Chapter 4: Monday, July 15, 2013Monday began with six of us arriving in Florida on the Silver Meteor. Five more would join the group within the state. Then our day ended with eleven of us aboard the Silver Star headed north.
Chapter 4.0: Amtrak Silver Meteor, Train #97(14), various northern points to various Florida points (continued)By the time most of us arose for breakfast, we had traversed North Carolina and most of South Carolina overnight. We had not lost any additional time.
Breakfast on board Amtrak on our Fests is not usually done as a group unless we happen to arrive together. Since Grace and Alan would be going further south, they came to breakfast later than the 6:30 AM start time. Everyone had a good meal, although some found things to be slower than usual for an onboard breakfast routine. During our time in the diner, the train made its stop in Savannah, GA. We were 13 minutes late as we departed from there at 7:03 AM.
Jessup came at 7:58 AM, 14 minutes down. By now all of us were back in our rooms and ready for the final jog into Florida. At 8:45 AM we passed through Folkston, site of a rail junction and the southernmost town in Georgia we would pass through before entering Florida.
The next town we passed was Hilliard, FL at 8:54. Soon afterwards, the first announcements came that we were approaching Jacksonville. We said a temporary goodbye to Alan and Grace, who would be remaining onboard to Winter Park. Meanwhile, Mike, Steve, Ed, and I prepared to detrain. We arrived in Jacksonville at 9:20 AM, three minutes early thanks to this being a well padded time point.
Alan and Grace ended up displeased with the dining staff. They thought they had plenty of time to have lunch on the Silver Meteor before they would be detraining in Winter Park. However, the Lead Service Attendant (LSA) did not come around to ask what time they wanted lunch until the lunch period had already begun. The LSA was doubtful he could have them fully fed by the Winter Park stop. The sleeper attendant Bianca however said that was nonsense. She told them that they should go anyhow and get what they were entitled to. However, service was slow and disorganized, with people who had arrived after them and their seatmates having been served before them. Finally, when their destination station got too close and they still didn't have their food, they had to request that their food be prepared to go. They ended up eating the train's food inside the Winter Park station.
Chapter 4.1: In JacksonvilleKnowing we had over 13 hours in town, it was way too long to drag suitcases around. The four of us first sought to leave our larger luggage at the station. We would pick it up later before boarding the Silver Star. The baggage person was nice enough to allow us to put all of our luggage on one cart. We were charged one $5 storage fee for the group.
Jacksonville Transportation Authority (JTA) is the city's transit agency. They operate the bus system as well as the Skyway. To get between the Amtrak station and downtown, one must take either one of two bus routes. We took the
CT4 bus leaving the Amtrak station at 9:53 AM.
This was half an hour earlier than originally planned, but then we had made some new impromptu plans that would fill at least the earliest portion of the long day.
Remember that missing phone charger? Seeing on the
CT4 bus schedule that the route also serves a shopping mall, we decided to take this same bus there. It meant remaining on board after it passed the downtown hub, Rosa Parks Transit Center, and travelling east towards the ocean to the mall.
We got off the bus at the stop within the property of
Regency Square, but immediately got the feeling this was a dead mall. There were literally no cars parked on this side of the mall despite the fact it was 10:44 AM. (Later we found out that the mall is still there, but it just wasn't that busy at the time.) We instead decided to go to an AT&T Store, which could not help me with my old phone, followed by a Best Buy. The latter sold me a charger and accompanying plug, but we later found that it didn't fit my phone so it was useless. (I'd later get a full refund when I got home.) So we had killed some time, but the mission was not accomplished. It was nevertheless time to go downtown, ride the
Skyway, and have lunch.
The next bus that would take us back to downtown Jacksonville was on the
AR7 route. It left Regency Square at 11:38 AM, and got to Rosa Parks Transit Center at 12:20 PM.
Please note that since this report was initially written, JTA has revamped and renumbered its entire bus system, so the route numbers referred to here no longer exist.Chapter 4.2: JTA Skyway, Rosa Parks Transit Center to Convention CenterWe decided to further shake up our itinerary, since we were now a little later thanks to the couple of hours we managed to kill with the extra bus rides and the time we spent near Regency Square. We'd go to lunch first, and then ride the rest of the Skyway. We left Rosa Parks Transit Center at 12:23 PM. But then it began to rain heavily. Since there is a 3 block walk between the Central station and the Jacksonville Landing, we decided to remain on board and ride the Convention Center leg of the system first, as planned. We got to the latter at 12:30 PM, and remained on board.
Chapter 4.3: JTA Skyway, Convention Center to CentralAlmost immediately, the Skyway car left Convention Center headed back the other way. This time when we got to Central, the rain had let up, so we detrained at 12:33 PM and went to get lunch.
