AMTRAK... This is different

I took the train to Denver. I was looking forward to seeing the glorious Colorado scenery. Glenwood Canyon, Gore Canyon, Moffett Tunnel... I was excited. The train is scheduled to leave around 10:30 AM so there should be daylight most of the trip.

The morning of the trip I checked the internet to see if the train was on schedule. It was running 3 hours late. No problem, still plenty of time to see the sights. At noon I checked again, it was now running 4 hours late. It seemed like every time I checked the train was getting later. The last time I checked the internet is said it would be leaving 6 hours late or about 4:30 PM.

I went to the train station. Immediately following my arrival they moved the schedule out another half hour. There wasn't going to be much sight seeing on this trip. The train came, I got on, the sun sunk behind the Colorado Monument and we left... 7 hours late.

Inside the coach car that I was assigned the seats were large with plenty of leg room. I'm over 6 feet tall and I could stretch out. For this much room on a plane you would have to pay 4 times the current rate.

We were off. Better late than never. I called my son in Denver and told him to not wait up as it would be well after midnight before I arrived.

I was glad I had a good book, a large jacket to act as a blanket and a couple of sandwiches in my bag. I settled in.

It was a long night. Remember the old saying, "like two passing trains in the night." I can tell you that it is very appropriate. You need to take the train to really understand it. You know they are there but just can't see 'em... like camouflage.

I finally arrived in Denver at 3:30 AM. The weirdest thing happened. In the rail yard the train kept stopping and the engineer would get out of the engine and walk ahead of the train for may 20 yards. He would inspect something, maybe a switch, and then get back in the engine. He did this about 3 times that I could see. Then the train started backing up. I didn't have a clue as to what was going on. Much to my surprise we backed into Denver's Union Station! I thought the engineer must have missed a turn or something. I found out later that all passenger trains have to back in. Apparently when they built Coors Field (baseball) something had to give and the powers that be decided it was railroad tracks. Pretty retarded if you ask me.

At any rate, I made it. Bored stiff, cold, and very late.

About the return trip soon.