September 7, 2013

Day 2, the journey south

I lay down and fall asleep for hours. Breakfast starts to be served around 6:30 am. I get ready around 6:30 and actually the second person in the dining car. It is still dark outside when I am seated in the car.

I get my usual, apple juice, cheese omelet. Bacon, and potatoes. They serve grits, more about that later in my trip.

That is something new, whole wheat biscuit. That grapefruit thingie… untouched when done eating.

We are pulling into Jacksonville, Florida about 7:10 am, I figure about 10 to 15 minutes late. This is a refueling stop for the diesel engines, so it’s a longer stop. Here is a photo of the diesel fuel truck filling the tanks of the diesel engines.

See the reel with the green hose? Not only do they fill the diesels with fuel at this stop, but the sleeping car attendants refill the water tanks for non drinking water in the sleepers. This is also a smoking break for those who smoke. There is no smoking policy on the train, and most stops are too short to allow people to leave the train to smoke.

I go back to my sleeper, lay down, and actually fall asleep for a couple of hours.

The next thing I now, its 9:20, and we are pulling into Deland. I think to myself… after Deland, comes Winter Park…. Then Orlando J

I also see that the car service I reserved to drive me from Orlando Station to Pop Century text messaged me around 8:44 am. This was one of the things that concerned me on this trip. New car service. After reading and responding back, I really start to feel good about my vacation. We are doing great time, weather is great, and I wont be stranded at the train station.

10 am Winterpark J just another 20 or so minutes. A little late, but not that late. I pack up everything, looking around the roomette making sure I didn’t forget anything. My car steward takes my rolling luggage to be ready to take it off the train. We are going very slow at this point. Just like I have seen every year, all the sites I am passing is all very familiar. Except when we pass Church Street Station, the steam train is no longer there. In its place, they are laying down the station and tracks for Sunrail.

10:25 am… Hel-lo Or-lan-do J I get off the train and walk back to the station parking lot. Not sure what I am looking for. Hopefully a plackard with my name on it. Ok, getting a little worried. I look back at the text message, and I see it says to look for a van that says MH. I spot it in the parking lot. I see John, shake hands. He stores my luggage in the back and invites me to sit in the front.

I still have my Glympse going. So I am watching myself on my smartphone as I am heading to Pop Century. I still have one concern, or two. What section at Pop I will be calling home. And the scooter/ECV rental. The scooter people will be calling me.

While I wont be driving myself anytime soon, after being driven so many times, I recognize all the places we pass.

Since I extended my trip one day almost the last minute, I wanted to make sure John had the correct date to pick me up, he does. We also speak about Sunray. He knew Bob and Roger. But he didn’t know about Roger dying till a couple of weeks ago.

I first see the large Welcome to Walt Disney World sign on the road, then the Art of Animation resort, and finally the signs for Pop Century.. are we there yet?? And the like.

We pull into the entrance to the resort. I pay John off, and enter the resort. Vacation starts now J