By Riley Hunter –
RECAP PART ONE: Suddenly everything went pitch black, I had my bearings with my feet on the floor but it felt as if I was floating through the night. I could hear the voices, see silhouettes of people, but I could see absolutely nothing out the windows. That’s when my mind went to … are we in a time-traveling tunnel?
After the train exited the tunnel I noticed 3 passengers playing dice and laughing loudly in the booths. Another passenger is across the aisle, a bit older gentleman, and he asks why I am taking pictures. We strike up a conversation about where we are from and he is from California and just getting back from North Carolina. He and his wife are riders in the sleeping cabins. He came up to this deck to let her take a nap. They ride the train often, but it’s their first time in the sleeping cabins. He joyfully proclaims they will never go back to regular seats again with just how long the train ride is for them. They only have a few times they depart to get on different connecting trains and the layovers are very short. His face lit up talking about how beautiful it is to see the countryside this way and he highly suggests it for everyone who likes to have space to move about. He’s met so many great people along the way and even in the days of COVID, he feels more safe riding a train. Being from California he had never been to such cold temperatures before but my thoughts went to “I’m not even using a jacket and there is no snow on the ground, this isn’t cold at all.” That’s when the men who were playing dice started joining in our conversation. One man eagerly smiled and proclaimed his excitement to be bringing his son a 1988 model train while traveling by train. He said his son is a huge fan of trains and being away from him for a little while now he hopes he will like it. One was coming from North Dakota and the other from Kentucky who was looking for a new opportunity in northern Wisconsin. This just reminded me just how long they had been on the train and how some are trying to run from where they were and others returning home. As they called for individuals to come to the food cart for lunch all the men said goodbye and went on their way to get food.
I sat down and watched as these quaint little homes and trees rushed past. The ponds or marshlands were frozen over and yet the wildlife of birds, cranes, ducks, turkeys, and even deer were present. The birds have nestled into the marshes and yet the skeletal remains of the past seen in the land of rolling hills, the colorful layering of rock sedimented cliffs near the river’s edges, the train tunnels we went through, old churches, farms, and businesses that haven’t been updated in years, as if time has stood still. This was the best way to see how nature and humanity have knit themselves in between one another and continued to conserve the land so that we can preserve their habitats and survive together to form what we call the Driftless today.
Each small stop along the way had much smaller train depots than the one I left but seemed a bit more modern in appearance. Each time we slowed down the overhead announcement was that no one was to get off, not even for a smoke break or they risked the train leaving them behind. She reminded passengers that smoking on the train, not even “wacky tobacky” or vaporizers were allowed to be consumed on the train. I laughed at the thought that anyone would think it was “ok” to smoke on a train but it was clear by the smell of some train cars that the reminders weren’t being adhered to.
My focus was once again on staring out the abundance of windows. I had never realized how many old drive-in ice cream shops, old gas station signs, feed mills, and even church steeples preserve our history and culture here. The American pride on most farms with the American flags flapping in the wind or bolstered to the sides of buildings or even hanging on grain elevators reminds you just how small the towns we were going through but also how united we are throughout our country.
It’s now been about an hour and 15 mins into my train ride and suddenly the windows are plastered with dripping wet drops that quickly start to build up to snow. It was so sudden that I was almost in awe at the drastic changes in the landscape as if we were thrust into a whole new world or time again. I think to myself we are headed south right? The South usually dictates warmer weather, right? I laugh and realize that La Crosse has been protected by its bluffs but this quite literally felt like a whole new world out there. With a foot of snow built up on ledges and it became very hard to see anything outside. So, I decided to return to my regular seat.
The tree branches lit up with the sparkling white powder and I noticed people who were once sleeping waking up to shut their shades that hadn’t before. As things were much quieter in this area of the train, if you listen hard enough you can hear the faint cry of the train whistle as it comes near where the roads meet the train tracks, and it’s notifying those who live there locally to beware that the road isn’t safe for crossing as the train whisks through this now winter wonderland. That’s when I saw a fire on the train tracks while we were stopped and felt I needed to tell someone.
I frantically made my way to the dining car and found an attendant to show him the picture I took and warn him to tell someone. He snickered a bit and then said thank you so much for caring and worrying but let me explain. Over time we learned at the connection points the tracks would freeze together and men would have to go out and risk their lives to get them unfrozen before a train was rushing towards them for the train to switch the tracks. They now do control burns at those points to keep them from freezing and it has stopped men from having to do such things. As I felt extremely stupid and at the same time grateful to learn something new, we have many of these switch stations points in La Crosse and I had never seen this before. I stopped to check out the menu and what they offered on the dining cart since I was there. Lunch had already passed but it had an old mom-and-pop diner look and atmosphere. I thanked him for his time and the education had given me and proceeded back to the seat.
The rush of anxiety over the whole situation still was debilitating me and I realized I didn’t recognize just how many cars I went through to get to someone and now felt disoriented. I quickly reassured myself that if I just keep going through the cars, I will eventually reach my seat. As the next door slid open, I could smell the “wacky tobacky” and watched as a few men sat straight up in their chairs. The car was way too bright and I hadn’t smelled that going to the dining car, so that’s when I knew I needed to turn back around. It’s crazy how our senses are still engaged even when we are in the midst of our hurrying about.
I found my seat and sat back down and threw in my earbuds and my music shuffled to Kane Brown and Brooks and Dunn’s version of “I Believe.” This song talks about an old man Wrigley who’s living down the street and how a young man’s mom sends her son over with things for him. He reminisces with him about the past and being in the war, having lost his wife and baby, and small-town living! Suddenly a song has me drawn back into the landscape and wondering what this small-town life was like at each stop and admires the beauty in the simplicity of the small cities. Believing and recognizing our history brings our past to our future so that we learn to grow and not make the same mistakes we once have.
I noticed a white building, with dark brick arched windows hanging off the side as if it was cut into the river’s cliff edge. The intertwining of landscape with the building was quite the grand entrance to the Wisconsin Dells region as we slowed once again for another stop. I was surprised to realize how quickly people get on and get off. The efficiency of this process, the spaciousness of the seats, the friendly people even amid a pandemic, and sprinkle in the modern amenities such as plugging in your phone or laptop right underneath the window, being able to get up and move from train car to train car, the fact someone else is driving, and you can pop in some earbuds enjoy the beauty of the landscape and the history is beyond any plane or car travel.
It’s a way to let the mind’s creativity time travel, the body to relax, as well as a way that grounds us to the present, which for me was the perfect way to view just a small portion of the Driftless region in areas we often don’t get to see.