Taking a Trip – But Not By Train

Our “stuff” from Israel has finally made it across the sea, through TWO f#$*&%#$! $#%@# %*&%!! #$%*&(*@#$!!!!ing inspections by the @$#%!*# %$*# @ and @#$%(*)(@ing Homeland Security Customs Inspection Team – other than two gas masks, why would they think WE are terrorists? And the stuff has come all the way from New York, through the great blizzards and freezing temperatures, to land in our storage room in Tulsa. weeee.

So I’m making plans to fly there in a few days to unpack our stuff, check for damages, pull out the few items we need, and then repack everything back up and stuff it in the storage room until….well, whenever.

In making plans, since I am still a cripple (more on that later), I thought it might be nice to do a little healing in a day or so of training across the south to Tulsa from Mobile. After all, the train tracks are a rock’s throw from our trailer (yes, we are not only trailer trash but on the wrong side of the tracks, too.). I hear the train passing through at night and I thought, “Oh, how romantic. How exciting to take the train in stead of those damn airplanes with their paranoia!”

I checked with Amtrak, since I know of no other train service in the US, and this is the fastest trip they came up with for me.

Departing: Mobile – Greyhound Bus, AL (MOG) To Tulsa, OK (TLS)

Via Greyhound Bus from Mobile, AL, to Atlanta, GA
6:15 am 17-JAN-05
Arriving: Atlanta, GA (ATL) 4:30 pm
Duration: 9h 15m

Departing: Atlanta, GA (ATL)
Union Train Station
8:06 pm 17-JAN-05
Arriving: Washington, DC Union Station (WAS)
9:50 am 18-JAN-05
Duration: 13h 44m

Departing: Washington, DC Union Station (WAS)
5:20 pm 18-JAN-05
Arriving: Chicago, IL Union Station (CHI)
10:19 am 19-JAN-05
Duration: 17h 59m

Departing: Chicago, IL Union Station (CHI)
3:15 pm 19-JAN-05
Arriving: Kansas City, MO (KCY)
10:11 pm 19-JAN-05
Duration: 6h 56m

Departing: Via Bus from Kansas City, MO (KCY)
12:10 am 20-JAN-05
Arriving: Tulsa, OK Bus Station (TLS)
4:45 am 20-JAN-05
Duration: 4h 35m

All this for only USD$281.00. And yes, you guessed it, no freakin’ way! So I will pay the same price and suffer the indignities of airline travel today and fly to Tulsa in four to six hours. No wonder the United States is going downhill – or rather, backwards, north, west, and then south – rather confusing, isn’t it.

Trains, planes and automobiles, I’m embarrassed for this country that we don’t have any modern transportation systems in place. So sad.