So. I was supposed to come back Friday night over into Saturday. That would give me time to prepare a Sunday School lesson, rest up (there aren't any meetings Monday but Tuesday starts the seemingly-endless round of pre-semester meetings), and get groceries.
Amtrak now has a handy app on their website where you can track a train in as close to real-time as possible. (It updates every ten to fifteen minutes). So I started tracking my train. And it got slower, and slower (they show speed on the updates) and finally stopped altogether. And sat. And sat for a very long time.
Sometimes that happens - Amtrak uses the freight companies' rails and the freights get priority because they pay for upkeep. But after half an hour or so, I started to worry. So I called them. Was told "A part is being brought from Chicago" and also something about a gas line break, which I thought was referring to an air hose. So I waited. Finally, I decided to eat dinner as the train would probably arrive too late for me to get dinner in the diner (This, as it turns out, was wise).
I kept checking. At some point, I can't remember if it was 5:00 or later, the tracker showed the train going BACK to Chicago. Not good. So I called again. I finally got someone who KNEW something (his name was Bruce): there was a gas MAIN break near Joliet, the train could NOT go through the area until it was capped off, crews were on the scene but no idea as to how soon the train could be underway.
So I asked him: Could you please check and see if there are ANY sleeper accommodations available for Saturday, the 8th?
Yes. There was one. (This is a big issue for me. I can't sleep sitting up - the coach seats are like recliners, and also coach can be very loud even with quiet hours and it creeps me out to try to sleep when I feel like other people are LOOKING at me. I would probably feel differently if I were traveling with a companion but I was not). I was prepared to eat any cost difference but he told me, "It's a service disruption so we'll substitute tomorrow's accommodations for today's at no charge." I thanked him and he verified my e-mail to send me the new ticket.
I'm so glad I did. As it turned out, the train apparently went back to Chicago, waited for 11-some hours, and set off again after the gas main was capped off. I would have gotten on around 4 am rather than the scheduled 4 pm. And it would have meant someone - probably me - staying up all night watching the tracker to see when it was getting close. (It would be so useful for there to be something like a system where you could request a phone call automatically when a train was, for example, at the stop before yours).
As it was, my train (the new one) was 45 minutes late but that is no big deal at all. (I kind of laughed; some guy waiting in the station was griping about it being 45 minutes late and I couldn't help but think that 45 minutes is WAY better than 12 hours). The trip itself was pretty uneventful which is always good - the people in the dining car were people who knew me (That always surprises the other people I'm eating with, that Thelma remembers me....) and my car attendant was good even though he was having to work two cars at once.
The nice lady who is the volunteer at the Mineola station said "I sure hoped you weren't on yesterday's train!" and I told her the story - and she said the train I was to have been on got in there at MIDNIGHT - so I was asleep in my compartment somewhere in Arkansas when that train finally pulled in at my station. (I would have had to get a hotel room; no way I am driving 2 1/2 hours that late at night).
I did miss church and Sunday school but luckily was able to call one of the people in my class and he was going to call everyone else, so no harm, no foul there.
But yeah - it seems I do run into my share of travel headaches.
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