Leaving home at 29yrs... Aug 12th

August 12th

I'm at the Helper Train Station sitting here with all my baggage its 8:20pm. My ticket says to be here 30 minutes prior to the scheduled pick up, which is 7:25pm.

Tawnya and the babies dropped me off at 7pm, I walk into the building with the big AMTRAK sign on it. with my two suitcases, laptop and duffle bag. It opens up to this open room with two doors leading out to the train tracks, I can see a few trains parked and a caboose pulling a big load of coal.Probably for the local mines or something. The room itself has this old time charm to it. With battered chairs that look like they were rescued from some old concert hall, with one long bench that looks like an abandoned church pew.

The womens bathroom door has a light outling where a WOMENS sign has fallen off and in its place someone has written "women" with a blue permanent marker. The Mens bathroom door is missin, so the room is spilling out all its secrets to anyone who wants to glance in that direction.

7:45 A sandy haired man walks in, older then me, younger then my dad. He looks all scruffy and has one army green duffle bag with some holes in it and a lil' black tote. The familar white headphones of an Ipod travel down the pocket of his flannel jacket. He looks harmless so I walk out o the tracks to look around a bit. The sun is setting and the contrast between the bright light and the shadows on the mountain are beautiful. I love living here, its beautiful. The last week it has rained and the desert is all gree, making the lil'desert mountians bloom with color that isn't normaly there. What a perfect farwell for me, a gorgeous sunset with a nice cooling breeze.

8:10 pm Ok where is the train? The sandy haired man and I are starting to get worried. We call Amtrak and found out that the train is running two hours late. 9:45pm is the new departure date. No problem. Sandy Haired man, is in the bathroom, I can hear water splashing, running fauset, and the toliet flush. I wish the mens bathroom had a door. :( Ten minutes later he emerges clean new shirt, crisp blue dickie pants, looks like he put his head under the fauset and washed his hair, Ear buds still in his ears. People are attached to those Ipods. I bet you ten bucks he changed and washed up, while still connected to whatever music is soundtracking his life at the moment.

9:30pm We get anxsious and move our stuff out to the tracks. Friends on the phone keep me entertained while I walk around with the half moon providing me with an outline of the nearby mountains. The cool breeze is so nice, I feel like just camping for the night.

9:50pm Still waiting . I'm excited to go. I realize the train is late but I'm not annoyed. The last couple of weeks while I was helping out my parents I just felt like my wheels were spinning. I packed my stuff, moved out of my home, and said good-byhe to all the friends in Provo.. Already for a new adventure. Then end up at the familarity of home for two weeks. Which is usually wonderfully relaxing, except I was geared up for newnesss with new people, and a new home to set up. So now that I am here at the train station I know that my future in Redding, CA has started. I made the first step, I left home. HA! So, yea my journey has started even though the train is two hours late. ha ha. I did have a nice time at home. Most of the family was in town which is a rarity these days. The neices and nephew were a joy. The girls were all around crying, laughing, bumping into things, asking questions doing whatever. But lil'tyler just lays there with his big brown eyes as calm as can be. He only cries when he is hungry, and just seems to be content. The neices are going to be running around all over and he is jsut going to always be as calm as can be. Hopefully a watchful eye over his older sister..

10:17 pm. Trains here :)

Riding the rails.

Ok so the conductor didn't yell "All Aboard!" In all movies with trains the conductor ALWAYS yells all aboard. Oh well, i know we are running late and some things need to be minimized for time. So let me tell you about the train. Its pretty cool, the seats are big, and there is a leg rest to prop your feet up making things quiet nice. The lounge car is filled with windows to see the scenery and movies play when there is no scenery. THe diner is very over priced but thus is life when traveling. The key to the bathrooms is go in the "Dressing Room" there is a bathroom in there and you get your own space for a bit. But by far the most interesting thing on the train is teh people. You have all types of people on the train. From those who look like they could barely scrape enough $ to get a ticket, to families with kids just enjoying the experiance, to those posh looking people that jook like they have enough $ to buy the train, down to me. Single girl just looking to chech out the train riding vibe. At breakfast i ate in the dinning car with an elder couple who were coming back from vacation in chicago. The women was large with a deep laugh,her husband had hair on his face, coming out of his nose and ears but none on his head. And he said things like Lordy Lordy. Fun couple they were talking about the joys of Museums in Chicago. A lil'boy and his father was walking passed us and the lil'boy pointed the the man next to me and said , OH gosh look at that HUGE beard I can't see his mouth" to which both of my breakfast mates started laughing.