How the Geebies Got to the Train Station, Part 1.
Posted on 2012.12.19 at 19:37
The blizzard is coming! The blizzard is coming! The Wisconsin govenor has already declared a state of emergency. The airlines have already cancelled all flights for tomorrow morning. Schools are already cancelled, too. At the moment the stars are twinkling and the weather outside is not frightful.
Frankly, hunkering down in my uncle's house during a blizzard sounded exciting. We could start a fire in the fire place and think warm thoughts! My cousin's cousins live down the street, with small children who play well with ours. Let's all blizzard together!
But we have a bus to catch at 2 pm, and then a train to catch at 5 pm. I called Amtrak, who said "If your bus or train is cancelled, we'll contact you and rebook you on another bus!"
"A bus to Montana?" I squeaked.
"A bus to Montana," they said.
I asked about the other daily trains to Montana, and they said that the next two days were full, but possibly they could rebook us three days out, provided it didn't fill up before they officially cancelled our bus or train.
A bus to Montana! Why, just run a scalpel through my nose and out my ears and lobotomize me right now. That sounds like hellish hellable hell.
So we decided to drive up to Columbus, Wisconsin, the night before and stay in a hotel. Hello from the Super 8 in Columbus, Wisconsin. It is the only hotel in town. It is a mile from the Amtrak station.
Can we book a taxi for tomorrow? No, there are no taxis in town. Sometimes people are able to call a cab to come in from nearby Beaver Dam.
Hi Beaver Dam Taxi Company, can we book a taxi for tomorrow? No, we won't be sending our cabs out to neighboring Columbus in the middle of a blizzard.
Maybe we can just walk? It's only a mile. There aren't sidewalks. We have snow outfits (except me, who wasn't planning on skiing or playing in the snow.) My uncle said, "But worst case scenario, it could be white-out conditions. Remember in Little House on the Prairis, how they had the rope that went to the barn? So you didn't wander off during the blizzard, never to be seen again?" I didn't remember but it sounds plausible.
We don't have a rope that extends from the Super 8 to the Amtrak station.
Currently the receptionist is kind of trying to help us out. She connected us with one nice man, but he has to be at work by 8, and the train station doesn't open until 11. The receptionist recommended that we hang out around the breakfast room tomorrow morning and strike up conversations with other hotel guests.
So that is the current plan, to exploit smalltown nice people into driving us one mile down to the Amtrak station. Or perhaps if the blizzard has not materialized by 10:30 in the morning, to just hoof it.
The phrase "We'll put you and your children on the bus to Montana!" sent me into a shivering world of anxiety. But I talked to the nice local man at the Amtrak station, who said "Look. I'll be here, from 11 am to 6 pm. And the heat will be on, because I will be here. I've been here for thirty years, and the only time the train hasn't run is when there's been an avalanche in the mountains. The train will show up." After talking to Mr. Blunt McPractical, I stopped feeling anxious and resumed feeling like we're on a moderate adventure.
"Will the bus run?"
"I can't vouch for the bus. But the train will be here."
And so will we.
Frankly, hunkering down in my uncle's house during a blizzard sounded exciting. We could start a fire in the fire place and think warm thoughts! My cousin's cousins live down the street, with small children who play well with ours. Let's all blizzard together!
But we have a bus to catch at 2 pm, and then a train to catch at 5 pm. I called Amtrak, who said "If your bus or train is cancelled, we'll contact you and rebook you on another bus!"
"A bus to Montana?" I squeaked.
"A bus to Montana," they said.
I asked about the other daily trains to Montana, and they said that the next two days were full, but possibly they could rebook us three days out, provided it didn't fill up before they officially cancelled our bus or train.
A bus to Montana! Why, just run a scalpel through my nose and out my ears and lobotomize me right now. That sounds like hellish hellable hell.
So we decided to drive up to Columbus, Wisconsin, the night before and stay in a hotel. Hello from the Super 8 in Columbus, Wisconsin. It is the only hotel in town. It is a mile from the Amtrak station.
Can we book a taxi for tomorrow? No, there are no taxis in town. Sometimes people are able to call a cab to come in from nearby Beaver Dam.
Hi Beaver Dam Taxi Company, can we book a taxi for tomorrow? No, we won't be sending our cabs out to neighboring Columbus in the middle of a blizzard.
Maybe we can just walk? It's only a mile. There aren't sidewalks. We have snow outfits (except me, who wasn't planning on skiing or playing in the snow.) My uncle said, "But worst case scenario, it could be white-out conditions. Remember in Little House on the Prairis, how they had the rope that went to the barn? So you didn't wander off during the blizzard, never to be seen again?" I didn't remember but it sounds plausible.
We don't have a rope that extends from the Super 8 to the Amtrak station.
Currently the receptionist is kind of trying to help us out. She connected us with one nice man, but he has to be at work by 8, and the train station doesn't open until 11. The receptionist recommended that we hang out around the breakfast room tomorrow morning and strike up conversations with other hotel guests.
So that is the current plan, to exploit smalltown nice people into driving us one mile down to the Amtrak station. Or perhaps if the blizzard has not materialized by 10:30 in the morning, to just hoof it.
The phrase "We'll put you and your children on the bus to Montana!" sent me into a shivering world of anxiety. But I talked to the nice local man at the Amtrak station, who said "Look. I'll be here, from 11 am to 6 pm. And the heat will be on, because I will be here. I've been here for thirty years, and the only time the train hasn't run is when there's been an avalanche in the mountains. The train will show up." After talking to Mr. Blunt McPractical, I stopped feeling anxious and resumed feeling like we're on a moderate adventure.
"Will the bus run?"
"I can't vouch for the bus. But the train will be here."
And so will we.