On the Road Again 2018 #2

There are always a couple of themes to my writings as I start to head west. One is the constant background sound of Willie Nelson singing On the Road Again - I am not too sure when I adopted the song as my theme song - but it seems somehow that it does. A second theme that has emerged as been the constant lateness of the Via train.

On Friday I got an email from VIA saying that the train # 1 would be leaving 9 hours late due to equipment shortages. I think that was VIA's way of saying that the east bound train was going to be late getting into Toronto. 24 hours later I got another email informing me that the train would be approximately 12 hours late in leaving Toronto. I am now on the train, which is running almost exactly 12 hours late.

It has been a frustrating 24 hours in part because it is easy to assume the worst about VIA's capacity to keep to a schedule and that therefore we might be an additional 6, 7 or even 8 hours late. Getting into Winnipeg at some point in the wee dark hours of the morning would mean that not only would I have nowhere to stay (and hanging around downtown Winnipeg seems a really poor option), but as well I would be getting on the road 24 hours later than I had planned. I was not a happy camper. I looked at other options but 24 hours on a Greyhound bus just seemed unbearable as did spending $600 on an airplane ticket.

I suspect I was less of a good house guest at my daughter's than I should have been. We did have a bit of fun after we found a VIA website that allowed us to track the train in real time. The other highlight of the somewhat torturous wait was the Winnipeg Transit system. I emailed them to ask how late the buses ran. The one bus that I usually used seemed to stop running just after 6:00 PM. It took three emails but I got a very detailed answer that gave me some alternatives - not great ones but at least I had a plan. Quite simply - if the train got into Winnipeg and the bus was still running - I would head towards the Flying J just outside of town and hand around until early morning on Tuesday 24 hours late - but at least I would be on the road. I was much more optimistic or at least resigned to being late once I knew that I would not be stuck in downtown Winnipeg.At any rate I am on the train, what happens next - whether we are late or not is beyond my control. I might as well sit back and enjoy the ride.