I HATE TRAINS!

When I was little, I loved trains! I loved to count the cars. I loved to look for the caboose (which many don't have any more), I loved to imagine what the train might be hauling, I even loved reading the graffiti that was usually painted on the sides! But not so much anymore!

When we lived in Nebraska you could set your watch by the trains. They were always coming and going and if you didn't time your trip to town just right, you'd be delayed by a train!

Then we moved here - and there are trains - but not like Nebraska and that made me smile!

Fast forward to TODAY! I had to take M to school and every route has to cross a train track. No big deal! We were in the truck - on our way - down our normal route and guess what, the arms on the train track crossing come down. I'm not worried though - we are about 10 min. ahead of schedule just for little mishaps like this. I was the first vehicle in line... YAY - I get to see the train pass and so does L and M and we can count cars - fun! So we wait for the train. And we wait. And wait. Still waiting......

15 minutes into waiting one of the front runner trains goes speeding by... probably carrying a bunch of people to SLC to work ... and they will be on time. But not us... we are now late for school and the arms to the crossing are still down and there is still no train... we are waiting!

Of course I can't turn around and go anywhere - I'm the first vehicle and everyone is piled up right behind me thinking that sitting on my bumper is going to make us move faster!

So we wait.

Around 25 minutes the truck behind me finally gets enough room to move and turn around, so I followed suit! Man the line of cars was so long but I was happy to be moving in another direction and hoping that the next crossing was clear. We drove along for 5 minutes and came up to the next place to cross and guess what - the arms were down there too - and NO TRAIN!! UGH.... but I didn't wait this time - we turned around (again) and headed to the next spot and it was clear! YAY... now poor M is 30 min. late for school and she is none too happy but I assure her that she wasn't the only one and when we arrived I saw two other cars dropping off kids that we saw in line with us!

Anyway... on the way home I thought that I'd just check the regular route to see if the arms were up and NOPE - there were still people waiting! So I went back the way I came. What should have taken me 15 minutes round trip took me almost an hour... seriously, I think I'll send the railroad a bill for the gas that was wasted in my truck!! What a morning!