Archive – Day 11
Tuesday, April 20, 1993
Looking Back...
Day 2 of a two-day trip to Florida. As usual, I had plenty of time to write about nothing on the train, but once we got somewhere interesting I clammed up. We got off the train in Orlando, got a rental car and a motel, and drove over to Disney World to look around their hotels and shops.
After a maniacal half-hour wait for the bathroom to be freed, I have finally taken it upon my self to look at the scenery.
We are traveling through the swamps of Georgia; actually the forests, but everything down here can be called a swamp. And now it seems to be both swamp and forest rolled into one, so there you have it.
The greenery here is profuse, but all the trees are thin and very unmighty looking. And really, there’s not that much else to see. Except fog. And an occasional gravel pit.
Ah! A town! And a slowing train. Perhaps that means we get to stop again. We stopped once last night at Richmond, and they turned the air conditioning off. It was just like Salt Lake City: dark, still, rank, the only sound being regular interval snoring, by two people who were not in sync. It was hot, annoying, and such a mess that if I could have gotten my hands on the throat of the person responsible I would have ended up in jail. And the ten-minute stop there turned into half an hour, only aggravating the problem. And me tying to sleep besides. I was glad to leave Richmond.
I just had another intriguing meal: Amtrak’s own breakfast sandwich. It was an almost gourmet blend of a stiff, chewy bagel, liquid cheese, compressed ham, and something which can only be described as an “egg patty”. I bought the last one in the cafeteria, with the heartfelt thanks of all the passengers. They proclaimed me a hero and paraded up and down the aisles with me on their shoulders. I think this is my greatest humanitarian act yet.
A greatly endowed odor has permeated our train car. I do not wish to describe it for fear of figuring out what it is.
We should be arriving in Jacksonville soon, with an hour-long stop. That should give me plenty of time to find a mailbox and send a third postcard home. We’re now in Florida, getting closer to our goal.
We are traveling quite slowly through Florida. I don’t know why. We are in more forest/swampland, taking our sweet time in getting south. But wait! We are gradually increasing speed, but still are nowhere near normal operating mode. No cause can be found.
Nearly all this land we have been passing is covered with tree farms. There are varying stands of varying trees of varying ages across all the various fields.
David Koresh’s compound in Waco Texas just burned down. So you can use that event as a frame of reference for when in history this trip was taking place.
We are still in Jacksonville, for an hour now (an hour behind schedule). We are still tying to get our engine hooked up so we can get on the road.
Another foray into the wonderful world of Amtrak food. This time: the “Hot Dog Sandwich,” or boneless sirloins as the cafe attendant called them. Here again it has good flavor, yet the bun is a bit moist (microwaved to perfection). This is my second hot dog from Amtrak, and odds are it won’t be my last.
This train is constantly blowing its whistle. I am beginning to get concerned as to the significance of this incessant act. But, we are an hour behind schedule, so perhaps the driver is a bit anxious. Who knows.
Florida is all forest! It is very sparse, very thin, but it is also very much forest. Not even swampland, just forest. But as I said, a very thin and light forest. It is not the most attractive I have ever seen, but is still nice to look at.
Sunny Florida is now overcast.
We are now only about half an hour away from the Orlando station. I am becoming quite used to this train, just as I did the California Zephyr. The only difference is that I have been stationary for most of this trip, content with the train’s movement and needing none of my own. The view out the window has been mostly forested, but just now we have entered Winter Park (odd name – it brings up pictures of snow in Florida), a community which seems awfully like Orange County. Only with more trees. And more pink paint.
We’re now in the motel after a bit of traveling around the Disney Empire. We visited four of their hotels, all with their positive and negative aspects. But tomorrow I will have more Disney impressions.
Traveling through Orlando, I noticed its remarkable similarity to Southern California. The fact that it’s in Orange County is just the beginning. There are several El Toro-style neighborhoods, lots of residential trees, the same orange sun, similar traffic, mini malls (although not many), and wide sprawling parkways reminiscent of Irvine. But that last thing is one part of the obvious “Disneyfication” of Orlando. The downtown sections of the city looked as though they were not like those of other cities; they looked actually more like the innards of the Disney resort. The park and the city do seem to be blending into one.
