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| Amtrak conductor w/Jesse |
Washington DC has been added to our itinerary. If we hadn’t been so focused on getting to Pittsburgh, I suppose we might have added it to our trip voluntarily. While talking to the Japanese tourist I did express a wish to see the cherry blossoms in DC—must have been a profound wish.
Amtrak does not announce stations while passengers are sleeping. Passengers getting off the train after 10 p.m. are wakened roomette by roomette. We woke up heading into Maryland, passing rapidly by thick vegetation and fast-running green creeks and rivers.
The train is stopped, after fits and starts due to signal problems of the railroad. The railroad companies own the rails, rented by Amtrak. Now EMTs have boarded to examine our cabin steward, described by several staff as VERY sick. He was replaced during the middle of the night by a dining car server. For some reason, our ticket had not been pulled in Chicago, and we were on the steward's handwritten list for DC, not Pittsburgh.
The biggest hassle was for my brother Chuck, who got up at 3 a.m. to meet us at the station in downtown Pittsburgh. Our ability to use cell phones on the train is sporadic, but I did just reach him to let him know about our return. I've got to learn to use the alarm on my phone.
The conductor, a portly and harried red-head, met us in the dining car. She assured us we would be back in Pittsburgh before Mothers Day.