When it is plugged in and charging, my cell phone makes a beep when the power is lost. It makes that beep and wakes me up. We are not moving. I've become used to the sensation of not moving. Where are we? What time is it? How late are we, anyway?
San Antonio. 6:40 am (presumably Mountain Time). The Sunset Limited is SUPPOSED to pull out of San Antonio at 6:25 am, so we are currently 15 minutes behind schedule. Remind me to apologize to Jay.
San Antonio. 6:40 am (presumably Mountain Time). The Sunset Limited is SUPPOSED to pull out of San Antonio at 6:25 am, so we are currently 15 minutes behind schedule. Remind me to apologize to Jay.
Here at San Antonio the Sunset Limited splits and part of the train becomes the Texas Eagle, heading to Chicago. The Texas Eagle is still on my wishlist of Amtrak routes. Maybe next summer... The rest of it goes on to New Orleans. In a normal schedule this process takes from 4:50 am to 6:40 am, so just under 2 hours. We must have made up some serious time during the night. I wonder if we will be fed today. I decide that the best way to find out is to go to the dining car, which is only about 15 feet from where I sit.
There is activity in there. That's a good sign. I poke my head in to ask Elvis, er, um, Patty what's for breakfast. She says they will make an announcement shortly, that they are bringing food aboard from a local restaurant... and she hopes I like Tex-Mex. Tex-Mex is fine, but for breakfast? I return to my room and complete my morning ablutions. At 7:25 am the train departs San Antonio. We are now less than an hour behind schedule.
BUT, and this is a BIG BUT, due to the recent flooding in the Houston area, our next stop, we are going to be rerouted onto the BNSF line to get us around the bridge over the Brazos River at Richmond which was damaged in the flooding. This may add up to an hour and a half to our lateness.
During the re-route the breakfast announcement comes. They've brought aboard some breakfast burritos from a nice restaurant in San Antonio and sleeper passengers are invited to come and partake. We are only using half of the dining car this morning since the A/C appears to be working in one half but not the other half. We have our choice of ham, sausage or beef breakfast burritos. I choose beef. It's ok. Not great. Not what I would have chosen, but again, it's food and I won't starve. At least not this morning. There's also that Amtrak coffee and I have 3 cups, plus one to go back to my room with. Might as well bounce off the walls if I'm going to be stuck on this train for the rest of the day.
To my surprise the reroute goes smoothly, if not a little slowly, and we are greeted at the transfer point by a sizable number of rail-fans, (foamers) cameras in hand or mounted on tripods, getting some rare footage. I hope I get to see some of it online. We back into Houston station still less than an hour late. Another hour layover in Houston is part of the schedule but the conductor announces that we will cut this stop short in order to make up more time. They hope to get us into New Orleans fairly close to schedule. We'll see.
We stay at Houston barely long enough for me to call my father and wish him a happy Father's Day, enjoy a brief but refreshing rain-shower, and we pull out of the station now only 17 minutes behind schedule. I would never have believed it.
Around noon, Patty/Elvis announces that there are two lunch seatings, 12:00 and 1:30, come whenever you like. There are two choices only, a dinner salad to which you can add chicken if you like or barbecued pork shanks (we call them short-ribs where I come from). Sorry, but they can only offer these items because they can't use the grill, lest the diner become a sauna again. I have the shanks. They are delicious. I am getting hungry again just thinking about them.
It seems that we have left the desert and mountains behind. We seem to be in bayou country but it's a little early for that. Perhaps what I am seeing is the remnants of the horrible flooding this area experienced in the past few weeks. The train is moving slowly but steadily and we reach Beaumont only 25 minutes behind schedule.
A short delay at Lake Charles and we are once again under way, about 45 minutes late.
At Lafayette, LA I nearly have a heart attack when I step off the train for some fresh air and it starts to pull away. I am horrified, but it stops a few hundred feet away and I make my way quickly to the door. The platform here is too short to accommodate the whole train so they have to pull forward to board the coach passengers. I call the Whitney Hotel in New Orleans to let them know I may be late. They say it's fine.
For dinner tonight, Elvis is offering either a hamburger or a veggie burger. I opt out and decide to get something at New Orleans. I eat my extra cookie for dinner. My Grandmother would not approve.
THIS is bayou country. Lowlands. Lots and lots of water. Everywhere you look, more water. I see Snowy Egrets wading in rice fields. I am looking for alligators. I don't see any. Is that good or bad? The sun goes down and I decide it's time to pack up my stuff. It's amazing to me how quickly you can clutter a roomette with your junk. I have everything I brought. Good.
Another thing I find interesting is that it seems like the last 5 miles of the trip takes forever. We are navigating train yards and junctions galore. I hope the driver knows where he is going, I'm starting to get hungry and I'm out of cookies.
We cross the Huey P. Long bridge. I know it holds some kind of distinction but I'm just too tired to go and find out what it is. More switching and more yards and finally the announcement comes that we will be making three stops as we back into New Orleans... the first is to change direction and the second is a safety stop 50 feet short of the platform. The third stop is when you can detrain.
Jay offers to carry my suitcase down to the vestibule. I don't let him because it's REALLY heavy. He says no problem and lifts it like it's made of Styrofoam. This is a man who has been carrying people's luggage for 24 years. We stand and chat during the final moments into New Orleans. He's been a real trooper and I tip him well for his service. I forgot to tip Patty / Elvis in the dining car. Oh well, too late now. My bad.
We arrive in New Orleans 1 hour and 4 minutes late. I can live with this. By some miracle I am the first to detrain and the first to reach the taxi queue. I am in my room at the Whitney by 10:55 pm. Too late for dinner but not too late for a nosh in the Bistro downstairs. Some light snacks and off to bed in what just might be the most comfortable hotel bed I've ever slept in. I wonder if I can fit this into my suitcase?
Tomorrow, I explore New Orleans on foot.
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