Chapter 4.4: Lunch in JacksonvilleAs planned, we had lunch at the
Jacksonville Landing food court. We thought we'd spend much of our idle time here. However, after finding they had no electrical outlets for us to plug in our electronics, we did not hang around for long after we finished lunch.
Having been in travel for two overnights, Steve was tired and opted to take a hotel room for a few hours to catch up on sleep and use a stationary shower. He made a reservation at the
Hilton Garden Inn (HGI), located a short walk from the Kings Avenue endpoint of the Skyway.
Walking from the Landing to the Skyway, we got caught in another of Florida's signature tropical downpours. We ducked into the
Omni Hotel for about 15 minutes to wait out the storm, as we were in no hurry. Then we went onward to the Skyway station.
Chapter 4.5: JTA Skyway, Central to Kings AvenueWe boarded the Skyway at 2:05 PM, and then were treated to the scenic ride over the St. John's River. We went to the end of the line in the Southbank at Kings Avenue, and detrained at 2:13 PM. We then walked to the HGI.
Chapter 4.6: More In JacksonvilleWhile Steve took his nap, Mike and I waited in the hotel's lobby. Ed decided to go back and explore the area around the Convention Center, so he went off on his own. I was glad to have the shelter since there were a couple more heavy storms in the several hours we were there.
Later, when Steve came down, we had dinner at the same hotel. The young lady who served us was clearly overworked, as we saw her play the roles of waitress, bartender, room service, and probably more we didn't see behind the scenes. Yet she was still highly professional and very cordial despite being so busy.
The three of us then walked back the Kings Avenue Skyway station, and Ed was there to meet us.
Chapter 4.7: JTA Skyway, Kings Avenue to Rosa Parks Transit CenterUp to four people again, our group took our last trip on the Skyway, leaving Kings Avenue at 7:17 PM. We arrived at Rosa Parks Transit Center at 7:30 PM.
We had a little over a half hour to wait for our next connection. During that time, Chris arrived on a
CT3 bus from the airport, and we were a group of five.
The next bus to the Amtrak station would be
K2 bus at 8:06 PM. We left the downtown terminal on time, and took a different route to the Amtrak station. We got there at 8:33, giving us over two hours leeway before the Silver Star would arrive.
During our wait, we retrieved our luggage and kept in contact with what now amounted to the other half of our group. Our train was running on schedule so far. As the train arrived, we were told to line up and present our tickets to a conductor located at a desk by the door.
Chapter 4.8: Other Monday activitiesAs the long Jacksonville day unfolded as above, there were six other Fest participants within Florida. Bill Magee of Cherry Hill, NJ had flown from Philadelphia to Tampa that morning, and he was the first group participant to board the Silver Star as he did so in Tampa.
Grace and Alan, while having their lunch from the train in the Winter Park station, met Penny Jacobs, who had driven up from her home in Orlando to meet them. Penny then drove back to Orlando, and met up with Joe Gore and Joe Hess. The three boarded the Silver Star from Orlando. Grace and Alan later boarded the same train in Winter Park. That portion of our group had six people, who were able to enjoy an onboard dinner together at a leisurely pace at two adjacent tables.
Chapter 4.9: Amtrak Silver Star, Train #92(15), various Florida points to Cary, NCAs the Jacksonville group left the station building to board the train, there were Alan, Grace, Bill, and Penny to greet us. Joe and Joe were already asleep, so we would not see them until the following morning. After settling into our accommodations, we went back outside to chat for the duration of the scheduled layover. Our group would be at its peak of 11 people from here to Cary, with all but one of the 12 participants present on this train.
We left Jacksonville on time at 10:57 PM, with nine of us headed for North Carolina, and two going further. Chris was in the coach section, and the other ten of us were in various roomettes in the two sleeper cars. Those in the 9210 car had an attendant named Avia, who was quite friendly and had already put down all our beds since we were boarding so late.
Silver Star, Train #92(15)
76 P-42 locomotive (MIA-WAS)
189 P-42 locomotive (MIA-WAS)
1753 Baggage
62009 Viewliner sleeper "Evening View" *
62023 Viewliner sleeper "Mystic View" **
8512 Heritage diner
28022 Amfleet II lounge
25004 Amfleet II coach
25034 Amfleet II coach
25110 Amfleet II coach
25083 Amfleet II coach
* 9211 car: Grace & Alan (WPK-CYN), Steve (JAX-CYN), Mike (JAX-BAL)
** 9210 car: Ed (JAX-WAS), Bill (TPA-RGH), Kevin (JAX-CYN), Penny, Joe G, Joe H (ORL-CYN)
Chris rode in coach JAX-CYN.
Chapter 4.10: End of Monday's activitiesAfter the late night reunion of our group, it was time to turn in. We needed our sleep so we could have breakfast early and prepare to arrive in Cary, where most of us were headed.