On the Train and In the Station

The final stop on our road trip isn’t really going as planned, but I guess everything s working our ok.  It makes for an interesting story though!  You’re in luck, because f you keep reading, you’ll get to hear that story ;)

On Monday morning Bekah and I boarded the train in West Glacier, Montana to begin our 36-hour trek through Chicago and on to Holland, Michigan and my college!  I was really excited for two reasons: first, I love the train and I was going to get my fix. And second, I was going to show Bekah Hope College, and all my favorite hangout places around campus!

Our train was two hours late picking us up in West Glacier, but that was ok because it meant that we could stay in our hotel and sleep for an extra hour.  (One of the perks of Bekah being able to check the schedule on her iphone!  We woke up early, checked the train’s status with bleary eyes, saw it was delayed, and promptly went back to sleep!  It was manna from Heaven!)

Once we boarded the train, we settled in for the longest ride of our trip.  Everything was going wonderfully.  We ate food from our cooler, watched movies, read, chatted, watched more movies, ate more, slept a little, woke up in the morning and did it all over again!  However we shook things up a little bit on our second day and went to the dining car for lunch.  SUCH a good decision!  I had the most amazing chipotle black bean burger… mmmmm!  I’m not a vegetarian, but it would be oh so easy for me to convert if I needed to for some reason! 

Shortly after lunch it became clear not only that our train was not going to make it to Chicago on time, but that Bekah and I would not be able to make our connection into Holland.  The train was about four hours behind schedule at this point, so the Amtrak people started calling travelers into the dining car and began writing up hotel and transfer vouchers for everyone who was missing their connection.  There were at least 50 such people. 

I was really disappointed when I talked to the lady and found out that we would have to spend the night and most of the day in Chicago because there is only one train that goes from Chicago to Holland per day, and that train leaves at 5:20pm.  What could we do though, right?

We finally got to Chicago around 7:30pm (We were originally supposed to get in at 3:20), and by 9:30 we were in our hotel room.  The good thing was that the voucher Amtrak gave us paid for our room, meals, and the shuttle that took us from the station to the hotel, and back to the station in the morning. 

Bekah and I adapted our plans so that we would explore Chicago today, take the train into Holland tonight, do a quick “midnight tour” of campus, and then take the train back to Chicago the next morning so she can catch her train to DC and I can catch my plane to Texas.  It’s kind of a mess, but it will work out!

We got to the station this morning and tried to get a locker so we could store our luggage and go explore the city, only to find out that all the lockers were full… yep they were ALL full.  After a brief discussion, I offered to stay in the station with our luggage while Bekah went and explored the city.  (Mainly because she has a huge list of things she wants to see and I can come back anytime.)

I’m trying my very hardest to look on the bright side, so here’s what I’ve got so far:

1)    Bekah was dying to explore, and she gets to.  Exploring=good thing!

2)    I love layovers, and now I get to prove it.  Proving points=good thing!

3)    We’ll get to Holland tonight and I’ll be able to give Bekah an exclusive midnight tour of campus instead of the regular tour that everyone gets! Ooh how fancy ;) Exclusive tour=good thing!

4)    When we get donuts at Good Time, we won’t be there until close to midnight (when all the students go anyway) and it will make perfect sense to get two donuts and keep one for breakfast on the train in the morning!  Breakfast=good thing!

5)    We’ll still get to stay the night with Christine, even if it’s only one night.  Staying with friends=good thing!

6)    We’ll get back to Chicago in time to make our connections this time.  Making connections=a VERY good thing.

7)    And finally, when our trip is over, Bekah and I will each be calling Amtrak customer service and will most likely be receiving vouchers for a free train ticket to use at a future date as compensation.  Free tickets=lovely, lovely good things. 

There we go!  I feel so much better after seeing it all laid out like that! 

Well that’s about all for now! I hope you enjoyed the story :)  Here are some of the pictures I took of Montana as we sped through on the train.  Enjoy!

Rebekah