Church on the Train & San Diego

We had to rush on the last couple blog posts, but not today. Let’s see…immediately after Hannah made the last post from the Grand Canyon Hotel’s lobby we boarded a train bound for Los Angeles. We left at 10 P.M., and the train was crammed, which meant the six of us were forced to separate from one another in order to get a place to sit. Seats on Amtrak are in pairs and people tend to sit alone in order to spread out. This train originated in Chicago, so people were already pretty well established. So, of course, when a family with children, like us, boards at night everyone fains sleeping in hopes we’ll walk past them and sit with somebody else. This cat-and-mouse game makes things a little awkward. Sam and Hannah lucked out and were able to sit together. I jumped in next to what I figured was the roughest looking guy on the train just to insure Trevor, Rylee, and Ann wouldn’t have to. Rylee landed next to a sleeping woman, ended up just ahead of me and his seat-mate strolled off and came back. Ann (and I do feel feel badly about this) wedged herself in beside a very large man who first complained about having to make room, and later snored like a freight train. I thought about offering to trade with Ann, but given my unsavory seat-mate, I thought it best to stay put. 

Eventually, daylight came upon us, and I struck up a conversation with the ruffian next to me. I was right, he was a heroin addict, but he was friendly enough. The freight-train man next to Ann woke up, farted, and proved to be equally conversational. Now, it would seem this story could only go downhill from here, but that’s not the case. My heroin addict friend told me he was returning from Mississippi, where he had repaired his relationship with his daughter and was able to spend three weeks with his grand children. He had caught two five pound catfish while he was there, and he was glad the Lord had helped him out of the prison drugs had been to him. Ann’s new friend was eager to be picked up at the train station by his mother and hoped she and an uncle would be supportive in helping him lose his unwanted weight. Both these guys were Christians. I commented to my  ex heroin addict seat partner that just a little earlier I had been disappointed about it being Sunday and it looked like I would be missing church, but that Christian fellowship had taken place right there. He allowed as how it only takes two people to make a church.

We left those two characters in L.A. and boarded another train to San Diego, where I am now writing from. This train is new, and nearly empty. As we travel south along the freeway I can see that we are faster than the California traffic, so we must be really moving along. Rylee says we need to get a field and plant orange trees. She likes the way they look. Trevor is enamored with the dudes we can see surfing where the tracks border the beach at Laguna. More to come later…

Kipp.  

Today we arrived in beautiful San Diego after a great ride down the Southern Califoria Coast. We weren't able to check in until four o'clock, so we killed five hours of time outside. We sat by and swam in the pool, played on the beach,  and got sunburned. It is a relief to be in the pleasant seventies after roasting in San Antonio's 100s. We also love the palm trees that we never get to see back home. After an afternoon dinner, we checked in our room. We relaxed for a while, then took a walk along the beach. The ocean water is warmer than Valdez's pool, so Trevor swam around a bit while Rylee built a sand castle. We came inside and watched a funny movie before going to bed a bit early. We are all tired after the overnight train ride. Tomorrow is Mom's birthday, so we will see what she has planned for her day in San Diego.

HN