Paul CantrellWow, the crew on this Amtrak has an unusually high asshole quotient.
Rail travel in the US is such a disappointment.
If anybody has the Secret Amtrak Complaint Line and wants to help me return the headache for some dudes running a dining car with unnecessary police vibes, let me know
The snack car person is singlehandedly redeeming the whole crew with her salty good humor and utter disregard for the petty tyranny going on upstairs
Train food refrigerator broke. They had to throw away a bunch of food. No more meals from the kitchen.
No problem! Crew just ordered 30 pizzas to be delivered to the next train stop
(That’s as we were crossing the CA/NV border, west of Reno)
In other news, neighbors inform us that golf-ball-sized hail shattered one of the storm windows on our house back in Minneapolis. This train ride has been a real roller coaster! (mercifully only in the figurative sense…so far)
Pizza’s going to be a long time coming: conductor told snack car person she’s on her own parceling out those 30 pizzas to the passengers.
We asked if we could help her out somehow. She said yes: really enjoy those slices when you finally get them
Traveling by plane in the US, the dominant feeling is •extraction•. You can just feel the distant MBAs spending untold sums to squeeze every last drop of blood out of you.
Traveling by train, the dominant feeling is •disinvestment•. It’s not efficient. It’s barely functioning. The crew is always teetering on the edge of social-emotional breakdown trying to hold the operation together within a system designed to destroy it.
UPDATE: The crew appear to have started speaking to each other, and have a tight pizza operation up and running like they’re a WWII submarine crew. WE HAVE PIZZA. It is entirely edible.
T. Thorn Coyle 🖤 (@[email protected])
@[email protected] I was once on the train from Paris to Frankfurt. We were barreling through gorgeous countryside when lunch arrived. Lunch was served in a clever box that unfolded into a placemat. Inside was a small green salad, a dish of pasta, some protein I don’t recall, and a covered glass of wine. I turned to my partner and said, “I hate the US.”
The pizza is all served on single-use Amtrak-branded plastic plates. Snack Car Hero Lady informs me this is a COVID countermeasure. Me: ?!? Her: Because less touching the plates. Me: ??!??!? Her: Yup
In the meantime, we’re in a crowded coach car with what appears to be at best light external ventilation. (We are the weirdos wearing masks here, of course)
The observation car here is utterly frigid, though still approximately 2000 degrees warmer than my parents’ sleeper car. This may explain where the snack car’s refrigeration went.
My mother is surviving these frigid conditions thanks to a truly superb personal space heater. The space heater also happens to be the trainbow photographer: my daughter
The boaters and rafters in this area frequently observe a custom with passing Amtraks that has earned this stretch of the Colorado the nickname “Moon River”
Passing the town of Rifle, CO. There is a miserable cesspool alongside the track here, perhaps the very one from which Lauren Boebert emerged
New crew, new conductor full of chipper commentary, and suddenly it’s a whole different train ride. The petty authoritarians may come and go, but the train will outlast them all.
Looking out the ceiling window of the observation car, s t r a i g h t u p the walls of the canyon. Dizzying.
Looking out the other side of the train, across the canyon, there is scale, context. But here, we can hardly see left or right — only straight up. Every few feet bring a new world.
There is no way of seeing a place quite like seeing it by train. “Slipping through the landscape,” my mom says.
My daughter became obsessed with capturing The Moon (see upthread) in slo-mo video. We warned her it’s late in the day and besides the train had probably already passed that area, but she remained glued to the window, hawklike, and it was as if her tenacity willed The Moon back into existence.
UPDATE: Parent phone now holds an extensive collection of blurry butt videos
Watching trend of scheduled vs actual times for each stop, playing Lyft roulette with our scheduled pickup time. If only I were a real statistician…
(actually more like blackjack, but “Lyft roulette” rolls off the tongue better)
Off the train, on the road home. Farewell to our new train friends:
Darren, it sucks that Yellow went under. You deserved better after all those years. Good luck with wherever life takes you next. I know you will rise to meet it.
Marta, good luck recording the new Pure Hex album. It’s going to be worth all the sweat and tears, and kick ass.
Gabby, thanks for what you do with the kids in your autism classroom. They deserve the best, and that’s what you are.
Jesse Morris@inthehands it’s difficult to predict what would be different if you were a real statistician. I sure don’t have to tools for such extrapolation
@inthehands now I need to listen to the kid koala version of the song moon river https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=fjFi4MHO_go
Kid Koala performs Moon River
Kid Koala (Eric San) reinterprets Moon River at Musique Electronique @ la Fete De Marquette in Madison, Wisconsin on July 8, 2011. A Madison Music Review, Pr...
chris martens@inthehands children and the moon are notable co-conspirators
Jenna Pederson (she/her)@inthehands ooh I love that phrase. It’s perfect.
Gen X-Wing@inthehands Mad Max, on rails!
mazianni@inthehands Seems a bit insulting to the cesspool...
T. Thorn Coyle they/them@inthehands I’m sorry that the poor choices made by generations of greedy, shortsighted people is directly impacting you in this moment.
@thorncoyle
Thanks, that’s graciously said. But hey, I’m used to being alive on this earth! We’re finding our joy along the way.
Thanks, that’s graciously said. But hey, I’m used to being alive on this earth! We’re finding our joy along the way.
skry@inthehands Thats nuts. I’ve wanted to travel on #amtrak but won’t do it if I can’t open a window. Science matters.
@skry
Definitely no open windows allowed on the cross-country lines. Honestly I’d feel fine about I if I knew what the ACH rate in these cars is like. Not nearly as crowded us a plane or bus — but if they’re recirculating the air…
Definitely no open windows allowed on the cross-country lines. Honestly I’d feel fine about I if I knew what the ACH rate in these cars is like. Not nearly as crowded us a plane or bus — but if they’re recirculating the air…
@inthehands WWII submarine makes me think of Das Boot.
Good luck.
@breadbin More Yellow Submarine vibes here, tbh. And thanks!
@inthehands *phew* good.
⁂ Fish Id Wardrobe@inthehands @breadbin "Certainly was … carrying on …"
I was once on the train from Paris to Frankfurt. We were barreling through gorgeous countryside when lunch arrived.
Lunch was served in a clever box that unfolded into a placemat. Inside was a small green salad, a dish of pasta, some protein I don’t recall, and a covered glass of wine.
I turned to my partner and said, “I hate the US.”
Catherine BerryThat is a brilliant summation. Thank you!
Michal Měchura@inthehands In Europe, air travel feels the same ("I am here to be milked") but train travel does not. Taking the train here is (usually!) a smooth, dignity-restoring experience. And about twice as expensive.
Simon Anderson@inthehands the storm was sudden and lots of heavy rain here on Bde Maka Ska. Only a little hail here though, I guess we got lucky. Sounds like an amazing train journey!
Here's a photo of the clouds reflecting the sunset over Lake of the Isles tonight to remind you of home:
@Futur1st
Thanks!! Tell the lakes we’ll be back soon, bringing word from their cousins in the Sierras and the Rockies.
Thanks!! Tell the lakes we’ll be back soon, bringing word from their cousins in the Sierras and the Rockies.
CyDamn that's a beautiful landscape. Couldn't ever see that if you weren't riding the train. Almost makes how gimpy the trains are these days worth the trouble.
I'd sure rather be on a train than trying to hike through all that dusty scrub.
I'd sure rather be on a train than trying to hike through all that dusty scrub.