MY FIRST LONG TRIP!!

Now you might not consider it long in today's standards, but it was a LONG trip to me back in the 40's.

My sister had gotten married and her husband was from South Dakota. He had one year of college left, and so they moved to South Dakota to finish up his education.

I was working and decided to take a trip out to see them. This really was quite a "big thing" for me, as I had hardly been out of the state that I had lived in all my life. I was not savvy on knowing my way around large cities and transferring from one station to another in Chicago. There was a train that I could have taken that transferred to another train out in no-where and it would have gotten me there so much faster. Since I was new at this, I opted for the slow train that went directly to the city I was headed for. BIG MISTAKE!!!! This train had to have been a castaway from the pioneer days of long ago. The seats were straight up and down and moved back and forth to which way you wanted to face. (Just like the John Wayne movies). Not only that, it stopped to pick up and let off milk or whatever else they wanted to carry from town to town along the way. They sat in the small towns about ten minutes to unload/load. We no more got started and there was another small town ahead that they stopped at. Frustrating to say the least.

When I got to Chicago, I was to take a Parmalee to Union Station and get my connections with this train. Dearborn Station was such a busy station and taxi's, Parmolee's were lined up and everyone wanted to transfer you over to your next destination. They were ushering all the people they could into there cab/or whatever. I asked the driver of this vehicle if this was the Parmalee? He quickly said, "yes", and I got in for the ride to Union Station. I had no more got out and about a block away I saw a clock registering the miles. In my mind, I knew that the Parmalee was free with the ticket I had purchased. I then asked him again, "Is this a Parmalee?" He said, "No Mam". I quickly informed him that he acknowledged that it was, and to let me off right now! I proceeded to walk back to the station and got the right transportation to Union Station. I quickly found out that I was not in Kansas no longer, and had to be aware of what I was doing.

I had a good time visiting my sister, after I finally arrived on that "S-L-O-W" train. On the way back, I didn't care how many transfers I had to make, I opted for the fasted train going. There again, I tried "fine dining" in the dining car. This I could not afford, but I wanted the experience.

I arrived back home a little wiser and with a bit of experience under my belt.

Wisdom--Because the Lord is watching over us, we don't have to fear the dangers around us.