(Yesterday, 4/9/2011, around 2:00pm, I stepped on to the Amtrak, already an hour late, for what should have been a simple 3 hour ride to El Paso. Instead, a brush fire damaged a bridge just outside of Alpine and, after only 20 minutes of travel, we stopped...dead...)
After what seemed an eternity, I checked the time on my iPhone; it was 3:00am and the promised buses had not yet arrived. Another eternity passed and I could see first light in the distant mountains, meaning it was around 6:00am (I was afraid to check my phone) and, still, no buses. Then the conductor came through with an announcement: the bridge had been fixed and as soon as it was tested and a cargo train passed and a new train crew arrived (because Federal law prohibits a train crew from working more than 12 hours) we should be on our way.
And, around 8:30am, we were.
I was able to see the landscape we would be skipping. And, it was truly that: landscape worth skipping (no offense to the towns of Marfa or Valentine.) The rest of my schedule resumed, only 21 hours later. The Amtrak eventually arrived in El Paso, a Taxi took me to the aiport and I picked up a rental car. Eventually, I was back in Alpine by 3pm, 26 hours after I had left the previous day.
It was a day lost and I reminded myself often that things could always be worse.
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