AMTRAK PART FIVE: Ok, so there wasn't supposed to be a part Five, but now there is. The Ride back to Seattle.

So, there isn't a lot to say about the ride back. I got to see parts of the country I'd never seen in daylight before - namely North Dakota. We went through there at night on the way out to the Midwest, so there wasn't much to see. On the way back to Seattle, though, I got to see LOTS of North Dakota. It's definitely a lonely looking place. I kind of understand why they are hemmoraging young people - there ain't much there, folks. But it is hauntingly beautiful. At least some of it is. There was a lot of fram land and some pretty badlands, and then we got to a part that was freakishly flat. Even Southern Illinois didn't look as flat as this part of the country did. I'm not sure how that is possible, but, it just looked even flatter. There were telephone poles just off the tracks a ways, and then as you looked into the horizon, you could see another line of telephone poles. Something about this was just staggering to me. There wasn't a single tree in sight anywhere - just the same brown grass everywhere as far as you could see - and the two lines of telephone poles.

My first night on the train on the way back was pretty awful. There was a movie going on in the observation car, so I took my knitting and headed back there. There was one open seat next to an older man - probably in his very late 60's or early 70's. Something about him just didn't feel right. I'm not sure what instinct in me was screaming not to sit anywhere near him, but there was definitely something there. I just knew I shouldn't sit next to him. Maybe he watched me too hard as I came into the car or something. I don't know. I can just tell you that it was one of those moments where you just KNOW something is off about someone. But I decided to override my instinct and sit there because, heck, there was a free seat. The movie was About a Boy and this was the second time I was watching it on the train - they have a VERY limited selection of movies on these trains. I do not recommend Amtrak for the cinematic merits. Anyway, I was watching, and out of the corner of my eye, I KNEW this man wanted to talk to me. Something about his body language said "look at me look at me so I can talk to you!!!" I kept my eyes trained ahead. The last time I looked at a man I knew I shouldn't look at, I had the scariest bus ride of my life in which I was screamed at and called stupid because I said "I don't know, I guess" to the question "do you believe in fortune cookies?" It's a much longer and funnier story than that, but I'm not going there tonight.

So I was looking dead-ahead at the movie, and finally it got to a boring part, so I was looking at my knitting and this old man next to me started talking to me since I wasn't staring at the screen. I gave him a pained look and answered a few of his questions VERY briefly - stuff like where are you going, where are you coming from, what do you do for a living? I made it clear I didn't want to talk and kept staring at the screen after I answered his questions. And he kept staring at me. I knew he was looking for another opportunity to talk. And you see, I am a nice girl. I don't act rudely towards anyone unless I REALLY have to. You could beat me over the head with a stick, and I'd still smile politely. Anyway, the movie ended and I started to get up, but he grabbed my arm and asked me to stay and talk a little. So I did. And every time I answered one of his questions, he'd grab me around my shoulders and pull me close to him and ask me to repeat myself as if he hadn't heard me (he had, I know he had, he just liked to pull me close to him over and over again). Finally, I asked him about his family and stuff hoping that thinking of his daughters or wife or whatever would make him behave himself better - I asked him if he had any family in Seattle - which was where he was going - and he grabbed me around the shoulders and whispered into my ear "Not unless you want to be my family, sweetheart!" I decided that it was time to go get a soda or get the hell out of there, so I excused myself and went down to the snack bar to get a soda and get the fuck away from him. He followed me down about a minute later. I politely answered a few more of his questions and then he asked me if I wanted to get breakfast with him the next day. I said, no, probably not, thanks. Then I headed back to my seat. He found me again a few minutes later and offered again to have breakfast with me. I smiled politely and went back to my book (The Lovely Bones). Speaking of the Lovely Bones ( a lovely book at that ) the "bad guy" in the book who kills these young women is named George (I didn't give anything away - you find that out on the first page) and this guy's name was George too. So I began to think that the whole book was based on this creepy creepy man who kept touching me. Oh yeah, and at my seat, he tried to hug me - basically he put me in a head lock as I tried to duck out of his reach.

So I went to sleep, glad to be rid of him and determined not to be in the dining car for breakfast period. At 6AM, first call for breakfast, good ol' George came out into my car and I awoke to him tapping my leg and asking me if I wanted breakfast. I was instantly wide awake, but played groggy and kept saying "No." because I was too tired. Then he grabbed my face. That was it. I was PISSED. I slapped his hand off of me and told him I didn't want breakfast, and to leave me alone. Then he tried to push my feet off the seat so he could sit with me, and finally, when I wouldn't budge, he left. I spent the rest of the morning trying to figure out how I was going to avoid this freak on a bloody train for the next two days.

Luckily, he left me alone after that.

Creep.

The rest of the ride was pretty uneventful. It was pretty, I took pictures. And I was never so glad to see The Boy in my whole life as I was when I got off that train and away from the freaky old man.

I seem to attract old men a lot. Maybe they try to pick me up because they want to see if they still have "it" - or maybe because I look like a pathetic girl with low self esteem and I'd be an easy target. I don't know. I always feel like there's something bad about me personally when yucky men hit on me.

And so that was my Amtrak trip - I had a great time, but I was so glad to be back. I was glad to be off the train and away from that man, and I was glad to be back because it meant I could start planning for the future what with the new job and all. I was glad to see The Boy. And now, when I hear that lonely train whistle, I can think about the flat lands, the red dirt, the freezing cold, the uber-urban places, the sledding, the family and friends and all that my trip entailed. Maybe it won't be such a lonely sound anymore.