New Orleans to Hartford

Finally got to sleep about 12:30 am. A 7:20 am train made for a short night and I was back at the train station at about 6:45. Bought two cokes in the station for $1.75 each as there are no Coca-Cola products sold on Amtrak trains.

We left New Orleans on train 20 right on time at 7:20 am. No time to get breakfast so I was pleased to learn that the diner will be open later for breakfast. As we move out of New Orleans the Katrina damage and effects are still very much in evidence with boarded up homes or trailers parked in the front yard. Many homes have been restored however and look almost new.

We made our way north to the shore of Lake Ponchartrain and headed east at 80 mph. Eventually we turned more north and crossed the eastern neck of Ponchartrain and arrived at Slidell on time. We crossed the Pearl river into Mississippi and stopped at Picayune on-time. Next arrived Hattiesburg, MS at 9:40, still on time. For some reason I'm intrigued by that name and will have to look it up when I have a chance. Arrived Laurel, MS on time. At Meridian we had a "smoking break" which I usually take advantage of to stretch my legs and take pictures. We changed train crews here and said goodbye to Conductor Tommy Wood.

We reached Meridian, MS on time. They have a very nice station there, much larger that you would expect. A number of years ago, the Meridian mayor was very prominent in Amtrak advocacy. Amount other things he proposed a passenger route that would go due west from Meridian and connect to Dallas. It would have taken a lot of money to upgrade the track and signal system and nothing came of it. Don't know what happened to the mayor.



I'm riding in an Amtrak Viewliner car for the first time. The name Viewliner comes from the fact that the upper bunk has it's own window therefore it's own view, a feature not found on the older Superliners. I may sleep in the upper bunk tonight, just to try it out. Another feature of the Viewliner bedroom is an in-room toilet. It's very convenient with just one person in the room, I don't know how you would work things out if there were two people who were not VERY good friends. A side effect of the toilet is that one of the two facing seats is rather narrow. I my case, that is also the seat facing forward so it's a little cramped.

We are deep in the land of Kudzu now. Kudzu is a large leaf vine that was imported by the railroads many years ago to help hold the soil on earth fills and cuts. Like many foreign species, it found things to it's liking and soon began to spread. It can be founds miles from any railroad now. It is not a parasite but it can climb and cover a tree until it blocks enough light to kill the tree. Anytime you see a tree in this area that seems to have exceptionally luxurious foliage, especially along the trunk, it's likely Kudzu you see.

Just went through Cuba, AL. I would guess the population at about 50. Sometimes I wonder how people decide to name their towns. (Well I was wrong ... just looked it up and Cuba had a population in 2000 of 363.)

The forest we are passing through, combined with the Kudzu I assume, is playing havoc with my GPS. Excessive foliage can make it difficult for a GPS to get a good fix and especially when the GPS is traveling at a high speed. The trees here grow right up next to the right-of-way and are quite tall. The current location of the GPS satellites can make a difference also so I guess there are too many of them east and south of me right now. Hanging from a suction cup hook on the window of my compartment, my GPS can only "see" well to the north and west. Sometimes it is able to maintain a 2-D fix, meaning it can calculate latitude and longitude but not altitude and other times it is fooled into miscalculating the 2-D fix and shows the position way off the railroad track on the map. As we come into a clear area and it gets a good fix, the little yellow 2-D arrow will suddenly turn green and snap back onto the correct path.

Lunch was a tasty pepperoni pizza and even though we were no longer in Mississippi I had the Mississippi Mud Pie for desert.

We have been on time mostly but are slowly starting to fall behind. We waited quite some time south of Tuscloosa, AL and finaly started again after meeting Amtrak 19, the south bound version of this train. Had we been on time, we would have been in and out of Tuscaloosa before 19 got there.

Twenty minutes late out of Birmingham.

Departed Anniston 4:59, 42 min late. Interesting depot, looks like it once served two railroads right at a sharp junction of the two lines. Depot is being restored.

The Atlanta depot is out in the suburbs rather than downtown, a place called Brookwood Station, which is underneath I-85. I went into the depot to look for some Coca-Cola and when I came back out, the folks waiting to get on decided to follow. A very stern station announcer stopped them but I ignored him and kept going. I think a lot of people were consternated.<G> BTW, in the national headquarters town of Coca-Cola there were no Cokes available in the depot. Departed Atlanta at 9:30 EDT, 1 hour and 9 m late. I have a two hour connection in Washington so I am a bit concerned.Departed Gainsville, GA at 10:31, 1 hr 15 m late. Time to go to bed and see what the morning brings.