The German military strategist, Helmuth von Moltke, said in the mid 1800s, “No battle plan survives contact with the enemy.“ This is certainly true of my vacation!
Yesterday I was sifting through the ton of papers in my office trying to find all of my confirmation and tickets for this trip when I noticed I was missing one. The bed and breakfast a few miles from the Chester A Arthur home in upstate Vermont. I was finally able to contact the front desk, and wanted to make sure they had me down for the 27th of September . She came back a minute later and said my reservation was for the 26th! No changes allowed because this was booked through a third-party and in any case, we’re in the middle of “foliage.“ I looked at my schedule and decided that my side trip to Maine was going to have to wait. The lady at the bed and breakfast offered to help me as much as she could since I was now going to be at the Chester A. Arthur home on a day that they are not open. The very nice lady told me that her dog groomer was also the tour guide for the Arthur Home. This morning a very nice lady named Jane called and we set up a personal one-person tour on a Friday when they’re usually closed. Is that nice? Or what?
I’ve also been getting messages for the last 24 hours from Amtrak telling me of problems. Yesterday afternoon the train was sitting on the tracks east of El Paso because of a freight train. This morning it was sitting on the tracks East of San Antonio because of a disabled vehicle. Despite that, we left only 12 minutes late. We’re still a little bit late and we’ve just crossed into Louisiana.
My son dropped me off at the station early as he has somewhere else to go. No problem, I checked my baggage, slung my backpack over my shoulder and walked a short distance to a place called Post Houston. At one time, this was the main post office, but now it’s being redeveloped to host many functions to include a very nice food court
For future reference, if you take Amtrak East from Houston, the food court at Post Houston opens at 11 am. I had lunch at a delightful place called Chopn Blok They offer east and west African food. My bowl was very flavorful and had rice and curry and chicken and plantains and a drink that tasted like very thick grape juice which the lady told me was hibiscus lemonade-basil. It was actually too much food!
There are many other places at Post Houston, to include several that will serve some of the fanciest looking ice cream I’ve ever ever seen. Place called "Sweet" seems to know 100 ways to serve Cotton candy! The lady told me it’s very family-friendly on the weekends. Who knew?
Amtrak has apparently added a second coach to the Sunset Limited. The seats are much wider than on airplanes and the legroom is incredible Just as a trivial note, the Tiny restroom has a baby changing table folded up into the wall! I was impressed!
It is 3:24 pm on Tuesday, September 17 and we are going through , I believe, Orange. What should truly impress you about this particular post as I am doing it on the train on my iPhone, as it looks like my iPad is still in my house! Back to my opening quote. I may post again later today
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