Train ride from Hell
I'm finally back in Michigan... 24 hours later than expected. I swear this trip was not meant to go smoothly....
Chris was supposed to buy our tickets two weeks before we left for the trip (mid August) and we learned last sunday that he forgot... So began the rush to get tickets before our train left two days later.... with the help of a travel agency we managed to reserve seats and Chris planned to pay for them when we boarded the train.
Caitlyn and I were supposed to get on the train at 730pm in Yuma, Arizona.... We finally boarded the train at 1130 that night. It was a long boring wait at the 'station' (a concrete slab between 4 sets of tracks with two benches on it). Once we were settled, we learned that the train was late because the engine died. On our next stop they exchanged the engine since it wouldn't start... it put us an additional two hours behind schedule, still no big deal... Cait and I went to get settled, out destination marker holding our seats, then went to explore.... yeah, bad idea. Two drunk guys took our seats and we ended up having to sit with complete strangers.
I don't sleep well around strangers and Cait and I were both very awake... We only got a few hours of sleep, in the lounge. Day two was a bit better, we were in Texas the whole day though and it dragged on since the drunk people decided to get noisy... Don't get me wrong, I like to drink but these people were just obnoxious and negative. Yes, we were behind schedule... yes, we had more engine trouble... yes, it seemed like we were stopping a lot (Freight trains have right of way), but we were moving. I irrationally blame them for the rest of my trip... It was the complaining drunks that challenged the power of worse with their constant 'it can't get worse than this' , 'it can't go any slower than this', 'this is the worst'
We made it most of the way through Texas before the real issues started popping up. Our train was supposed to go through Louisiana....not happening thanks to Ike... We had to stop and let the passengers heading west off to be sent on buses to their destination, no big deal. We made our scheduled overnight stop to switch engines (again) and change out a couple of cars.... The new cars were great, every seat had outlets so we didn't have to worry about dead batteries (yay!). At 9am we started on our way again and only made it as far as Fort Worth.... A train ahead of us on the track derailed and we had to be rerouted again.
People headed to certain destinations were put on buses and sent on their way while the rest of us waited to find out what was going on.... all the while receiving calls from worried loved ones because a. there was a crash and a derailment and b. Ike was heading straight towards us.... Due to the derailment, they back up our train and sent us on a new route, we were once more several hours behind schedule.
Finally we started towards Chicago where Cait and I were supposed to make a connection to Michigan... We started getting reports of bad weather and flooding north of us. As we moved farther north the weather started getting worse slowing us down until we were back to 6 hours behind... Cait and I missed our train to Michigan. We arrived in Chicago at 930pm, our connection departed at 6pm though we were scheduled to arrive in Chicago at 230pm. As we pulled in we could see the tracks flooding in one area. Amtrak sent us to a hotel and exchanged out tickets for a new train this morning. We expected to arrive in Kzoo by noon.... once again, not happening.
We arrived on time, the train was waiting, at 8am they called for the first group to board, and then we waited... 45 minutes later the screen told up that our train was canceled due to flooding and bad weather, they'd be busing us to Michigan City.... First they told us the buses would be there by 1045.... then our destination changed to Niles... 1045 came and went.... no word what was going on... We started to get impatient... they finally told us the buses were delayed due to the water and rain... they'd be there soon. We finally got on the bus at 1230. It was hot and cramped and wholly not good. We were stuck on the bus for two hours as they took us to Niles where we got on a train (finally). We arrived in Kzoo 45 minutes later... Since we were a whole day late getting home Cait missed her bus to Saginaw and they had canceled all others so we ended up meeting my sister in Perry (2hours away)...
The whole experience was frustrating in so many ways. I may try the train again, I really like the train part just not all the other crap. If it goes bad the second time well prolly not again.
Chris was supposed to buy our tickets two weeks before we left for the trip (mid August) and we learned last sunday that he forgot... So began the rush to get tickets before our train left two days later.... with the help of a travel agency we managed to reserve seats and Chris planned to pay for them when we boarded the train.
Caitlyn and I were supposed to get on the train at 730pm in Yuma, Arizona.... We finally boarded the train at 1130 that night. It was a long boring wait at the 'station' (a concrete slab between 4 sets of tracks with two benches on it). Once we were settled, we learned that the train was late because the engine died. On our next stop they exchanged the engine since it wouldn't start... it put us an additional two hours behind schedule, still no big deal... Cait and I went to get settled, out destination marker holding our seats, then went to explore.... yeah, bad idea. Two drunk guys took our seats and we ended up having to sit with complete strangers.
I don't sleep well around strangers and Cait and I were both very awake... We only got a few hours of sleep, in the lounge. Day two was a bit better, we were in Texas the whole day though and it dragged on since the drunk people decided to get noisy... Don't get me wrong, I like to drink but these people were just obnoxious and negative. Yes, we were behind schedule... yes, we had more engine trouble... yes, it seemed like we were stopping a lot (Freight trains have right of way), but we were moving. I irrationally blame them for the rest of my trip... It was the complaining drunks that challenged the power of worse with their constant 'it can't get worse than this' , 'it can't go any slower than this', 'this is the worst'
We made it most of the way through Texas before the real issues started popping up. Our train was supposed to go through Louisiana....not happening thanks to Ike... We had to stop and let the passengers heading west off to be sent on buses to their destination, no big deal. We made our scheduled overnight stop to switch engines (again) and change out a couple of cars.... The new cars were great, every seat had outlets so we didn't have to worry about dead batteries (yay!). At 9am we started on our way again and only made it as far as Fort Worth.... A train ahead of us on the track derailed and we had to be rerouted again.
People headed to certain destinations were put on buses and sent on their way while the rest of us waited to find out what was going on.... all the while receiving calls from worried loved ones because a. there was a crash and a derailment and b. Ike was heading straight towards us.... Due to the derailment, they back up our train and sent us on a new route, we were once more several hours behind schedule.
Finally we started towards Chicago where Cait and I were supposed to make a connection to Michigan... We started getting reports of bad weather and flooding north of us. As we moved farther north the weather started getting worse slowing us down until we were back to 6 hours behind... Cait and I missed our train to Michigan. We arrived in Chicago at 930pm, our connection departed at 6pm though we were scheduled to arrive in Chicago at 230pm. As we pulled in we could see the tracks flooding in one area. Amtrak sent us to a hotel and exchanged out tickets for a new train this morning. We expected to arrive in Kzoo by noon.... once again, not happening.
We arrived on time, the train was waiting, at 8am they called for the first group to board, and then we waited... 45 minutes later the screen told up that our train was canceled due to flooding and bad weather, they'd be busing us to Michigan City.... First they told us the buses would be there by 1045.... then our destination changed to Niles... 1045 came and went.... no word what was going on... We started to get impatient... they finally told us the buses were delayed due to the water and rain... they'd be there soon. We finally got on the bus at 1230. It was hot and cramped and wholly not good. We were stuck on the bus for two hours as they took us to Niles where we got on a train (finally). We arrived in Kzoo 45 minutes later... Since we were a whole day late getting home Cait missed her bus to Saginaw and they had canceled all others so we ended up meeting my sister in Perry (2hours away)...
The whole experience was frustrating in so many ways. I may try the train again, I really like the train part just not all the other crap. If it goes bad the second time well prolly not again.