The Best Laid Plans . . . 

There have been gaps in my posts on this trip, which is not how I like to do things when it comes to this blog. 

I regret to say that has been the case on this current journey and I’m afraid the gap between entries will continue for a while longer . . . the lack of access to the internet during long distance train travel being the issue.

Car attendant shirks responsibility

There has been one item of general interest to pass along: It concerns my post about the sleeping car attendant I had on my ride from the Bay Area to Chicago on the California Zephyr. She announced at the end of each day that she would be unavailable during the night and if any of her passengers needed something during the night, we should go find one of the conductors.

Apparently someone read that post and passed it along to Amtrak. The next day I received a phone call from the railroad saying that sleeping car attendants are expected to be available day or night for passengers who may have need of assistance. She said the train manager had been informed of that incident.

Computer goes POOF!

Then came the failure of an important part of Amtrak’s computer system, forcing the cancellation of many trains and stranding me and several of my RPA colleagues in Chicago. After more than 24 hours with little information, we booked flights to Washington to catch the last two days of the RPA meetings.

This post has come to you from Toronto, Canada, and I must tell you that there will be four more days without any of these reports since I, with one of my RPA colleagues, will be aboard VIA Rail’s flagship train, the Canadian, enjoying the ride from here to Vancouver.

No Internet Access

I will do my best to post a report on that wonderful Toronto-to-Vancouver ride after our train arrives in Vancouver.  My thanks for your patience.