08 October 2005

Good morning America how are you?

    I'll be gone five hundred miles when the day is done
      "City of New Orleans"
      by Steve Goodman

Amtrak resumed rail service to New Orleans today. Two trains are back running.

The first is the City of New Orleans, which runs between New Orleans and Chicago, and was made famous by the Steve Goodman song of the same.

The second is more special to me, though. It's the Crescent. One cold February afternoon at the Trenton station, some thirty hours after getting married, Sharon and I boarded the Crescent to take us to our honeymoon in New Orleans. The stay in New Orleans was wonderful, and as wonderful was the trip there on the Crescent. Sometimes, in NY Penn station, I hear them announce the departure of the Crescent, and I smile at the memories of some of the best days of my life.

I'm glad it's going again.

1 comment:

Rob S. said...

Holy cow. And here I thought that was my favorite Arlo Guthrie song (since I've heard him sing it more than anyone else).

Actually, he sang it at the Philadelphia Folk Festival, just as Katrina was moving toward New Orleans. It might have been the last time that song was sung without the knowledge of what was to come.