After writing about my travel misadventures last week, I received an e-mail from an Amtrak person suggesting I should take the train to Chicago next time. The note stated the train has never been canceled in more than a dozen years and probably a lot longer than that.
So I checked online for the departure and arrival times and the rate. Based on what I saw, I wouldn?t have been able to make my connection for the trip to Dubuque to catch a ride to Moline. Total travel time is about 12 hours if you don?t mind leaving in the middle of the night. Time is always of the essence.
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I have always been intrigued by trains. When I was a kid in the early 1950s, my mom put us kids on the train in Mountain Lake, Minn., then picked us up 10 miles down the road in Windom. I can still remember looking out the window, watching the landscape pass by and hearing the click and clack of the rails beneath the train.
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With all the remodeling, painting and carpeting we have been doing in our building this past week, I had to find some slip-on shoes in my closet in order to make it one more day. I was too sore to bend over and tie shoes for a couple of days.
Is it because I am getting old or because I am not in shape?
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Back to the middle of the night departures for Amtrak in Newton?I would suggest they have a sleeper car ready to go around 11 p.m. the night before, then allow passengers to go to bed and then hook the car to the train when it gets there.
That way you wouldn?t be sleep deprived and still have time to experience the ride when you awoke in the morning.
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As of last week both of our grandsons are now teenagers. It?s hard to believe they are now little men. We did FaceTime with the Camelis last night. It?s not as good as being there. but the next best thing.
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New post office hours around the country are wreaking havoc with our delivery of the Free Press. It?s looking like readers in Cedar Point, Burdick, Lost Springs rural routes and possibly Florence will get their papers a day later, unless a private citizen volunteers to help.
We already have help for Lost Springs boxholders, but aren?t sure about the rest. The thing about finding help is that it is every week of the year for the next 100 years. It is a real commitment to get involved with a weekly newspaper operation.
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I found a little LP record on the street over the weekend titled ?Scholastic Records, Arrow Book of Funny Poems.? When I get time I am going to hear for myself how funny the poems are unless someone claims the record first.
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The HHS?all-school reunion is now a month away. If you didn?t get the information we mailed last month, let me know and we will get it to you either by mail or electronically. You can buy tickets and pay alumni dues on the Free Press online store if that works for you, or stop by the Chamber office, Hillsboro State Bank or the Free Press.
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The slide shows of the area high school prom promenades we posted on the Free Press website have been popular. Hits will reach a thousand before long.
If you wish to share your comments or ideas, my e-mail address is joel@hillsborofreepress.com.
