aboard the texas eagle

on the train from chicago to austin, i ate dinner in the dining car with ed, a fellow traveler.  ed worked as a waiter on the texas eagle for 27 years, beginning in 1978. he served three meals a day between san antonio and chicago and loved his job so much he wanted to do it for the rest of his life, but his knees told him it was time to quit.  at the beginning of every round-trip route, he would get a 16-slice key lime pie from the train's kitchen and eat the whole thing by the time he got home to san antonio.  

the train stopped in 

normal

 and

 st. louis.

 

i slept through little rock.

then we passed through crawford

and arrived, only slightly delayed, in austin.