Category: The DayBook

Train arrived 2 hours late. Made it home by 4PM. Unpacked. Much needed shower. Dinner with the family. Now, it’s 7PM and I am calling it a day.

I wonder how many miles? Maybe I will figure it out tomorrow.

Last night we got to Denver early so, I had an hour to wander around downtown. It was warm. I missed my train dinner, but my Sleeping Car Attendant brought me coffee, wine and cheesecake when we departed.

Arrived in Chicago at about 1:30, I headed out for a little explore. Mostly looking for lunch. My favorite Chicago diner is closed on Sunday. But I find an open Popeyes. Fried chicken sandwich it is then.

While enjoying my sandwich, a text arrived. My train will be 3 hours late. Briefly consider getting a flight. But, hey, I have a book to read. And no place I need to be. So, I will just go with whatever happens.

Train currently scheduled to depart at 9:10pm. We’ll see.

I was never a landscape photographer and today was all about landscape.

It’s been a fine day. Good scenery. Good food, good conversations, good weather. And the train is on time. In fact the train is early so we have an hour in Denver. Denver has a great station. I will be going for a little walk.

On to Chicago tomorrow.

Had a little excitement about 10 last night when it appeared that the nightbus was going to be 3 hours late. Which would have caused me to miss my train. People were told to go away and come back in two hours. I didn’t leave. Before I figured out what to do, the bus got sorted out. Other passengers arrived. Got on the bus. The driver let the passengers decide if we wanted to give up our 30 minute rest break. We decided to give up the break to make up lost time. I slept most of the night.

Made it to the correct train station with a couple of hours to spare.

Will be losing cell service soon. So, I will post this now.
This train is the green top line.

How to spend the last day?

There was lots to watch. People, birds, even seals. And I scored a fine bench.

Six hours until bus time. I haven’t packed. But I did charge my Bose headphones. And I washed my hair. That’s a start.

 

Santa Barbara doesn’t have a lot of wall art. At least not where I normally wander. Today, I felt well enough to cross the street and examine this specimen.

Who knew this existed. Sourdough toast. Whipped ricotta cheese. Blood orange slices. Honey. Toasted pistachios. To die for.

Out for a wander. Drop into the Apple Store for a new iPad. I use their excellent Wi-Fi to setup the new one. Trade in the old one. And I am off on my wander again.

I just love the town. I suspect it’s because I’ve only been here in the spring and during the week. I’m fairly certain that it is chockablock full on the weekends and maybe the weather isn’t so wonderful in the dead of summer.

This town has movie theaters. They are always showing interesting films. I guess I should not have been surprised since it is maybe 90 miles from Hollywood.


These 3 theaters are within ½ mile of each other.

I continued wandering around, enjoying a nice sunny day. Picked up a sandwich. Brought it back to the hotel. Enjoyed it on my gracious little patio. And then I decided to finish setting up my new iPad. Namely I wanted to set up my cell service. Because I’m a spoiled old woman and I like to have cell service on my iPad. My old iPad used a regular SIM card. The new iPad uses an eSIM card. Not problem I thought. There were directions how to do it. I followed the directions. The result was I deprovisioned my cell phone. And discovered much to my dismay that my beloved google fi service does not support data only eSIMS. 

I fear that it is time for me to turn in my IT license. And if this is the worst thing that happens to me today, it’s been a fine day.

Tomorrow at 10 PM at that’s nighttime boys and girls. I’ll be on the bus to San Francisco. Won’t that be fun? I should get to San Francisco about 6 AM in the morning. Train leaves at about 8 o’clock.

Ok Elon what I did today

1. 1. Replaced my cane. REI had one. But, I only needed one. All good.
      
   2. Convinced myself that I didn’t have to replace my dying iPad today. Just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should.
   3. Found where the night bus leaves from.
      
   4. Went down to the ocean.
   5. Had chicken soup.
   6. Rested.
   7. Went to the farmers market.
   8. Got ice cream for dinner,

   Is that good enough to keep my social security for another month?

   

   

   

Arrived on time. My hotel is just across the street from the station.and my room was ready.

I stashed my stuff and went for a walk, well, about one mile into my walk i was exhausted. Returned to the hotel. Had ½ of a roll with cheese and butter from a fine bakery that I know. Then I had a much needed shower. Wrapped myself in a fluffy white robe and hopped into that nice bed. And that’s about it.

Ginger ale was the highlight of yesterday.

I may be done for the day. But it’s only 3:45. You never know.

Norovirus. Food poisoning. Stomach flu. It doesn’t matter what it is. It’s unpleasant to say the least. I am now in about hour 22 of it and I think I turned the corner but you never know.

Spent all night throwing up. All day sleeping. And drinking ginger ale.

I need to be way better by tomorrow morning.

The train made up all of the lost 2 hours and we arrived in Chicago 15 minutes early. I went for a very small walk around Chicago, it was sunny but 18degrees and windy. Drinking coffee and reading in a comfortable chair in the station seemed like a better way to spend 3 hours.

I packed for my trip yesterday morning and decided to leave the Mac book at home. I really don’t need any extra weight to lug around and there’s nothing that I really need the computer for.

I also left the Google watch at home. It gets confused when it’s on the train and I sure don’t need to be nagged about walking every ½ hour. But, I did find myself checking my old school watch to see have far I walked earlier today. New habits die hard.

In about an hour I should be getting on the Southwest Chief. It should arrive in LA on Monday morning. It’s the southern yellow route on the map.

Critters. Flock of turkeys, any number of buzzards, one squirrel eating a cookie, some cattle including some very cute fluffy brown calves.

Time to get a little more walking and fresh air before 43 hours on the train.

On the train but they just announced that there was a problem and they were working on it. We may not be going anywhere.

Under way one hour late.

So far so good on the train. We are about 30 minutes behind schedule. And they sent a text saying we we’re going to lose 90 minutes in Huntington. We can get off the train. But I’m not getting off a train at 10pm in West Virginia.

There’s a 3 hour layover in Chicago, but now it’s just one hour. I will either make the connection or I won’t. For now I am just looking out the window, reading a book and drinking coffee. Life is good.

And there’s enough signal to post this. BTW, I am on the southern orange path between Washington and Chicago

Hopefully by this time tomorrow, I’ll be zipping my way through West Virginia on schedule. Yesterday’s train hasn’t made it to Chicago yet. It’s 9 hours late. And the train to LA is long gone. There is supposed to be a 3 ½ hour layover in Chicago. If I miss the train, I’ll take a plane. Not a problem.

I am taking warm clothes because getting “stuck” somewhere cold is a non-trivial possibility. Also taking some granola bars.

Pretty sure I’ll not be able to post anything tomorrow evening. There is lots of no cell-service space on this trip.

OOPS, just got a text telling me that I was needed at dinner early and in a “nicer clothes” venue. Notice, nicer clothes. Not nicer food.

Well, I was wrong. The food and the company were both excellent. The text actually said “… put asses in the other 2 seats by 5:15”.