Autumn Train to Appomattox, VA

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November 3, 2012 - We picked up our tickets at the Greensboro Amtrak Depot after 7am. The train was expected at 8am and to depart at 8:15am. I think it was about 15 minutes late. The volunteers in Greensboro were very well organized. They had people directing traffic for parking on arrival. They had a table set up right inside the main entrance of the depot for handing out tickets and t-shirts that had been pre-ordered. They had a big section of lobby seating set aside for our group. We never heard any numbers but there must have been 200 to 300 people boarding in Greensboro alone. Things fell apart a little at actual boarding time but it all turned out OK, I think.

This was NCTM's first trip to Appomattox, so hopefully if they go again they'll do an even better job. We traveled on 3 different sets of tracks today. We started traveling on the Crescent Line, which is normally only used for night-time travel. So, this was a rare opportunity for a daylight trip on it. We switched to the Norfolk Southern's Virginian Line near Lynchburg and finally to the Lynchburg Belt Line at Phoebe.

We arrived in Appomattox about noon and we departed about 3pm. Again, boarding time was a bit disorganized and we stood in line as directed for about half an hour before following others examples and just breaking for car 7. Then we got right on. With only 3 hours scheduled to spend on the ground, that amount of time in a reboarding line is just unreasonable. I am not sure what the problems were or how they could improve the process and crowd directions.

You could get lunch onboard from a limited menu at the Commissary Car, or you could preorder a $15 box lunch of chicken salad croissant in a souvenir insulated lunch bag, or you could do what we and many others did and pack a small cooler with your own food and drinks. We had yogurt, string cheese, drinks, and Jello pudding dirt cups (for Clay's birthday!). We also had protein bars and almonds. There really wasn't time to eat lunch in Appomattox and see anything else. So, most everyone in our car ate lunch after we switched to the very low speed Lynchburg Belt Line for the last 16 miles or so. This was true whether they brought their own, bought their own, or had their preordered lunch delivered to their seat. We ate again from our supply on the ride back too.

We had beautiful weather this weekend. It was sunny and the air was cool and crisp with a slight breeze. We were worried the the winds of Hurricane Sandy would have blown off all the leaves as it did in Raleigh, but there was still some color in the trees. That was nice and scenic.

In Appomattox, we got a ride on one of the first 6 school buses. They were running a continuous loop from downtown to the National Park, then to the Museum of the Confederacy and back to downtown. They really needed to mix it up because there was a crazy long line at the museum and the buses were full on arrival there. But, we wound up spending a pleasant couple of hours at the National Park. I enjoyed it much more than any of the previous battlegrounds we have visited. This was a small rural historic village. You could see almost the whole thing from any point without driving around it. You could go inside at least half of the buildings. It was very scenic and informative.

We enjoyed our visit to Appomattox. As I said earlier, if NCTM offers this same trip again next year, we would repeat it and go to the museum instead. We saw people that spent their whole 2 hours at the museum, so that is an option.

We got back to Greensboro around 6:35-6:40pm, so close to on schedule. They had to move the train to unload the tourist class. So, we didn't actually set foot back in Greensboro until about 7pm.

We had thought to have dinner at Natty Greene's Pub around the block from the depot. But, there were street closures and when we finally arrived there, it was a madhouse of throngs of people and streams of traffic. There would have been no where to park and we'd have never gotten in. I don't know what was happening there that night, but we passed. Clay was still craving a hot dog from Yum Yum. So we drove there only to find it closed for the night and UNCG having homecoming. Third time was the charm as we had seen a Mexican restaurant, San Luis, right at the intersection of Lee and Aycock Streets last night. We went and found parking, seats and some tasty Mexican food. Clay even had a cold beer! Still sad about missing those hot dogs but it was a good meal. No complaints. I couldn't finish all 3 of my enchiladas, so Clay got the last one to go and used the refrigerator and microwave to have it in the room for an early breakfast on Sunday. We didn't have any dessert tonight. Just went back to the Super 8 to our room and to bed.

We slept through the night and I mean all night even with the time change meaning we slept an extra hour!

There's not much more to say, so rather than start a new entry for Sunday, I'll just continue here. We got up and skipped the continental breakfast at the Super 8 today. I guess I should talk about it. They had apple and orange juice, coffee, hot tea and hot water, milk, hot cereal, cold cereal, toast and butter only, cinnamon buns with and without nuts. I think that was about it. We did have it yesterday morning before stopping at Bojangles! We had takeout biscuits at the depot while waiting yesterday that I think I forgot to write about. Bojangles was on Eugene St. between the Super 8 and Amtrak, so very convenient. Today, we were hoping for a big sit down breakfast to kill time while we waited for Sports Authority to open at 9am. We wound up at Jake's Diner on Wendover because it was near Sports Authority. It was fine. We both had 2 egg breakfasts with meat, grits and biscuits. I think it was less than $10 for the whole thing. No complaints. Except, it was not a killing time, linger over your meal place and we still had an hour or so to kill before 9am. We found an open WalMart and wandered in there. Bought a cable Clay has been looking for, bought 2 new bathroom rugs. Found an idea for another Christmas gift for Mom! So, an hour well spent.

What you may ask is up with the 9am opening of Sports Authority. Therein lies a tale...  Last year around this time I won a $100 gift card in a Deer Park Water website promotion. I didn't receive the actual gift card until maybe February. We don't have a Sports Authority in Raleigh, in fact Greensboro is the closest one. There is also one near Mom's house in Florida but we weren't sure how long the card would be good. Then, there is our trip to Churchill Manitoba next week... I had outgrown all my boots and needed some. Online, SA has a good selection of snow or winter boots at a $30 or so price point, hence our anticipation for 9am. Debbie needs free boots. Unfortunately, I cannot recommend the Sports Authority in Greensboro, since I've never been to any other I don't know if I can recommend them at all. They did not carry winter or snow boots. The help, other than Arthur in the shoe department, were useless and no help at all. They did not know anything about their products, where to find things in the store or what they carried onsite or online. Clay and I cannot remember when we last worked so hard to spend $100 and enjoyed it so little. But, I did end up with a pair of Columbia women's waterproof hiking boots, and I hope they will work for our polar bear adventure, a larger pair of waterproof pants (my feet weren't all that grew!), 2 pair of sticky pad gloves, a pair of 8 lb. dumbbells for Clay and 4 metal skewers (don't ask). We still had about $2 left on the card but we couldn't take anymore, Sports Authority can keep it!

Then we drove towards Raleigh. But, there was one more freebie to collect. If you read here, you know that we are ADF season ticket holders. I had cut out of one of the programs this summer an ad from the Nasher Museum that you could get free admission with an ADF ticket. So, we detoured through Durham and had a quick look. It is a beautiful building and a small and interesting collection. Glad we saw it free! Then we went to Mad Hatter and had sandwiches for lunch. Clay got a chocolate whopper cookie too. Then we drove on home and unpacked.

It was a good trip for Clay's birthday present. He ended up with 4 t-shirts.

Next up is Polar Bear Adventure in Churchill Manitoba. Now, I know that technically you cannot take a road trip to Churchill because there are no roads to there, but since it is only a week in North America I am going to just include it in this blog and not make a free-standing one for this short trip. Short, but a big and expensive trip that has been on my bucket list for a long time! Stay tuned.

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