Today begins the last day of my road trip through Texas. The Austin South Park Hotel is the nicest hotel I've stayed in in Texas - but also the most expensive. It took a bit of fiddling to stow all the purchases of the last few days in my only medium-sized suitcase. Because I bought a pair of cowboy boots in Amarillo, I now have to put my heavy hiking boots in my suitcase. They take up a lot of space. Also, yesterday I bought a large cool box for my brother at outdoor mall Cabela's. This is now my new hand luggage and replaces my backpack. Now the backpack has to be stowed away in the suitcase, too. Luckily, the cooler bag is the right size for me to fit my laptop in, upright and diagonally. And my narrow file folder with my documents also fits in. It's a nice coincidence that I now inevitably carry this cool bag with me, because I'll need some travel provisions for the next few days. Today I'm going to switch from car to train again and travel more than four days to the north-west corner of the USA. That's why I bought a lot of tin cans in the supermarket. I had small water bottles stashed in the trunk of my rental car at the beginning of my road trip and there are still a lot left.
Race against the clock to Fort Worth
When the freezer is finally fully loaded, I can hardly lift it. I use my suitcase as a luggage cart and put the cooler bag on top. That's how I make it to the car. When I programmed the navigation system, I got a start: arrival time 11:37 am. I must drop off the car at the Fort Worth car rental company by 12 noon, otherwise I'm sure I'll have to make a hefty back payment. Nothing must get in my way now. I'm annoyed with myself: I woke up at seven o'clock and had mostly packed my bags last night. It was careless that I dawdled around until half past eight and now it's getting stressful. What's more, I'm now stuck in a traffic jam in Austin on the interstate expressway towards Fort Worth.
But the congestion dissolves quickly. A young Latino drove his car into the concrete central barrier without harming anyone else. Throughout my drive around Texas, I was meticulous about speed limits and even set the cruise control a little below. Instead of the permitted 75 miles per hour, I often drove only 60. But now I set it a little higher, because now every minute counts as I have to fill up the tank before returning the car. The car rental company does that too, but for double the price of gas. I sure won’t let them have that extra money.
In this way I make up about ten minutes during the approximately 300 kilometers from Austin to Fort Worth. With ten miles to go my bladder is full and my tank half empty. I fill up, go to the gas station and a few minutes later I'm at the car rental. I still have plenty of water bottles. I've already given two bottles to a homeless beggar at a red light on the way, but I still have more than I can take to the train station. I’ll throw them away unopened. Vehicle return is no problem and the woman behind the counter is just as unsympathetic and dismissive as when I picked up the car ten days ago.
Southern Creole dishes as travel provisions
I order an Uber, which is there in just a few minutes and into which I load my heavy luggage. I dread lugging it around with me now. A plastic bag with extra water bottles makes walking even more difficult. After a short ride, I arrive at the Fort Worth train station and settle into the waiting room. It's time for lunch and I relieve my cooler of a can of chicken gumbo. A dish from Southern Creole cuisine that tastes nice and fiery. Then I get an email from Amtrak, the railroad company: My train is delayed: It’llonly go at 3:50 PM instead of 2:20 PM. I ask at the information desk, where they explain to me that the Texas Eagle train bound for Chicago has already arrived. I could get in, but it's only leaving an hour and a half later than planned. I will do that immediately. Because the waiting room here in Fort Worth is full of homeless people, some of whom have behavioral problems. Unfortunately, a particularly unpleasant-smelling one is sitting right next to me with his thick carved wooden club.
The Amtrak On-Time Promise
At the information desk I ask what will happen to my connection in Springfield now that we are so late. In Springfield, according to my connection schedule, I’ll only have a few minutes to get on a bus that will take me to the Galesburg train station. "Don't worry," laughs the railway employee. The train can make up for that delay. I believe her, because on the same route from Chicago down here to Fort Worth we also had a considerable delay and still arrived on time. It was very difficult to drag the luggage along the long platform behind me because the train was at the very end. However, I was approached by a railway employee in an electric golf cart, who offered to take my luggage to the train, even though he wasn't allowed to take me with him. I gratefully accepted this offer and walked hands-free to the Texas Eagle, which waited gleaming silver in the sun. I was assigned my seat by the conductor, on which I have now set myself up for the next 24 hours. I'm scheduled to arrive in Springfield, Illinois, tomorrow morning at a quarter to ten. I'm curious if this happens, because it would be remarkable if our train could make up almost two hours overnight. Next to me in Dallas, a decent older gentleman who has the seat next to me gets on. At six o'clock in the evening we happily eat our brought-along dinner sitting next to each other. He must have brought something home-cooked from his wife, I'll open a can of chicken jambalaya. Another spicy dish of Creole cuisine. Strengthened by this dinner I ride into the night. The last day of my Texas trip comes to an end and the first of my 100-hour train journey begins.
