Okay, I posted about the "bus bridge" on the way up, which really was not bad - once they got the train moved into place things went quickly, and the crew was well-rested and cheerful, which made for a pleasant trip.
A couple photos, including the traditional one of the Arch:
I also got to go to the fairly-new Daiso in my mom's town! I had heard of the place but had never been in one (If there's one in my region, I suspect the nearest is in Frisco, which...yeah, I don't brave that traffic any more).
Daiso is interesting. It's basically like the old five-and-dimes or perhaps the modern dollar stores (but I think most of the goods are perhaps a level better in quality, and the prices are higher). They have *everything* - they have a small craft section with tiny balls of yarn (I bought some fuzzy acrylic with half a plan of doing one of those "bunny from a garter stitch square" things just to see how Daiso yarn knits up.)
They have a lot of homewares and I admit if I were outfitting an apartment from scratch I'd probably buy my plates and cups there; they were cheap and sort of sturdy-basic and yet, there was something appealing about their designs. Didn't buy any snacks; some of them only had Japanese ingredients lists and with my allergies/food sensitivities I have to be careful and I don't read Japanese. I did look at some peach gummi candy but sorbitol was a main ingredient and that plays badly with my stomach.
they do have some toys. A line of Lego-style bricks (but lots smaller) that can be used to make models (the examples they had were birds and animals).
And they had plushies. And I couldn't resist this one, which I have named Stegan (like Kevin or maybe Steven):
Coming back, though.....well, it started out okay. But then in St. Louis we sat. And then they announced they were re-opening the doors if people wanted to go back out and get fresh air or smoke (or walk their service animal; I think there was someone with a service dog on the trip)
During the "first" (the regular" wait, when they recharge the water for the restrooms and refuel the train) I did go out and walk a bit. And I saw Bluey's "favourite kind of moon - a smiley moon!"
We were stuck behind a freight that had "timed out" - the crew had to go off, federal rules (for safety and the well being of the workers) and it would be an hour or so to get a new crew on. Okay, fine, I had my bed made up already so I got into my pajamas and read for a while, and then when we hadn't moved by 9:45 pm I just tried to sleep. Apparently it was about 2 1/2 hours rather than the suggested hour.
And the problem with Amtrak is, once you get late, you lose your "slot" and you have to wait for freights. Technically this is not supposed to be so, but the freight companies never give precedence to a running-late passenger train, so we pulled off on sidings a lot. We wound up close to four hours late all told.
So I saw some parts of Arkansas and even Missouri that I normally never get to see. Like this interesting painting on the side of a civic-center type building in Hope:
I wound up getting three meals on the train. This would be nicer but they're still on flex meals. I can't eat the casserole type stuff but they do do sandwiches now, I got a cheeseburger with dinner (and STILL something in it upset me a little, I don't know what). I got oatmeal and a yogurt for breakfast; that and a cup of tea helped. Lunch was a ham and cheese sandwich and interestingly, that was fine. (It COULD have been the iceberg lettuce in the salad with the cheeseburger; sometimes I think iceberg bothers me even when other lettuce doesn't. I had eaten a "green leaf lettuce" set of salad greens several days at my mom's with no ill effects. But then again - she insists on getting the hydroponically grown stuff and washing it very well before serving, and who knows how long that iceberg had sat since it was washed)
But FINALLY we got to Mineola, and I managed to get on the road home. I was pretty wiped out so didn't do as much grocery acquisition as I might (Especially in light of "gas prices have spiked more than 50 cents a gallon while I was gone") but, oh well.
(I did buy a box of the "Bluey" cereal, which is basically a smaller diameter version of Kix that's colored blue with....Spirulina! I didn't know they could get a blue color from that, I figured it was artificial. It's actually not bad as lower-sugar cereals go; if they keep making it I might buy another box when I finish this one. It's mild and kind of bland and sweet without being overly sweet, and that may have also been what my stomach needed - it was the main part of dinner last night, along with some grapes).
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