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Earlier today I drove to Clifton Forge, VA and picked up Matt after his long adventure out and back. It was a very different experience from dropping him off in Staunton, VA. Zoe went with me as she as been a little mopey since last Sunday when this whole adventure began.
The 1 hour ride to Clifton Forge is 1000 times better than the drive to Staunton on 81. Rt 220 goes directly to Clifton Forge. It was a delightfully scenic divided highway most of the way until the last 10 miles or so. Going up I only passed one (maybe two) tractor trailers. I knew I was early so I took my time and really enjoyed the scenery. Because of weather delays coming out of Chicago the train ended up being about 3+ hours late. I had to chuckle at the Amtrak customer service rep. I asked when exactly the train would arrive in Clifton Forge, she said 3:30ish. I just thought how silly that would sound to any European. ish, now that is something I would say about when arriving for dinner but not for a train. Seems it isn’t that much of an exact science.
Clifton Forge’s Amtrak Station/platform leaves a little something to be desired. If you are looking for the full train platform experience then stay with Staunton. But if it is a closer/easier commute from Roanoke with a descent parking area then opt for Clifton Forge. The signage into the station is almost non existent. I guess most people from there know where it is.
The town itself was a bit lost in time. The downtown has a crazy one way two street pattern that didn’t seem to have that much traffic to control. Not sure if we were just being directed to the second street of stores or why exactly the streets were like that. One interesting place that caught my eye was the C & O Railway Heritage Center. As I approached I was hoping that this was the train station. You can see and learn about trains there but not Amtrak. And then the other very odd thing that caught my eye was the Kroger. The style of the building took me back to my childhood. It was set up exactly as I remember the Kroger and SuperX (drugstore) in my neighborhood. A long vestibule with storefront windows and then a small cramped store. Definitely a flashback lost in time.
So after meandering around Clifton Forge for a short time Zoe and I went to find our spot to keep a lookout for Matt’s train. First lots of CSX cars and trains at the very industrial railyard/Amtrak stop. Then finally a light and an Amtrak train. Matt was one of the first off. He looked tired, dirty and very glad to be home.
With a full belly, a freshly showered Matt is already sleeping at 8:30 tonight. Proving once again it is always so much fun to travel but even more wonderful to come home.
Some of you may think that showing this picture is mean. But no, it’s not mean. This girl asked for it. She went out in public like this. Ya, b***h, that’s really cool. It would be easy to wind this into a “kids are so stupid” kind of thing, but the truth is that there were even more opportunities to catch adults doing dumb things. This girl just happened to sit down next to me right when I needed some comic relief. Today I’m not going to discriminate. I’ll make fun of everything today.
Usually at this time of year I’m boarding a plane, and it seems to be becoming a tradition for some thing to go wrong, like 18″ of snow in Virginia, or a bank of fog surrounds just the airport, or who knows what. This year I thought I had it all outsmarted, taking the train. But no. It still snows, and Mother Nature is maybe a little spiteful, since I outfoxed her this year. Or so I thought. The snow falls, and flights are delayed, and everybody tries to get home on the train, and of course that delays my train. So Mother Nature wins again, although not by the incredible margin she got me by last year (big snow storms on both ends of my trip, delaying departure from home and arrival home).
So because of the bad weather, and the 2 hour delay of my train, there was a crowd in the waiting area. There were about 200% too few seats. I only got to sit for about 15 minutes of the 3 hours I was there. Was I regretting not paying the extra cash for the sleeper car, which also comes with a very nice waiting area upgrade? Youbetcha. But then again I would have passed up the opportunity for gathering material.
Anyway, so there was a crowd. And I was sitting on the floor next to butt-crack betty, who was so cool by the way, which I only knew having read her shirt. And how do they have the waiting room set up? Right next to this sea of humanity, maybe 1000 people in a big waiting area that is nonetheless 1/3 the size it needed to be: A couple of union workers sitting in a huge (and empty, and roped off) waiting area full of chairs. These areas are literally right next to one another. Now putting travelers in those chairs wouldn’t have completely solved the problem of all the people without chairs, but it would have given 100 people chairs who had been sitting on the floor. And it would have given 200 people room to sit on the floor who had been standing. Go union.
It’s easy to see that someone is really in charge here at Chicago’s Union Station, because upstairs in the food court there was a big lack of tables, but I saw at least 3 areas stacked with tables with the sign “Area Closed”. Same guy running the show upstairs as down, it seems.
