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Nov232005
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Atlanta |
Dad got me up before six this morning. We were taking a train to Atlanta for Thanksgiving. Mom and Andrew are there with her brother Larry, his family and Grandma Laughlin. We called a cab but it didn’t show in time. Dad drove my car to Union Station downtown. We arrived shortly after seven. After retrieving our tickets we boarded the train, and it departed on time just a few minutes later at 7:20. Not too long after taking our seats I noticed there were no electrical outlets in the car we were seated in. A nice gentleman in the next car offered to exchange seats with us so I could plug in my laptop. As the train made its way out of New Orleans, I got my first look at some of the more significant damage in the city. The tracks go through New Orleans East, which was flooded rather badly. While there was a lot of significant wind damage, the flooding with what ruined tens of thousands of homes. The water lines I saw looked to be as high as ten feet. Later on, I listened to some music and watched a couple Stargate episodes. I joined Dad in the lounge car. He had been there for a while, talking to some of the other passengers. I remained there for a good while before returning to my seat. At around five, I went back to the lounge car, expecting the dining car to be open shortly. It wasn’t open to us lowly coach passengers until after seven central however. Until then, I just sat in the lounge with mostly the same gang that was there earlier in the day. I had to wait in a hallway with several other folks for a few minutes before we were seated. I shared a table with a lady and her son. She is the assistant provost at Delgado’s city park campus. We spoke intermittently during the meal. They first brought out a salad with Italian dressing, as that was the only kind they had left. They were also out of any sort of soft drinks. I had the seared catfish with rice and vegetables. It was more than tolerable but certainly not worth the price. Looking at the menu provided some insight as to why the tickets were so inexpensive. After dinner I walked back to my seat. By this time, sometime before ten eastern, we were pretty close to Atlanta. The approach was interrupted, as our trip had been several times today, most likely all by freight trains with the right-of-way. We arrived at the station sometime around 10:30, around two to three hours late, as is rather typical with this line. Everyone in our car and the one behind us got off here, with a single open door between them. It took a while to get everyone off. We waited to be last in line. As we walked through the station we said goodbye to a woman we were speaking to on the train and her family, who both Dad and I spoke with on the train. Uncle Larry picked us up from the station. Mom and Andrew were also there to greet us. The drive to Uncle Larry’s house must have been a little over 20 minutes. We arrived at about 11. As it was rather late, some of us just watched a little TV before going to bed. I slept on the living room sofa.