Our Memphis Trip, Day 5, Thursday

We woke at 5:00 am to get ready for the southbound morning City of New Orleans train. The Memphis weather was off and on light rain and chilly out. Our taxi was on time at 6:00 and we got to the station as the train arrived a few minutes early. It departed on time and soon we were in the dining car ready for breakfast. They were out of all the hot breakfast items, so we had juice, coffee, toast, cold cereal with milk, and yogurt. Some people at our table were grumpy at the lack of hot items. But it didn't appear to bother the waiter at all.

It isn't easy eating a bowl of Frosted Flakes with milk on a moving train. Lots of spills.

The engineer was in a hurry and much of the trip was rough with the cars swinging from side to side. On one trip to the snack car, two cars away then down a narrow spiral staircase, I fell down in the middle of the observation car. Luckily I wasn't carrying any hot liquids. I was very careful on the way back to my seat.

We got in to the New Orleans station around 3:30 pm. And got a cab to the parking garage. A few minutes later we were on our way out of the city and headed for home. We decided that since we had such an easy time getting out of New Orleans before the rush hour, we would try to drive all the way home without spending the night on the road.

We made it home with a beautiful full moon leading our way due east to Pensacola. The trip was tiring but we were glad we did it. It's probably the last chance we will have to experience what train travel was like in the U.S. for earlier generations.