I hardly slept, due to a mixture of emotions, music, and trying (and failing!) many times to write out yesterday’s recap without accidentally deleting my work, or my phone dying. I had bought a charging block from Axe-Man, but I couldn’t find it at all! Around 3 AM, my phone died.
Maybe 3 hours later, I got up to check my bigger luggage for the missing block. Though I was successful, train operators were walking quickly up and down the aisles as the train sat idle, while the lights were on in the cabin. Unrelated, but my phone did not charge at all. The phone would turn on, display that it was charging, ask to unlock, …..and the blank screen of no charge showed. The cheap outlet block was still semi-functional, though the usb port was no longer structurally attached, I believe this caused a weak connection and low power transfer. Shoot…
Breakfast
Around 7 AM, over the loudspeaker, an announcement of breakfast in the dining car called out. Our stomachs must’ve been listening because I did not realize how hungry I was until then.
We made our way up the train, trying not to stumble into sleeping patrons, a harder task to accomplish when someone’s foot is out into the aisle…
Antonio and I were seated for breakfast with a kind, older woman named Bonnie. Bonnie was from Rice, MN and was traveling west to see her son. She had just spent some time with her 82 year old mother on their ranch, and she shared some pictures of her mom on her 25 year old horse. Honestly, that life is my dream, I’m sure I’ve told you about it before, but if not, I’m sure I will in the future. After stopping in Devil’s Lake, ND, we returned to our seats to go back to sleep.
In-Between Hours
The rest of our train ride was mostly spent looking out the window as North Dakota and then Montana rolled by. We would pass miles of empty prairie and then stumble upon what seemed like a big town, where we would stop for a few minutes, the local kids watching the trains outside the windows would wave, and we’d move on. Being a Friday night, every once in a while an illuminated football field would appear and disappear into the darkness.
With a few bars of service, I watched the Twins play the Angels. We were up by a few runs until we got to the Rocky Mountains. Unfortunately for us, it was pitch black outside so we didn’t get to see anything in the entire region. Also, annoying for me that it was the 7th inning of a potential division-clinching matchup, and I’d be unable to watch them secure their pennant. Boo hoo.
In any case, it was dinner, and Antonio had made a reservation for us in the dining car. This time, we were seated with an older couple but they were something else. The woman had recently moved from Saint Paul to Park Rapids where she bought a house with an ugly tree in the backyard. This woman had been ready to live the rest of her life single, but the man who cut said ugly tree came back to her house to ask her out. And to quote, “You’re never too old to live happily in sin”.
Her partner hadn’t been there for her retelling, but when he did, their dynamic reminded me of my own partnership- a goofy guy who is joking constantly, and a logical, smart woman who pretends to be annoyed by the constant humor, but they clearly care for each other.
After dinner, we returned to our seats, this time with internet connection. I watched the replay of my twins getting the final out, securing a postseason berth as the higher seed for their initial playoff matchup. Yay!
Shortly after, I drifted off to sleep, though my dreams kept waking me up. For example, I had a dream we were gonna get kicked off the train one stop before our transfer due to two “hidden” warnings that we had. That sucked. Luckily it was a dream but it threw me off big time!