I woke up as we pulled to a stop aroun 7:15 am. It was Omaha, NE. I pulled out the time table and quickly discovered that our record of early arrivals had been broken and we were now running two hours late. I was still in bed so I didn't get out to look - which is too bad because apparently there is a beautiful old station there.
I also learned that we lost another hour overnight as a semi-truck hit a train overpass. We has to wait for the bridge to be inspected and declared safe before we could cross it.
I headed to the dining car for breakfast, where I was sat with a 72 year old man. He didn't tell me his name but I did learn his entire life story. He was in the Air Force, then went to college, then went to Vietnam, then retired after 20 years from the Air Force. Then he worked at the IRS, then was a salesman, and now he is retired but works for Winnebago transporting RVs. So he was taking the train from Salt Lake City to Iowa and then driving an RV back. Winnebago pays him six cents a mile plus gas to do this.
The only question he asked me during our meal as I let him chatter away was where I was from. I told him I grew up in NJ and now lived in Providence. "A liberal city in a liberal state!" he exclaimed. I shook my head yes and said that was why I lived there instead of Texas (where he grew up). He asked me what I thought of Chris Christie - and I guess he didn't like my answer - because he went back to regaling me with his stories. :)
We passed into Iowa. We saw lots of fields!
We went along the Des Moines River for a while and I thought this little campground was interesting.
I took a shower and took a little nap. We stopped for a few minutes in Ottumwa.
Then we stopped at another little town. This was where my car stopped (the station is to the left).
Around 12 I headed to the dining car for lunch. I was seated with Barry again and two young guys from California. The three of them chatted about San Francisco and Barry regaled us with stories about when he was in Vietnam in 1965-1966. We also lamented that good bagels were hard to find in places other than New York!
We passed through the town of Burlington, on the banks of the Mississippi River. The town seemed to have a heaviness to it that I couldn't put my finger on. I imagine that 100 years ago it was bustling with the train and the river, but it is one of those places that the modern era has not been kind to.
Here we are approaching the river:
And here we are crossing it on a rusty drawbridge:
And here is Burlington from the eastern side of the river:
After lunch I headed back to my room to pack up all my stuff. If we don't lose any more time we should arrive in Chicago around 4 pm.
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