"Ladies and gentlemen, we have about a 15-minute delay because a train is stalled across the tracks, blocking our departure," the conductor's voice came over the train's intercom. "They should have it out of the way shortly. Thank you for your patience," he said.
We were on the last leg of our rail journey after spending a week with son Jamie's family in Houston. Our trip down had been flawless, with our oldest son Mark and wife Rhonda picking us up at the whistle stop close to their home near Austin. After treating us to supper, they took us halfway to our destination where Jamie met us, then it would be on to his and Tammy's house for our eagerly anticipated visit with them and the little granddaughters, not to mention baby Isaac!
Besides our relaxing time doing nothing that week, we had enjoyed parks, a picnic, riding with the kids on a park train tour, an amazing visit to the Museum of Natural Science, church services, and eating out several times, plus gourmet meals Jamie made at home. Now it was time to go home, with our pony-express relay being reversed: Jamie would meet Rhonda and she would take us to the train.
We were a half hour early, and thirsty after our ride, we took a few minutes to buy cherry limeades at a nearby Sonic in the small town. Before we knew it, the train whistle interrupted our conversation and we hurried to board. Others had gotten ahead of us, and we saw there was no room to stash our luggage, necessitating a little rearranging of other suitcases. Bending over to help, I was suddenly mystified by an icy liquid splashing to the floor and onto carry-on bags as my limeade turned upside down and spilled everywhere through the straw and lid opening..
The conductor had given us cardboard markers, #52 and #53, to tuck under the metal strip above our seats. Going up and down two cars looking for our spaces, we finally located them only to find someone was sitting in one. She looked confused and started to move, but a young girl offered her seat to us so we could sit together. By this time, I was tired and cross, and Howard was out of breath from struggling with the luggage. The trip was losing some of its luster, and now, having reached Ft. Worth, we were having this delay!
A little later the voice came on again, saying it would be another half-hour, which extended to an indefinite time that the train, which was carrying a load of coal, could be moved. I kept my eye on the coal-laden train, and I could see it hadn't moved an inch! After an hour had gone by, the conductor was offering people refunds on their tickets and a chance to travel the next day. We couldn't do that! I tried unsuccessfully to reach our son Trevor, who had taken us to lunch during our scheduled layover here earlier and had since gone home, about an hour's distance away.
Egged on by the promises that we would take off soon, we sat with bated breath until the conductor came in and offered everyone free coffee. There were no takers from the disgruntled passengers. We had told our son Greg, who was to meet us in Oklahoma, of the situation, so he and his son decided to take in a movie to fill the time. When we were still there after the movie, he offered to drive the 3 hours to come and get us.
Meanwhile, Trevor called us back and was appalled at our predicament. We had been waiting five hours for a new engine to be hooked up to the stalled train. "I'll come and get you right now!" he exclaimed. We grabbed our bags, got a refund, and waited for him inside the station. He was there almost immediately.
After a few suggestions about a way for us to get home, our sons decided that Trevor would drive us to the Oklahoma line, where Greg would come south to meet us. It worked! We were all tired, but not as tired as we would be when we finally got home at 3:30 in the morning! It wouldn't have been so bad, but I I had been awake for more than 24 hours having awakened early that morning! My bed never felt so good! My prayers of thanks to God included thanks for our wonderful sons!
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