{"id":14473,"date":"2017-07-02T08:21:22","date_gmt":"2017-07-02T15:21:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ruffledfeathersandspilledmilk.com\/?p=14473"},"modified":"2017-07-10T09:31:18","modified_gmt":"2017-07-10T16:31:18","slug":"train-hopping","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/ruffledfeathersandspilledmilk.com\/?p=14473","title":{"rendered":"Train hopping."},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Train hopping is a dangerous thing. \u00a0Getting the speed and the grip just right is tricky. \u00a0You don’t always get to choose who you’re traveling with and even the familiar faces can do odd things as the walls close in and the miles pass. \u00a0You have no idea where you’re going. \u00a0Not really. \u00a0Just a guess and a hope that you end up where you need to be.<\/p>\n

But that’s what I’ve been doing.<\/p>\n

Oh, at first I was was in my home territory–on and off at work, the grocery store, soccer games, the library, gardening, the dump,…you know the deal. \u00a0Except I had my eyes on the curve. \u00a0Trying to see what was ahead and trying to gather everything I needed. \u00a0I was mapping the route. \u00a0Filling my boxcar with first aid supplies and water bottles and my Stress Relief aromatherapy diffuser. \u00a0Trying to judge the distance of the jump.<\/p>\n

Then I made the switch, with my family attached, and with all my bags, which is not recommended when hopping trains. \u00a0But if you’re not a 20-something hippie without any cares or responsibilities, then you tend to travel heavy. \u00a0And do not discard that diffuser to save weight. \u00a0Do Not. \u00a0Trust me on this.<\/p>\n

It was a hell of a train ride. \u00a03 weeks into the unknown. \u00a0On and off in strange places. \u00a0Meeting fellow travelers. \u00a0Seeing wonderful and bizarre things.<\/p>\n

Not for the faint of heart, people. \u00a0Not for the faint of heart. \u00a0I hear there are deadly gangs riding the rails<\/a>. \u00a0I don’t think they have anything on the risks of trying to force 4 kids out of bed in the morning before the free breakfast at the hotel ends. \u00a0Never mind making the 2 teeny-tiny bath towels in the bathroom last through showers for 6 people. \u00a0Ask yourself: \u00a0What would you do to your fellow travelers to get the last remaining dry towel? \u00a0(You can’t ask the front desk for more towels because you are only paying the rate for 2 guests.) \u00a0Never mind. \u00a0Don’t answer that.<\/p>\n

And now we’re jogging alongside the home train. \u00a0Trying to get a hand hold. \u00a0I need to get to the store for milk. \u00a0We were late for basketball practice. \u00a0And the audiobook are late for return to the library. \u00a0The tomatoes need to be pruned in the garden. \u00a0The Other Half has been assigned dump duty. \u00a0I’m picking up speed and I’ve almost got a grip.<\/p>\n

But the truth is that we aren’t really returning home. \u00a0The truth is that these trains only move forward. \u00a0There’s no going back. \u00a0Orion, one of the dogs, died while we were gone. \u00a0He had been struggling with arthritis and back pain and some kind of muscle wasting disease but it was still a shock when only Luna was waiting at the door when we pulled up. \u00a0When I opened my work email I discovered that we all got raises but they also made a major rule change that drastically affects our day-to-day responsibilities. \u00a0School grades came in and everyone pulled off A’s and B’s. \u00a0Despite what we expected. \u00a0And the fall class schedule is messed up. \u00a0Which is exactly what we expected.<\/p>\n

I’ll let you know what we saw on the trip. \u00a0I’ll finish all the posts I never finished before we left. (Probably. \u00a0Maybe. \u00a0Eh?)<\/p>\n

But, for now, I’ve gotta go. \u00a0This is my train.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Train hopping is a dangerous thing. \u00a0Getting the speed and the grip just right is tricky. \u00a0You don’t always get to choose who you’re traveling with and even the familiar faces can do odd things as the walls close in and the miles pass. \u00a0You have no idea where you’re going. \u00a0Not really. \u00a0Just a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14473","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/ruffledfeathersandspilledmilk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14473","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/ruffledfeathersandspilledmilk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/ruffledfeathersandspilledmilk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ruffledfeathersandspilledmilk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ruffledfeathersandspilledmilk.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14473"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/ruffledfeathersandspilledmilk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14473\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14537,"href":"http:\/\/ruffledfeathersandspilledmilk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14473\/revisions\/14537"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/ruffledfeathersandspilledmilk.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14473"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ruffledfeathersandspilledmilk.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14473"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ruffledfeathersandspilledmilk.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14473"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}