This land is your land, this land is my land.
Other memorable experiences from my epic train journey:
- Splurging on an overpriced dinner in the Amtrak dining car while riding through Glacier National Park at night. I spent $11 for a bowl of cheese ravioli and $4 for a can of Budweiser. No joke - $4. Sometimes you just want a beer. The best part, though, was my dinner companions: a goth kid from portland (complete with black nail polish and black leather dog collar necklace) and an Amish farmer from montanta!! Well, I suppose he wasn't Amish or he wouldn't be riding the train and wearing modern day clothes - but he spoke with a german accent and had a beard without a mustache and I swear he said he was something that rhymed with Amish. But the three of us sat there and ate our salads and asked eachother polite questions about our respective travels. I felt that I was somehow living inside of an elaborate joke punchline.
- Sitting in the sight-seeing lounge, looking at Montana, while a moderately retarded young gentleman in a baseball cap sang "This Land is Your Land" over and over again to himself. Right on, brother.
- Waking up to dawn over the Columbia River Gorge. I went down to the lower level of the car and did stretches in front of the window, balancing on the swaying floor, watching the sun rise higher over the brown cliffs.
- Being met at the train station in Portland, Oregon by a very nice tall man holding a pot of yellow flowers.
Welcome back, Dr!
"so an Amish guy, a goth kid, and a med student are riding a train to Portland, Oregon..."
I wish I could write jokes because that one would be fun to write. And the punchline would be: "...so the Amish guy says, 'THERE GOES ANOTHER ONE!'" Then I'd say "get it? GET IT?"
Amish peeps can ride trains. They even get rides in "English" people's cars and stuff. You should watch "Devil's Playground," which you can find on Netflix. It totally blows up your ideas about Amish ppl.
Come on now, Dalas. We've all seen the movie Witness, and we know that the Amish lead simple lives that involve wearing old fashioned clothing and raising barns and protecting innocent young boys from criminal drug lords and *accidentally* letting Harrison Ford see you naked. No part of that life allows you to wear a baseball cap and a leather vest and ride a train (although I'm pretty sure the Witness lady did ride in a police car). Maybe I have some serious rethinking to do.