Since I had such a great Dining Car experience Monday night, I decided to dine in the Dining Car again the next morning. I woke up just before sunrise, rubbed my eyes, threw my pack over my shoulder, and went downstairs to shower in the sink. After all, I had to be clean for community seating, needed to make a good impression for Team Coach.
I was essentially an expert after three days of showering in sinks. I had an excellent method I followed on Days 2 and 3, too, but for modesty’s sake, decided not to post it here. Typed it out using pretty bullets and all but deleted it. Sad face. If you find yourself having to shower in sinks, though, let me know. I’ll let you in on all of my trade secrets. After getting Amtrak clean (different from house clean or hotel clean), I made my way to the lounge car. I watched the sunrise over the California desert, and when it finished rising, I walked approximately twenty feet to the Dining Car.
At breakfast, I sat with a couple who used to own their own travel agency. I also sat with a fellow coach passenger, a woman from Mexico City living in New York City who was traveling to Los Angeles. For me the highlight of our breakfast conversation was exotic animals. We discussed Christian the Lion (Youtube it: http://bit.ly/uFK03E), a boxing kangaroo, and elephants. I absolutely loooove elephants.
Also, Mr. Travel Agency sounded a lot like Johnny Cash which made his stories that much more fascinating. He told me that it was good breakfast wasn’t any longer because he said that he had plenty of adventures to share. One of those adventures was hopping on a boxcar and eating hobo stew, and that was interesting, but the stories I loved the most were his stories about the elephants in Africa.
When Mr. Travel Agency was in Kenya, he and some travelers were on a safari. Maybe Mrs. Travel Agency was there, too. I don’t know. Anyways, Mr. Travel Agency had seen plenty of elephants and decided it was time to put the video camera away. As soon as he put it away, though, an elephant calf stampeded toward their group. The elephant calf was stomping his feet and flaring his ears, and Mr. Travel Agency said, “He was just so darn cute!” Now imagine Johnny Cash saying that…pretty friggin’ awesome, right?
Now onto the other story. Mr. Travel Agency was in a hot air balloon in Kenya. They landed in an elephant wallow, and all of the passengers had to climb out over the highest end of the basket. The passengers from the hot air balloon then dined on a full breakfast spread including mimosas in the grasslands of Kenya. There were even more elephants this time. Really makes me wish my summer trip to Africa comes to fruition. Time to start saving…
Stay tuned for a preview of tomorrow’s blog: Railroad French Toast, a History
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