And a new thing to think about: Amtrak, my favorite way of traveling, may not exist much longer.

I may be able to get to Illinois, but not back, on Amtrak. This brings a whole additional host of worries: how will I get home? What will become of my car parked in the Amtrak lot in Texas? What will I do for Thanksgiving? Christmas?

I hate flying - and the nearest airport is DFW, and I'd rather drive the 16 hours to get to Illinois than drive in the traffic around DFW. And the last time I traveled on Greyhound was a seriously traumatic experience.

So I may have to learn to celebrate holidays alone.

We really need a passenger rail service in this country. If Amtrak goes down the tubes, I hope that private industry picks up the baton.