Feels Like Star Trek, Only Not So Much

Sometimes I save ideas for entries as drafts with the expectation that the title will spark my memory enough to come back later and fill in the blanks. I honestly can't remember what I was thinking when I typed the above, but I do know that I expected to find this photo when I opened the post this evening. The photo wasn't there, of course, so I had to go find it. I had to bump people off the computer in the other room -- the one where all the photos are saved -- and email the photo to myself on this computer, all the while thinking that maybe the photo would get me back to my original train of thought.

That could be it... something about trains of thought. But I don't think so.

The title still intrigues me, so I shall leave it even though it will likely have no connection to what I end up writing. I also like the photo even though I don't suppose there is anything especially unique about it. I like the long stretchy people shadows in front of the train. I like that I know the engineer was waving at me when I took this photo, even though you can't see that he was waving at me.

The train is the one that brought me back to Kansas last week.

Travelling by train sounds so romantic. A good idea, and the price is usually right, but I find it's not necessarily the way I like to travel. I don't sleep well on trains. When I close my eyes, the rocking motion of the train becomes exaggerated and motion sickness creeps up on me. I suppose in an ideal world I'd just stay awake the whole time. But the hours I've ridden aren't usually conducive to staying awake. So I try to nap and the rocking gets to me and then I try to stay awake and I am exhausted. I get impatient for the wheel. I guess I like having the steering wheel in my hands. I like that stops only last as long as it takes me to stretch my legs and that I can drive or stop or get side-tracked as I please.

None-the-less, I still have fantasies about a long train trip in a sleeper car. I'd like to try it all the way across the country. Sounds silly, I know. If I find myself fidgety on an 8-hour train ride, who knows what condition I would be in after 18... or more! I'd still like to try. Maybe if I rode the train beyond my own driving range I'd learn to relax and enjoy the ride a little more.