I miss...

…the train.
I am riding the Amtrak Cascades from Seattle to Portland is it sure is a lot of fun. I can walk around, get food and drink and the scenery out the windows is spectacular. It’s very comfortable and I would do it again. It makes me miss the train. I miss the Elon train (photo below, from wikicommons) and its late night whistles through campus. I miss the Ecusta train that used to run behind my property in the afternoons. With the closing of the Ecusta plant in Brevard, the train no longer makes its daily runs. I miss taking the train places like I did in the UK and through Europe and in Alaska (photo above, my own, on Denali Star Train) last summer.
The big downside to my journey today was Amtrak’s connecting coach from Vancouver. We were delayed at the border for 4 hours as Immigration and Customs could not quick enough process all the cars, trucks and buses that were heading into the United States. My previous experience with border crossing was much more expedient,… like 10 minutes. Note to self, next time entering or leaving USA, do so in the middle of the night or at a smaller crossing like Sault St. Marie, Michigan or Calais, Maine. I am all for homeland security and keeping Mad Cow out of the country, but there’s got to be a more efficient way of processing travelers than what I witnessed today. I missed the 2:20 departure from Seattle by two hours and had to instead get bumped to the 5:30 train.