Amtrak

July 6 -- Amtrak from San Antonio to El Paso. We arrived in San Antonio around 1:00 am. There is a 5 hour layover before the train moves on to El Paso. At first I was annoyed by this thought but it turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Sleeping on a moving train is harder than it sounds. First, we were in a "roomette" (with the emphasis placed on the "ette"). The narrow quarters meant that my arms didn't quite fit on the bed. Second, there's a sliding door that separates the interior from the hall way. All the different sounds -- the clacking, the train whistles at every road, voices of people talking as they walked passed -- helped me realize how much I've come to rely on the "comfortable" sounds of home. Having the train motionless for 5 hours made sleep possible. I woke for good shortly after we started moving again.

Breakfast: The dining car opens for breakfast at 6:00 am. That's when I discovered that part of the experience is eating with strangers. We were seated with two older individuals from California who were part of a larger traveling group. Shortly after we started breakfast, one of these 70 plus guys walked in and started whistling like his team had just scored the winning touchdown on the last play of Superbowl ##. I'm already grumpy because of my marginal night of sleep and while some of the others in his traveling-old-people group started to encourage him, I gave him my "Shut up now or you're going to die" teacher look. He seemed a little surprised that not everyone shared his enthusiasm for 6:00 am. You'd think his parents would have taught him better. I guess when you reach a certain age, every morning is a victory. Being pre-coffee, I wasn't feeling him.

On a different note (post-coffee), the scenery was wonderful. This is an area of Texas I like camping in and the opportunity to see it from a different vantage point was one of the reasons I wanted to take the trip. The area was drenched by hurricane rains a few days before our trip and the desert was responding quickly. Consequently, there was a lot more color that I'm used to seeing. Also, the water in Armistad was up which meant that the Pecos was full when we crossed on the high bridge. I'm looking forward to the return trip because all the sage will be purple then which will give the scenery an entirely different look. I spent the day alternately looking out the window, reading and snapping occasional photographs.

The second book I brought on the trip is called Here and Now by Henri Nouwen. I've decided that my choice of reading and keeping a daily journal is going to add depth to our typical summer travels. Here and Now is a series of reflections, but it emphasized an idea that eternity isn't some future, endless time, but this moment, now in this place, here. It echoes an idea I first encountered through Paul Tillich's book, The Eternal Now. Too often we are stuck in the past, hung up on all those should haves, could haves we all have. Or we cannot enjoy this moment because we're waiting for that golden future moment when we get everything together, life is perfect and we live happily ever after. The problem is that the only time we really have is right now. The past can inform the now and the future can help us decide how we live the now, but, if we fail to embrace this moment, we aren't really living.

I guess I owe the old whistler an apology. Sorry dude.