I was under the 50 lb weight limit for each of my suitcases as my heaviest suitcase weighed in the low 40s. The female ticket agent still felt my suitcases were heavy and weighed each one. I am surprised she didn't put a "heavy" tag on one suitcase as she complained about its weight each time she moved it. She didn't seem to believe her own scale.
Overnight it had snowed a couple inches. The waiting platform had been plowed of snow but a railroad employee still pushed a spreader back and forth once tossing salt to melt the snow not scraped away.
The train car I was directed to had plenty of people but I still was able to get two seats to myself. Later when I walked the train length I discovered our car had the most people by far as the other cars had plenty of open pairs of seats.
After we were on our way the woman in the seat in front of mine came back to her seat and then questioned my sitting in my seat as I wasn't who she remembered sitting there. I explained the previous seat occupant got off at Minot and I got on. How she approached me about it was a little off putting.
She was different. She looked it too. She appeared to be in her mid to later 20s. It was hard to fix an age on her as her hair had been shaved off. She wasn't bald as she had very, very short hair. So short it could not be combed. Initially I thought she could be someone who lost her hair from chemo treatments then I noticed her woven rainbow belt on her blue jeans. Ahh... okay... From the card above her seat I saw her destination was Seattle.
She wore a t-shirt and wore a men's blazer over that. On one of the blazer's elbows was a patch with a saying that I never could quite read.
I then realized she was the woman I saw earlier outside on the platform who had gotten off the train to stroll around during the long stop in Minot. She had worn a cap and a long coat and was halfway juggling two balls. Another person asked her about the balls and she said she had misplaced the third ball somewhere on the train overnight.
She was sometimes kind of friendly and sometimes not. She surprised me halfway through my trip when she popped up from her seat and offered me a loan of a magazine she was reading, Discover magazine's special issue on the brain. She said she liked the pictures. I read a number of the articles.
Later a guy who looked like he could be a Mormon missionary stopped by to talk with her and sat down in the empty seat next to her. They were an odd pair but then on long train trips one has a chance to meet and talk with people they wouldn't normal interact with.
The very young woman across the aisle from me mainly slept or listened to her ipod before she got off at Havre, MT. In the row behind her was a tall attractive woman from Rochester, MN on her way to Shelby, MT then Helena. She was traveling with her cute young (4 ish) daughter. The daughter was very well behaved while still possessing a personality.
The woman from Rochester used to live in Helena and for the past 7 years lived in Rochester while going to school at the Mayo Clinic to get her degree in Biomedical research. She only had her final paper to write before graduating and was traveling back home to get child care so she could concentrate on writing her paper to get it done quicker. She didn't have much enthusiasm for writing the paper but was looking to finish it as she wanted to graduate and be done with school.
Her husband already had moved to Salt City for his job with a church. Once she graduated she would join him and planned to work for a university doing research.
As I had lived in Rochester up unto about the time she had moved there we spent time talking about how Rochester is now. She is looking forward to moving from Rochester as she finds it to be depressing, especially in Winter. 'Too cloudy!' she said. But then this is a woman who grew up on the east side of the mountains in Montana where the sun shines a lot.
She also felt Rochester is still the bland place I remember what with the lack of activities and culture. Most people go home after work in order to go to bed early in order to get up early the next day to work. She was pleased that a few new restaurants had opened to provide a little more diversity in food varieties since she moved there.
At Shelby I helped her carry off her luggage as Shelby is a quick 'on and off' stop. She still had a two and a half hour drive in her rental car in the dark before she got to her mother's house in Helena.
The train was a little over an hour late into Whitefish. Even then we had gained time as we were over an a hour and a half late leaving Havre, MT after a shorter than usual stop there. I barely had time to check out the Havre train station and walk the length of the train before the conductor yelled, "All aboard!"
Jan was at the train station and gave me a ride home. I unpacked a few things before going to bed. I was pleased to find that my furnace had been working while I was gone. As I heat the house mainly using a wood stove, and use the stove sparingly, sometimes I wonder if the furnace's thermostat will work correctly or if the pilot light will get blown out on our infrequent windy periods.
The weather here has the promise of Spring in the air unlike North Dakota which was solidly still in winter. Here in Montana the temperature is above freezing and one can start to smell the early signs of Spring.
There is less snow here in Montana and I can see melted areas where the sun has done its work in conjunction with trees, fences and other objects that absorb heat. I notice that pine trees with larger rain shadows have larger areas east/south/west of the trees that are free of snow than trees with narrower rain shadows.
Photo 1: remnants of a power line pole in the snow. I noticed the railroad's power poles were mostly gone or laying down on the ground.
Photo 2: abandoned building in the middle of nowhere in North Dakota.
Photo 3: cattle herd in the middle of nowhere in North Dakota.
Sample photos of the snow in North Dakota.
Williston, North Dakota skyline. How flat it is!
Two men waiting for women. Contrasts. One man met a woman and she ended up following him to the car while carrying her luggage as he walked with his hands in his pockets. The other man affectionately greeted a woman, carried her luggage, and opened her car door for her.
Missouri breaks in Montana.
Church in the middle of nowhere in eastern Montana.
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