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Left on #98, the Silver Meteor, more or less on time on Saturday, 5/19 from PAK. Pretty uneventful trip which I spent mostly in the cafe car because I didn't care for my aisle seat placement in coach. Only "incident" of note was a near-confrontation between a barefoot passenger and the conductor over the necessity for barefoot boy with cheek to don some footwear before entering the dining car. I felt the conductor (name on request) handled the situation very well; he later confided to me in conversation that had the train not been running on time, he wouldn't have hesitated to have the transgressor put off the train (somewhere in SC). Fortunately, cooler heads prevailed, and our hungry passenger walked back to his seat to get his shoes. Incredibly, maybe because it was a weekend run, we arrived at NYP exactly 9 minutes late, which enabled me to make my connection with Empire Service train #233 up the Hudson to Spitzer-land. Hadn't been back to NY State since 1995, and this was my first encounter with the West Side Connection over Spuyten Duyvil (very pretty).
Now the good part. Returned ALB-NYP on #256, Mon., 5/21 (uneventful and on time). After some great New York pizza at the station, boarded #97 for the trip home and had the pleasure of encountering a truly wonderful coach attendant (again, name on request), who sat me in a window seat and kept the aisle seat vacant for me the whole way. Caught good z's after a couple of Jack Daniels' on the rocks until I woke up at Rocky Mount, NC to the commotion of some of North Carolina's finest "escorting" three Miami-based thugs off the train after they apparently created a disturbance in the bar car long after I had left. One, I was told, actually tried to open one of the train doors so he could sample some of the illegal (allegedly) substance he and his pals thought they could smoke on board. Have a feeling these guys might still be enjoying some NC hospitality in the form of free room and board as I write this. Largely due to that incident, I got to my ride in Palatka, FL one hour and twenty minutes late (not bad, considering), and drove home to my little horse farm in Ocala none the worse for wear and tear.
Ocala Mike
Posts: 1530 | From: Ocala, FL | Registered: Dec 2006
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