Trains

For the third straight weekend, younger daughter is globe trotting, attending meetings for a professional business fraternity she and her hubby belong to. Two weekends ago she dodged snowstorms as she flew to Rochester, New York. Last weekend was a driving trip to Little Rock with her hubby. This weekend they're in Chicago.

To shake up their modes of travel, this weekend's trip was on the train. We have two train tracks going through town, but I never asked her their route - I figured they would head more northeast out of KC's Union Station. But shortly before nine this morning, I got a text message that they would be coming through town in about 20 minutes. They were coming through on the track closest to our house – and with the leaves off the trees, I was able to step out on the back porch and watch the top of their train as it rolled through. It was kind of fun.......maybe a little dorky, but fun.

Trains never quite held the fascination for me that planes did, but they were still exciting. Really, any mode of transportation was exciting. I always had a bit of a travel bug. My grandmother on Dad's side of the family lived in Independence until I was 13. When she came down, either for holidays or just to visit, she usually came on the train. Occasionally it would be on the bus, but that's a story for another day.

I always enjoyed the trips to the train station. My folks were of the “give yourself enough time for a crisis” school, so we always arrived well ahead of the scheduled arrival time. That means we could sit in the car or in the train station and watch the trains rumble through, the ground shaking as they passed by. Finally we would see the passenger train slowly rolling into the station. It wasn't unusual for several people to get off the train here. It was a major mode of transportation.

Even though my paternal grandparents were divorced, they got along with one another (mostly because my grandfather was a very patient, tolerant man). When I was 8 or 9, Grandpa took me on a train trip to Independence for a weekend. Mom and Dad brought us to the train station, and it was very exciting to climb on board that train. Of course, Grandpa let me sit by the window. It was so different to see the neighboring towns from that vantage point.

We arrived at Kansas City's Union Station and took a city bus to Grandma's neighborhood, then walked the rest of the way to her house. All too soon our time there was over, and we reversed our trip. Union Station, compared to the tiny train station here, was pretty amazing. We climbed on and headed back home. I always appreciated Grandpa for giving me that opportunity.

As an adult, I had one other opportunity for a train trip, coming home for a week from Wichita, Kansas. Wichita's train station was pretty busy as well, and we had a late start from there. It was an interesting trip in that it was overnight – the train left Wichita around 9:30 pm, and it pulled in here about 4:30 am. I finally slept a bit, but I was afraid that since my hometown was no longer a regular stop that I might be left on the train! I reminded the train officials that I was on and to please wake me up before we got here. I think they thought I was a bit annoying. The one positive thing I can say about that trip is that I had a good view of the Kansas State Capitol in the night floodlights as we went through Topeka.

Even with two sets of train tracks, trains no longer stop here. It was the end of an era when they quit. But they still fly through town, and I enjoy living where I can hear the train whistles. And today, it was fun knowing that my young'un was on that train headed to Chicago.