"On the road again, I just can't wait to get on the road again".

Yeah, Willie Nelson at his best. Well, I'm on the road again, but I'm going to fill in the verse with:

"On the auto train, I just can't wait to get on the auto train".

I was thinking about this auto train ride. When I was about 10 years old or so, my neighbor in North Bergen used to take his family to Florida on the auto train. That would be around 1964! Now, I'm not really sure if these are the same trains from then, but some of them appear to be aged.

We rented in East Naples this time around, and the house was on a big circle. When we came off the main road, you had to make a right and another right and make our way around the block. About the third house in on the left side of the route home, there is a guy. No, he's not my guy. He is the neighborhood guy. Larry.

Larry has four chairs outside his house, and he is there almost all the time. So, one day I decided to stop and say hello. Turns out Larry is from Pennsylvania, but also lives in Florida. At the house on the left.

Also, he knew Mahwah, NJ, because when he was young, he worked at the Ford plant that was on the property of the Sheraton.

Anyway, Larry is a big guy, and we got to talking about the auto train, which he uses. The auto train has different types of arrangements for traveling. A coach seat, a roomette, tight, but you have a bed. A one-room, which is bigger and comes with a bed, toilet, and shower. This is the best, but they get taken quickly, and they are pricey.

All those options are upstairs. Or you can get a family room, which is downstairs, fits a family of four, but the shower and toilet are outside the room, so basically, the roomette people can use it if you don't mind the stairs.

While talking to Larry, he said that because of his size, he gets the family room for himself. That is the way to go. We were talking about the ride in general, and he mentioned that last year, the room he was in was reupholstered with new leather. I can't for the life of me think it is leather, though. I'm thinking the famous leatherette!

Maybe, when I board the train today, I might be getting a whiff of some new leather seats!

Be safe.

John A. Sutich

Just Another Story Blog