May 16, 2012, 10:20 PM

Boarding the Southwest Chief in Los Angeles this evening went smoothly.  Shortly after I finished dinner and settled into my roomette with my computer, someone knocked on the door to my room. I pushed the curtain back and saw the conductor standing there.

He said, “Are you Martha Hale?”  ”Yes,” I responded.  He proceeded to tell me that the President of Amtrak had asked him to speak with me about some of the Amtrak policies.

I said, “Oh?” not knowing exactly what to think.

“There is a reason for Amtrak’s policy not allowing coach passengers into sleeping cars,” he continued.

I stared at him with what must have been a stone-faced look. He cracked a smile, and then I began to laugh. . .  I knew he had been reading my blog!

As it turns out, he also has a blog about riding trains! We shared stories and he gave me copies of a couple of articles he has written about interesting train experiences.

Thank you, Conductor “Miles Post”! You made my day, and I loved reading your articles!

** If you’d like to check out Miles Post’s blog, here’s the url:

http://trained-dude.livejournal.com/