A Lump In Our Throats

The views were tremendous. The dining food was delicious. The staff delightful. And the overall experience is a fabulous memory.

In thirty days we traversed the United States three times by rail, and our flight to Florida from Seattle next week will bring the crossings to a total of four times in these short weeks we have been in the country.

We are talking about our Amtrak experience on America’s passenger train service, and using their “rail pass” was the cheapest way we found to go round the USA allowing us to see so many of our friends, prayer partners and ex-colleagues in various missions where we have served in the past forty-seven years.

In those thirty days we have travelled through 26 different states, crossed four time zones several times, been in and through nearly 150 different cities and travelled a total of 10, 993 miles by rail in that timeframe.

The two seats beside each other (pictured above) were pretty much identical on every train we took and were our little corner on every trip beside a picture window, and also our sleeping quarters during the night hours, when we reclined the seats a bit and lifted up the leg and foot rests.

And today, it all ended. Our pass ran out and there will be no more Amtrak (at least on this trip). Yes, we are going to miss those wonderful days of traversing this beautiful nation and seeing so many outstanding sights. What a privilege and provision from the LORD for us on this “American odyssey” we are currently enjoying.

Keep an eye on “Where We Are Now” if you want to see where else we go between now and 26th June when we head back to Ireland.