Train 29 from Pittsburgh departure 11:59 p.m. to Chicago arrival 9:45 a.m. 

The ride could have been very romantic but it was not.  I was so cold that the temptation to spoon my 66 yr old chair neighbor, required my greatest efforts to resist.  I feared she’d wake up, try to move and find herself pinned to her chair with my legs draped over hers and my arms wrapped around her wide waist. Oh my, how she’d been a warm beast to cuddled.  The lady across the aisle tossed and turned endlessly causing a ruckus.  Again, I tried to resisted the urge to stand up, do the Curly eye-poke and a fast 5 chops to her solar plexus. She is now wide awake reading from her glaring iPad magnified to the font of 600.  I wish she was reading something interesting.  By the way, the traditionally dressed Muslims at the station were Catholics. They knew that the temperature would dropped below zero and dressed accordingly.  My eyelashes were frozen shut and I had to use the head rest napkin as a blanket for my feet. I tried like hell to fit my feet into the magazine pocket in the back of the chair in front of me but it only had enough give to fit something with width of a single defraction grading.  I didn’t bring water and everyone else has a bottle.  However, while the man behind me was sleeping I decided to take a brief stretch and do a quick sun salutation. On my forward fold, reaching for my toes, I grabbed the water bottle out of the bag he had so conveniently placed on the floor near his feet.  Inhale, sweeping arms up to the sky, with a brief pause at my lips, I chugged what turned out to be vodka. Exhale, bow back down and places the empty bottle safely back in it’s place. I’m now drunk enough to get some sleep.