I'm back.

Break was mostly good, except my father caught a nasty respiratory bug (which hopefully I managed to avoid). He's now on antibiotics (he has to be extra careful because of the fake knee; apparently microbes can, in rare cases, travel to the replacement joint and wreck it) and Prednisone. (Not fun. I remember being put on a brief course of the stuff to keep me from coughing myself to pieces during an attack of asthmatic bronchitis. I don't think I slept for a week and my appetite and attitude were rather like a bear preparing for hibernation). He also had to scrap a trip to the AAG meetings in Las Vegas (he had been invited to give a paper, but there's no way he could fly with the respiratory bug he has).

Also, coming back, the train apparently hit a deer somewhere north of where I was to get on. I knew that deer could wreak havoc on a car (one of my colleagues totaled a university minivan when he could not avoid hitting a small deer), but it can also apparently mess up a diesel engine. The train had electrical problems, which made it very late (and made dinner even later). But thank goodness, they managed to fix it (I had visions of a repeat of last year's bus fiasco, but I figured when we pulled into St. Louis and I saw no buses waiting, I was safe).

I will say the whole episode makes me wonder, sadly, if the "special snowflakes" (as some call them) are starting to take over the world. An example:

When I got on the train, my car attendant handed me my dinner reservation. "It says 6 pm," he said, "But because of the electrical problems it's gonna be a lot later than that. They'll call the time, but they'll probably call '6 pm reservations' around 7 or later." [it was actually 8:30, but no biggie]

I thanked him for the info and sat down with my book. During the time I was waiting, I heard no fewer than four rather exasperated announcements on the part of the dining car staff asking people to please WAIT until their time was called, and explaining the reason for the lateness and promising that they would call people when it became possible. (And no, this was not after a bunch of people had got on - at least three of those announcements took place between two stations).

Seriously, people, it is NOT THAT HARD.

They also had to keep announcing:

"Don't flush trash down the toilets"
"If we find you smoking, you WILL be put off the train." (This is on a train with prominent no-smoking signs, and it says right on the schedule that it is an all-no-smoking train)
"Wear your shoes to protect your feet when you're walking around the train." (Now, I ask you. I understand barefooting is a lifestyle choice, and heck, I like to go barefoot at home or even outdoors (provided I'm in an area free of fire ants or ground-nesting wasps). But on a nasty mucky train car, where all kinds of people - farmers in work boots, people who've trotted the dirty city streets, little kids who have accidents - have left all kinds of indescribable MUNG on the floor...I'd probably be a lot less suffering-fools-lightly and would say something like, "The floor in these cars is full of germs and other slop. If you choose to walk barefoot even knowing this fact, we are completely absolved from any responsibility if you contract a HORRIBLE PARASITIC FOOT DISEASE." Of course, they probably AREN'T absolved, and there's the problem, some idiot will walk into the bathroom barefoot and step in something nasty and try to sue Amtrak)

So I don't know. I feel sometimes that the more I am out among people, the more I am driven to hermitage. As I said: IT IS NOT THAT HARD to understand and abide by the relatively few things they ask you to do (or not do) on the train.

Oh, and they had to remind people not to use cuss words in cell phone conversations. Because there are children "and others" who "don't need to be hearing that."

But anyway. Otherwise, it was a good trip. Despite the frustrating conditions they surely had to work under, the dining car waiters were their usual jovial selves (Or maybe they're just jovial to me because they know me and know I tip and also don't make Special Snowflake requests) and we got to our destination safely.

And I'm glad to see my bed. The beds on the train are far better than the coach seats for sleeping, but nothing beats your own bed at home.