Our Horrible, Perfect Amtrak/Duke Medical Trip - 7/09/14 Yesterday, our Duke Medical trip could have been an easy four hour journey had I chose to drive the one hour trek. Instead, I booked an Amtrak which usually turns out to be a wonderful, clean, relaxing, fun way to travel. It turned out to be a 14 hour journey that was hot, dirty, exhausting, smelly, irritating, and wait for it... PERFECT! At the Train Station: The evening train was running on a two hour delay due to the extremely hot temperatures. The bathrooms at the train station were broke so they had porta-potties set up outside. The vending machine took our money, and the benches were hard and uncomfortable. There was a loud, obnoxious hillbilly carrying on about Obamas plan to put white people in concentration camps, and a yuppie allowing his child to watch his iPad with the volume on full blast. On the Train: We finally boarded the hot train as a severe thunderstorm approached, and it smelled like a nursing home where a few of its tenants had expired because most of the bathrooms on the train were closed do to overuse. The crew was exhausted and were being mistreated by most ticket holders - as if somehow they were in control of all of these coincidental mishaps. Through it all, we just smiled and laughed while watching it all unfold like a movie. It was free entertainment. We even tipped the concession car lady big to let her know that not all of us are assholes and blamed the crew. Proud Daddy: My girls, while slightly frustrated, made the best of it. Jojo Youtubed on her phone, cracked observational jokes, and occasionally added to the strange smells. Macey, who’s always by my side, sat with me as we ate spicy chips and made fun of all the interesting people and things we were witnessing. We chose to laugh at everything… even each other. -------------- I didnt write this on my timeline because I thought anyone would find it interesting. I wrote it here for my family to reflect on at some point in the future. Im proud of the girls Ive helped raise. They amaze me every single day. :) Yesterday was perfect. PS The Amtrak staff were amazing. From the Durham Amtrak station, to the onboard staff, to the concession car attendant - they were all focused on making the best of a bad situation.
Posted on: Thu, 10 Jul 2014 16:24:14 +0000
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