Editor's Note: I know I said that I would post pictures as soon as I got to Austin, but I'm still working on getting them embedded in a nice way. I'm working on it.
I arrived in Austin yesterday, only an hour late, after trundling through North Texas forests and hills, fields and creeks flooded with stormwater. The Brazos River was swollen far beyond its banks: "the mighty Brazos", as the conductor called it, lay like a great sheet across the valley, trees and bushes emerging from the chocolatey tide. Arrival in Austin came in fits and starts as we stopped for updates from dispatch.
Temporarily stopped in Granger, TX, getting updates from dispatcher. Time since departure from Chicago: 28 hours, 10 minutes. Estimated arrival: 54 minutes from now.
— Matthew Petersen (@meptrsn) May 9, 2019
Eventually we were able to get moving again, and pulled into Austin at around 1930. W.W. picked me up, we ate some ramen, and called it a day.
The ride through Texas was pleasant - I didn't realize how green Northern Texas is, especially after a rainstorm. As we headed South from Missouri, the landscape gradually changed, dense forest and wet lowlands giving way to plains and farm fields, occasional herds of cattle visible through the gaps in the foliage lining the tracks. One of my fellow passengers identified them as Texas Longhorns. The train stopped once in a young cornfield, the stalks only about a couple feet high, the soil dark beneath the bright green leaves. Agriculture was a constant presence - fields, elevators, and freight cars were everywhere around us as we rolled through the countryside.
I'm working on getting the pictures up. I'm working on making a page with photos and captions for people to look at.