10/11/2026 – 10/12/2026 – Chugga! Chugga! Woo! Woo!
Okay! Only one more full day on the train, and then we’ll be to civilization in Winnipeg the following afternoon, just in time for dinner. The fellow passengers on this train are some of the nicest people we met. There were many Canadians, mostly from Toronto or British Columbia. But most of them were not born Canadian. There was a couple who lived in Toronto: he was from Strasbourg, France, while his wife was from Iran. We spent so much time talking with them, learning new things. There was another couple from Toronto: She was born in Toronto, but lived in Poland for many years as that is where her parents were from, while he was a born in Britain. Of course, Dave was obliged to sing the Polish national anthem, which she seemed to enjoy (or was just extremely polite?) Dave learned that song back in second grade, but has met so many people from Poland whom he serenades that he has never forgotten it. Another couple Dave met were Buffalo Bills fans (he even wore a Bills hat every day!) She was from Australia, he was from Austria, they lived near Nashville, TN, and were Bills fans! What a world!!
Meeting people from all over the world, learning about new cultures, discussing both current events and history, and even civilly discussing world politics, is one of the things we love the most about traveling. We have yet to meet anyone with whom we could not have an enjoyable discussion, no matter what their views are or how they may differ from ours. Openly discussing sometimes touchy topics in an open-minded manner is what is sadly missing in today’s “I’m right, you’re wrong” world. As Buffalo Springfield sang in “For What It’s Worth” – Nobody’s right if everyone’s wrong.” Listening to and actually trying to understand where people are coming from makes us understand that even when we disagree, we usually have much more in agreement with them than we do divergence. And that leads us to being kind, loving, and happy rather than selfish, hateful, and angry.