Institutionalized: 1940

Heading Home from California / At Home

Our tickets were verified once we into the train station. Our train will arrive in a half an hour, so it gives us plenty of time to get to the track and wait for our train. While we were waiting for our train, we ate a little breakfast. It is a long train ride home, 21 hours. By the time we arrive in Vancouver, it will be early the next morning. Once we were done eating breakfast, there was an announcement saying our train will be arriving in ten minutes. We thought it was a good time to head over to the track and wait for the train. We wanted to make sure we had a good seat on our long ride home.

Once the train arrived, we borded and found seats near a window. Once all the passengers were borded, the clerk went arround to see our tickets. He also informed us about the border officer when we are at the border between Canada and the USA. After that, there was an announcement over the PA by the conductor telling this train stops in Portland, Oregon before continuing to the final destination Vancouver, BC. We know the trip from Los Angeles to Portland would take fifteen hours. We will be served meals in that time. Lunch will be served and dinner as well.

I told Greg that I might have to go to the hospital when returning home because I am still quite sore. I do not think this pain will go away by the time we return to Vancouver in twenty one hours. I was in that much pain still. I was glad to be sitting for a longtime to relax my sore hips.

After a few hours, it was time for lunch. A cart is coming around with sandwiches and packages of crackers and cheese. I wanted crackers and cheese. Greg got a sandwich. We ate our light lunch. It was light for us , as we had pizza for luch the last three days we spent at Auto Club Speedway. There was also a cart with apples on it. I asked Greg to get me one because I had not had a lot of fruit the week we were in Fontana. We only had fruit at breakfast at the hotel. I was glad to have an apple. After lunch, we decided to look out the window and look at the scenary. It was beautiful as when we were coming to California. After a few moments looking out the window, the movement of the train made us sleepy. We decided to have a nap. We need to be rested for when we arrive in Vancouver.

After a few hours, we woke up to someone asking us if we wanted a snack before dinner was served in a few hours. He was offering fruit. I asked for an apple. It is one of the only fruits that easy enough for me to eat because I can eat it holding it with one hand.

A few hours after that, dinner was served. The options for dinner were chicken or beef. Greg and I chose the chicken. The chicken came with vegetables. After dinner, dessert was being offered. Dessert was little cakes of all different flavours. After dessert, we looked at the scenery for a bit. After a while, we decided to try to get some sleep as wewould arrive in Vancouver early the next morning. Greg helped me to the sleeper car. Before we went to bed, a clerk told us that we would be stopping in Portland at midnight. We informed him that headed to Vancouver. We asked him to us before we crossed the border as we needed to show our documentation to the border officer. He told us that he would be happy to. He wished us a good sleep. We went to bed at nine o'clock at night. Greg and I wanted to get as much sleep as we could as we were going to get woken up early to ready to arrive in Vancouver. We hoped that Ric would remember to pick us up from the train station. He would have to get up early as we would arrive in Vancouver at six o'clock in the morning because we left Los Angeles, California at nine o'clock this morning.

We were fast asleep when I woke up abruptly by a knock at the door. I got up and opened the door. It was the train worker and the border officer. The border officer asked to see mine and Greg's documentation saying we are Canadian. I got them out of my purse to show the officer . He looked at them and everything was in order. I could go back to sleep for another hour.

An hour later, I heard a knbck at the door. I hobble to the door. I opened the door . It was the train worker telling us that we should wake up because we would arrive in Vancouver in two hours. I thanked him and woke Greg up. We got our things organized to arrive in Vancouver and go home. Greg noticed I was hobbling around. I was limping again. He told me that once we get home we can relax and see if my limp would go away. If it does not, he said that he would take me to the hospital because his concern was that I had an underline problem.