GRANDMOTHER OLIVE TELLS OF THEIR TRIP TO FLORIDA - PART 1

Albert and I had to laugh when we arrived at Pinecraft in Florida.  People were running around with jackets on telling us how cold the weather was down here.  It was in the 60's or 70's during the day and in the 40's during the evening.  I told them they didn't know what cold was. You could tell who lives here full time (they complained about the cold) and us that came from the north (we enjoyed the temperature).

Jean told you about our leaving.  She worried about Albert and I when the train was cancelled.  It was needless worry.  Jean's Father,one of  my and Albert's sons, said now he knew how we worried about them when they were younger.

When Albert and I got to the station and found out the train was cancelled I tried to run out and catch our driver, but he was already gone.  Albert made reservations for the next day. Amtrak had cancelled all the trains east of Chicago. What was funny was that the freight trains kept going. We talked for a couple of minutes trying to decide if we should go home or stay in Rochester.  Both of us agreed with the bad weather, it would be best to stay in Rochester.  So we called a cab, explained our situation to the cab driver and asked him to take us to a reasonable motel or hotel that had a restaurant.

He was a very nice fellow.  Carried our luggage and put it in the trunk of the cab.  Asked if we were Amish and we explained that we were Old Order Mennonite.  Told us how he had been to Pennsylvania and had eaten something that the Amish made - a pie.  We said shoo fly pie and he said no something like cookies with cream in the middle.  It was whoppie pies.

Once at the hotel, he carried our luggage inside for us.  Stayed with us to make sure we got a room and saw that someone took our luggage up for us.  We liked him so much, we got his name so we could have him the next day to take us back to the station.

After getting settled in our room, we called Jean on the telephone.  We had no idea she was so worried about us.  After we got through talking to Jean, I spoke to our son.  Then Albert made some calls so people would know we would be a day late. He called Bishop Eli's parents and our Florida driver.

We spent most of the day reading the paper, walking around the hotel, reading some books we brought along and catching up on sleep.  Albert did turn the news on the television to see what the weather would be like the next day.  When lunch time came, we got out the lunch Jean had sent with us.  Along with the rest of the lunch were six whoopie pies for desert or snacks.  Albert and I decided we would each eat one and give the rest to our cab driver the next morning.  Also, we prayed during out stay at the hotel.

That day, we ate dinner in the hotel dining room.  We were going to go there for breakfast, but the dining room didn't open until 6:00 AM and we were leaving long before that.  Both of us decided to go to bed early as we had to get to the train station early the next morning.

Our cab man showed up, at the time we asked.  We were so happy it was the same man.  He took us to the station.  While Albert was paying and tipping him, I handed him the Whoopies Pies we had saved.  He waited to make sure the train was going for us and ate one of the Whoopies.  When we came out and told him our train was leaving he told me compliment Jean on her Whoopie Pies, they were delicious.  Brought back memories from his trip to Pennsylvania.

The seats are assigned to you before you get on the train or at least they were that day.  They tell you what passenger car you are in.  I don't know how good I will be at describing the train.  When you get to the car there are two rows of two seats with a walk down the middle.  Your seats are very comfortable and do recline back a little if you like.  You can put your feet on the floor or put them on sort of a foot rest.  In front of you is a table that you can fold down.  On one side of us were windows so we could see out of the train.  There are drapes there that you can pull over, if the sun bothers you or you want to take a nap.  On the other side of us is the isle - then the two other seats.  There are plugs on one side of us that someone could plug their computer into or alike.

Down the isle there is a restroom on both sides.  It is large enough for anyone to get into even with a wheel chair or walker.  These are both for ladies or gentlemen.  During the trip the restrooms are kept spotless.

On this train there weren't any sleeping rooms or a dinning room.  They had a lounge in one of the cars where you could get breakfast, snacks, coffee, tea, soft drinks, etc. The breakfast they had was like a roll with egg, cheese and you could have bacon, sausage or ham.  They were already made up, you didn't have to wait for them.  As we hadn't had breakfast Albert and I each chose one, coffee, and juice.  That cost us almost $20.00 which we thought was expensive, but on a train what can you do.

That got me upset because I began to wonder what was this whole trip costing us if breakfast cost us that much.  Albert told me not to worry because meals were included when we got on the next train to Florida.  Meals were included with the sleeping room.

Our train did go through Marilyn's town along the way.  The train came from Buffalo and went through to New York City.  One fellow we were talking to said he takes it ever Monday to work and back on Friday to Buffalo.  Of course, he missed a day of work the day before.  Like most people, he was interested in us and our way of life.  We his and his line of work.

We enjoyed out train ride.  The train sounds like a soft click sound as it goes down the track.  You could fall to sleep to it in you wanted to rest.  Our train pulled into Penn Central in New York City.  We had to wait for our next train.  The wait between trains about 2 1/2 hours, so we got lunch, sat and watched the people go buy us.  I was so worried that we would miss the train, but Albert assured me we wouldn't and didn't.

I will end this post here.  In the next post, I will tell you about the Amtrak train to Florida.

Be With God,
Olive