then about half way through the trip, somebody flipped the switch and I heard things like, “Oooh, baby I looove you.” I enjoyed the change in atmosphere, but I don’t think their wiener dog did, because shortly thereafter he left a foul present for his owners. Consequently, many people were forced to temporarily evacuate our car as ungrateful recipients of the ill-bestowed gift. It was a negative externality if I ever smelled one. Thank heavens I studied economics, ere I miss this real world application.

On the train they have a place called the observation deck, which is basically a car with more windows so you can look outside. My first trip to the observation deck was while we were going through the sierra nevadas. I sat on the side facing the mountain because the side facing out was mostly full. I quickly observed how the snow combined with the earth of the mountain to form a beautiful, harmonious image of nature in its finest, speckled by rocks of all sizes and shapes…it was perhaps the most thought-provoking 17 seconds of my trip. After that I arose and went back to my seat, a few cars back.

Fortunately I was able to sleep a little bit during the night hours. However, it seemed like every time I awoke we were at a stop point. I wondered sometimes is we were moving at all. Turns out on one occasion, just outside of Utah, we actually weren’t. The guy behind me, who had apparently left his seat sometime earlier, comes back and says, “It appears we have been delayed two and one half hours from reaching our destination.” Atleast I think that’s what he said. I couldn’t really tell, it was mostly in French. It turns out Monsieur was only partially correct: we had been delayed, but for only an hour. Shortly afterwords we were chugging along our merry way again. After going through Salt Lake City, I arrived in Provo Utah around 6:15 a.m. My friend Brad was there to pick me up, and we gave Billy a ride back to his apartment. I was dropped off next and went straight to bed for a few extra hours of sleep.

And thus it was that I concluded my train travels. I must admit, it wasn’t what exactly what I expected. The trolley of magical candy never passed. Tom Hanks never appeared singing and dancing in the isle while serving “HOT! HOT! HOT CHOCOLATE!” I never heard the train say “I think I can!”, nor was I the only survivor at the end of the day, as was Bruce Willis. Although it was long trip, I would definitely do it again: its cheaper than flying, and much more the adventure. I would recommend the train to all those seeking such travel conditions. So let it be written. So let it be done.