A Marathon 26 hours on the Texas Eagle

 

At some point the train stopped speeding through the night, the rocking motion stopped, and I came around from sleep of sorts. Sleep never my strong point, wore my watch last night, going to do that more often to see what I'm getting. 1,5 hrs REM last night, 5 hrs light was the data, something to build on there, although sleep not just something one can 'do' ?

Naively I thought the train had stopped as part of its routine, pulled up on a siding for a nap so to speak.  It was dark and I could see we were just south of Little Rock (Clinton territory) in Arkansas on google maps.  In my head it was like an episode of Thomas and Friends, and he was having a chat with Gordon et al I reckon after much more time out here I can apply for a job as the fat controller.

Popped into the breakfast / dining carriage to demonstrate that nutrition, like sleep, something that also needs a look at. But the choices were limited, I chose the continental breakfast which felt like the best of a bad bunch but it did involved a stodgy bagel and some cereal ... but an orange juice was good right?

Watched the world not go by for a while but the sun came up and we were on our way. We still felt quite far from Dallas when I looked at the overall Chicago to Dallas map and the 2-3 hrs I felt were left seemed ambitious. But innocently went back to the cabin and read for a while before I decided to download the AMTRAK app and found we were 5 hrs behind schedule! So 21 hrs became 26! And trains don't sleep!

Finished off my book on late life running, a inspirational read in current circumstances and room for improvement for all with the right mindset and process. The hotspot continued to prove to be a welcome extra to do blogs and as ever the window was my entertainment system

They provided as an extra meal which was the first sign something official  on board acknowledged delay although we later found out AMTRAK has been sending messages to Chrissis phone (spoiler alert) A hot dog and  chips (crisps) and a butter cake put a bullet straight through my plans for health but you don't turn down free food is a mantra that has got me this far in life.

The last hour or two were a little less exciting as we followed the dot on google maps and a 30 minute stop outside Dallas, so near and yet so far. But then it was a disembark into the hot Texan sun, and a 1 mile walk to our hotel felt like a good leg stretch, albeit we both had 3 bags and it was quite a sweaty wander along a few sidewalks and passed some interesting art and sculpture, in particular Pioneer Plaza.

Out hotel the Lorenzo was quite artsy and felt like we were in a modern conference. arts, concrete area, but having checked in and checked with the guy at the desk a large brown package was presented to Chrissi and she couldn't wait to rip it open, Xmas day style.  After 4 days, and many, many miles for both the phone (and us) (different miles) it was back in her hands.. Yee Ha, rodeo style.

Decided to continue to stretch legs and use the hotel facilities, a lovely a/c gym with a treadmill to knock out an easy 5K, legs not tired at all ... ffs.  And then an outdoor pool for a few mins to cool off and pretend I can swim. Lessons booked for next year already in Lanzarote as I try and add swimming to the exercise approach.  Also be joining some of the loons down in Caerwent went I get back to do some strength and conditioning. Writing all this in the blog kind of holds me to account.

After a shower we wanted to see Dallas by night and walked due north from our hotel into the city ccentre. The streets felt very eerily quiet but was a little bit more action as we approached the AT&T discovery district with lots of sports bars and some street sport of sorts with Red Bull having some go karting.

Kept our wandering, each block seemed to feel safe then unsafe, light then dark, not clear what we were doing, but our route took us to Clyde Warren park which was an A.I/Google recommended activity.  The park itself was infact a lovely little oasis of tree lights, games, restaurants and calm.  We stopped and had a game of Connect 4.

Our final stop of the day was at a classy restaurant called Mexican Sugar, Chrissi had been hankering after some Mexican food. Wary of previous Mexican experiences of being bloated before the main course we took the salsa and dips and went straight to mains, chicken enchiladas for me (with guacamole, fried beans and various spices), an an raay of similar accompaniments for vegetable fajitas for Chrissi.  A lovely spiced but fresh sangria complemented well, smart place.

We ordered an uber as my legs couldn't face 2 more miles in unknown territory, a lovely driver called Sheila gave us a few more insights as to Dallas. A big Cowboys fan and pointed out the sparkling fair lights in the distance for us to visit on the weekend maybe...