The post from the train

Yesterday, while I was in the middle of a stress-induced headache and the tail end of some winter depression, my family and I boarded the Amtrack Southwest Chief at Chicago's Union Station.

I need to pause and note that in the last few years, I have developed sort of a medium-grade tendency toward claustrophobia. It's not the worst case of claustrophobia, but one time at the Illinois Railway Museum during Day Out With Thomas, I almost mowed down a long line of people to get out of a burlap-lined narrow hallway inside a 50s-era train.

So as we boarded the train yesterday and the conductor informed us that our room was up a narrow stairway and down a narrow corridor, I started to panic. And by the time we got into our little closet of a room, I was in a full-blown panic attack. Like seriously, on-the-verge-of-tears panic mode. I was wondering if maybe I should get off the train while there was still time to take a cab to the airport. I'm serious.

The entire room is the same size as my closet at home, and it's not like I have a giant closet or something. The toilet/shower combo is like the size of an airplane bathroom. And my bed was going to have to fold out so that I was gonna be surrounded by walls on all sides, oh my God walls on all sides. How could I sleep when surrounded by walls?

But since the logistics of making flight arrangements for myself seemed daunting, I figured I would have to find a way to tolerate the train. So I coped by doing what any modern-day woman in the middle of a panic attack would do: I updated my Facebook status. And I sent some texts. Soon the words of encouragement poured in on my phone. I was able to take a deep breath, and an Advil, and calm down.

Nathan and I then explored the dining car, and the lounge car, and I realized I wasn't just trapped in a tiny colony of hell. Then I took out some toys for Nathan, and then a coloring book, and then some snacks.

This was all in the first hour of the trip.

Nathan was already bouncing off the walls, though of course there wasn't too far to bounce. Somehow we made it to dinner with some combination of candy, movies, and looking at the bathroom several times.

The dining car is kind of nice. They have (paper) tablecloths and flowers and stuff. I ordered the holiday special turkey dinner. It was okay. Also, to maximize space in the dining room, they make you sit with strangers if you don't have four people in your party. So we had to sit with a random college student named Ernest, who was perfectly nice and all, but I was struggling enough just to make it through dinner without having to make pleasant small talk.

At least they had Haagen-Daaz chocolate-chocolate chip ice cream for dessert.

The evening hours, well ... You know those little plastic puzzles where you slide the tiles around to make a picture? That is how it is trying to shuffle stuff around to get all the stuff you need to get your family ready for bed on a train. There's all kinds of "where's my toiletry bag?" and snapping at your spouse. At times certain members of your family actually have to walk out of the car just so you can get to something.

The sleeping was not quite as soothing and relaxing as I had imagined sleeping on a train would be. We have this CD at home called "Sleep on a Train," and nowhere on there is there loud clanging and ridiculous bumps. We couldn't get the temperature quite right, and so I was up at least ten times.

Nathan, of course, slept well and was raring to go as the sun rose over eastern Colorado. I braved the shower, which I clogged with toilet paper, because, as I said, the shower and toilet are a combo. Nathan and I shared a breakfast table with a sweet old lady who had just lost her husband six weeks ago. The breakfast potatoes were really good.

After breakfast Nathan and I made several trips back and forth to the lounge car, because one of us doesn't really understand the meaning of the word "lounge". Our challenge today is going to be to keep him entertained. Right now he is watching a movie, and then I think he is going to enjoy some father-son time.

As I wrap up this post, it is approximately 10:00 a.m. Mountain time, and we are approaching Trinidad, Colorado. We have about 20 hours to go before we reach our destination.

So far I would rate this as not the best experience of my life, but not the worst. The question remains: will we get a refund on our return tickets and fly back home?