Episode 13.2: Visions of Gerald, Part 2

Traveling by train has advantages: more leg room, it’s possible to walk around and sometimes hang out in the observation car. Also – when it’s affordable – the ability to upgrade from coach to business and from business to a sleeper makes train travel the most genteel form of mass transit available. 



I rolled into St. Louis on the old grey dog, but I was rolling out in the following early AM on Amtrak. I heard from my friend Paul that we were welcome to crash the reading after party if there was one, but I didn’t want to count on that happening. So I decided to go ahead and upgrade my coach ticket for business if they had any available… and they generally have one or two that don’t show up on the website. I’d also done my homework and knew the St. Louis station has a “First Class Lounge” that, while it’s no Metropolitan Lounge, still had a few amenities that would make a night at the station a damn sight more comfortable than the LAST time I slept in the St. Louis station back in 2012.



Only after I upgraded did I find out that the “First Class Lounge” was only open two hours before a scheduled train departure and that the station was officially cracking down on people spending the night, whether they had a ticket or not. The ticket agent was apologetically toned, at least, and explained that they were giving in to the city, which had ordinances against anyone staying in the depot overnight.



I didn’t ask about how new the ordinances were; I thought about the three days I spent in the St. Louis station back in 2012. I was on the bus back then, using the station as a base of operations while I took day trips to nearby places like Hannibal, Missouri – the birthplace of Mark Twain.  When I wasn’t taking day trips I sat and watched a box. Someone left a sealed box by the bus gates and for three days,  I watched people walk by it, watched janitorial and station staff pay it no mind. The box was still there when I left. In any other post-911 scenario, you’d think SOMEONE would pay attention to a sealed box big enough to hold a soccer ball.  I didn’t know if they had any ordinances in place back then, but I figured as long as I didn’t make trouble that I could get away with it.



Here’s the thing… I specifically decided to hop an early morning train from St. Louis rather than spend the night because there was a distinct lack of affordable (read: CHEAP) accommodations. I had a hostel bed waiting for me in Milwaukee, but I couldn’t find anything near the very affordable range of Milwaukee’s Cream City Hostel in the Gateway to the West. While I haven’t done any research to back this up, the absence of any hostels in such a tourist-driven city is generally due to some unofficial… or maybe even official… collusion by the Chamber of Commerce and the local motel/hotel board. There was a hotel across the street from the stations, but rooms there were just over $100 a night, and I didn’t want to spend that kind of coin for what wasn’t even going to be a full night’s sleep.



So when I returned to the station that night after Gerald Nicosia’s reading, after sat for a while to ponder my options – there really weren’t any --  I asked the ticket agent – a different one this time – about the “First Class Lounge,” showed him my ticket, and explained my situation. The second agent told me almost the exact same thing as the first one; even the words he used “we have DECIDED to WORK WITH THE CITY because they have ordinances…” were the same. Like reading a cue card.



I didn’t argue. There wasn’t a point and I’d already sat and watched two rather large security guards run off a black woman that looked and sounded like a woman I knew at home from seeing her at the west end day shelter where I used to help out. Skinny and brittle like a combination of being in the elements and drug use can turn a human being into. I didn’t want to see how many rent-a-cops they sent after me to get me to leave.



Thanks so much for listening to  Episode 13, Part 2 of a Record of a Pair of Well Worn Traveling boots.  Please be sure to show some love by subscribing to this podcast on ITunes, Spotify, or whatever podcatcher you use. Check out the past episodes and look for Visions of Gerald, Part 3 in two weeks. If you really enjoy the podcast, please consider becoming a patron on our Patreon Page: www.patreon.com/wellwornboots. It’s only $5  a month and it means you’ll get a little extra for your patronage.



Thanks again for listening. May the road ever rise to meet your feet.