It all began when a good friend brought me to the train station in Eugene. Andy was working in Salem, so he and I had said goodbye earlier when he came by my work at lunch, and we vowed to call each other often and stay alive until we were scheduled to see each other again on Monday night.
My ticket in hand, bag checked, hug given and received and my friend gone - the adventure began. If you've ever been alone anywhere where you have to scope out who's going to be with you on your trip, an airplane, a bus terminal, a train station, then you know what I was doing. I was reading a book, looking over the pages and looking for a friendly face. I then was trying to look friendly myself. I sat cross legged, leaning on the armrest, smiling up if someone walked by. I thought this was the best, unassuming, friendly thing to do.
A young girl, in her twenties (yes that's young!) sat next to me, shuffled her bags to her left and then to her right. Checked her watch, then leaned over toward me, "is the train supposed to be here at 5:10 or leave at 5:10, do you know?"
"I thought it was supposed to leave at 5:10, but now I'm just hoping it'll be here by 5:10."
And that was that. Contact. A bit of security, a somewhat familiar face on the train. They announced the train's arrival to the station, I picked up my bag and made my way through the dark and rainy night to the bright door of the train.
And so it begins.
a view from my window
my first glimpse of snow this season
the first early morning stop
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3 comments:
Hooray for trains. I can't wait to hear the rest of your adventuring.
Luckily there's no station in Santa Cruz or I'd be packing up and heading out.
wow, I am impressed at how organized you were! Good job! I forget something 90% of the time I go places.
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