All Aboard

We boarded the train  in Champaign to begin the longest leg of our travels.  We were lucky enough to have a section reserved for us so we were able to be together.  Most of us were pretty beat  from the long day of finals, last minute packing and interesting travels that led to our arrival on the train.  Sleeping was a little challenging throughout the night: I am not sure if it is because it is a train or because I am to short to place my feet on the foot rest connected to the chair in front of me, but either way it was struggle to get comfortable.  I woke up on and off throughout the trip but the one stop that caught my attention was Memphis.  We were ahead of schedule and had to sit at the train station there for about an hour.  It was memorizing to watch the sun rise over Memphis.  The day on the train was pretty interesting in itself.  We ate breakfast in the snack car, lunch in the dining car, watched movies on history and Carville, had two class meetings, and really got to know classmates we haven’t connected with before.  One of my favorite things about the train was the chance I got to observe people who were on the train and the scenery we were able to witness while staring blankly out the windows.  When we were in Mississippi, I recall seeing many small towns that baffled and amazed me.  There were houses that looked as if they have not been cosmetically attended to for many of years, old cars, trucks, school buses, and even police cars lined up in grass areas that were obviously broken down and of no use to anyone.  In another town I observed a gas station where 5-6 men were washing cars by hand.  There were random swamp areas and farms in the middle of nowhere.  I seen birds I have never laid eyes on before.  As we approached Louisiana there were bridges which crossed what seemed to be hundreds of miles of water (I am deathly afraid of bridges).  I also did a lot of people watching while I was on the train.  There was one little girl that really caught my eye.  She seems full of life but I noticed that the whole time we were in the observation car with her she never spoke; she had a contagious laugh but never spoke. The last time I was on the observation car for a class gathering, I noticed the little girl signing to the older gentleman with her that she wanted her hat.  Now that I have actually arrived at my final destination, I am excited to observe my surroundings for the next 6 days.  

Mississippi. "Mississippi on Pinterest." Pinterest. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Dec. 2015. 

     <https://www.pinterest.com/explore/mississippi/>.