Back in the Saddle Again!
I stood it for as long as I could. “It” being not traveling. I’ve been cooped up here for almost two years and I’m leaving day after tomorrow for five weeks. That will include two cross-country train rides and a round trip “across the pond” to England, Scotland and France.
Yes, I’ve had both of my shots plus a booster. That’s not good enough for the Brits, who are insisting that I be tested before they will let me on the plane. Even that’s not good enough—they insist that I get tested a second time—the day after I get off the plane in London.
Even in normal non-pandemic times I find travel endlessly fascinating. Hell, I even thrill at seeing sights I have seen before. How can someone gaze down many hundreds of feet on Donner Lake as the California Zephyr labors up and over the Sierra Nevada range and not think of those people freezing and starving in that merciless winter. When the Spring thaw came, some of the stumps of trees they had cut down for firewood were 12 feet high.
A day and a night later, aboard The Cardinal, we’re still heading east, but now we’re twisting and turning as the railroad follows the New River through the gorge that bears the river’s name. Later on, when the train stops at White Sulphur Springs, you say, “Damn! I keep saying on one of these trips I’m going to get off here and spend a few days at the Greenbrier,” one of the best-known resorts in the world!” I still haven’t done it.
This will be a long trip, with daughters and their families waiting for visits—one close to the Atlantic Coast, the other at the opposite end of the continent on the Pacific Ocean. In between– England, Scotland and France. For this whole time, I’ll be doing what I love to do more than anything else—travel!
And, yes, there will be reports here subject to availability of wi-fi and the internet. So stay tuned!
Sounds like a great trip! Can’t wait to read all about it.
Congratulations! And though you’ve ridden the Cardinal before, there will be something new about your trip. This time you will be passing through the newest national park: New River Gorge National Park and Preserve. The old station at Thurmond has been transformed into the visitor center.