On the Road Again 2013 The train #2

A bit of eating, reading and a nap and I am now fully immersed into the culture of train travel.  That is I have accepted that I have no control over my life and  so I might as well relax and enjoy it. So I am and I will.

I almost always chose to sit on the right hand side of the train or bus that I am on. I just seem to be able to sleep better leaning against the right side window ( the only exception to this is if I can get a bus seat just behind the driver as the first three seats behind the driver have more leg room)


However, when I got the train everyone seemed to have the same thought and the right side of the train was fairly full. The few seats that were empty were ones that had a window post that irritably partially block a bit of the view. So I  choose a seat on the left side . While I will have some difficulty getting into a comfortable position for sleeping (but then after an hour or so of napping on a train I always have a hard time staying comfortable) there are some real benefits. I suppose it is obvious but the scenery is different on the other side of the train! We just stopped at Gogoma and I did not recognize it. After doing this trip 3-4 times I didn't expect to see much new. I might have been wrong.

I don't mean to imply that there is a lot to look at.  So much of the trip feels as if we are going through a green tunnel with the branches of the trees so close that one could imagine just opening the window (if one could actually open the window)and touching the green leaves. As pretty as that may sound it can be almost claustrophobic. There are long.....long stretches where there nothing can be seen. And then all of sudden the trees will, for a minute or two, part and the tracks skirt a small beaver pond or a lake. And then just as quickly the train will be immersed once again in its green tunnel,

One could easily assume that we are hundreds of miles from anywhere and the tracks pass over a dirt road  to remind me that this is where people live, work and recreate. I would be tempted to take a picture or two but the windows are a bit blurry with the rain.

6:00 pm  and we are only in Hornepayne. Train is running really late. Not only did it leave one hour and forty-five minutes late but we have lost time ever since. Hornepayne should be at least an hour stop but we were only offered 15 minutes although it will more than that once they get water etc. It has felt like a fairly long and tedious trip. Not a lot of  the passenger have succumbed to the rhythm  of the train and some are frustrated by the frequent stops to allow for the freight trains. I am not to sure that the freight trains are longer than normal or if it just that we are having to wait longer than normal because we are so far out of schedule. It doesn't matter. We will get to Winnipeg when we get there. Another few hours and it will be dark enough to think about trying for "full nights" sleep.