No Train to Memphis?

I know, I know… I haven’t been bloggin’ in a while. So sue me. I just haven’t really been in the mood. Plus, it’s so much easier to just use Twitter lately to convey quick thoughts than spend the extra time to think of everything I’d want to put into an entire BLOG POST. Cuz, ya know… Lord knows BLOG POSTS have to be literary masterpieces (haha). OK, so what’s bringing me back to the world of blogging? Well, I got a wild hair today (or is that an itchy foot?) and decided to check some rates and schedules for taking a train to Memphis, just because it’s been so long since we’ve been there and it would be good to back, check in at Goner Records, Shangri-La, Sun, grab some delicious barbecue, maybe even catch a Redbirds game, and hit whatever other interesting places we can that we can glean from the latest issue of the Kreature Komforts Lowlife Guide to Memphis (a must-have if you’re going there, trust me). Make an extended weekend of it, even, ya know, Saturday thru Monday or even Tuesday kinda thing… so I checked Amtrak’s website to see how much it would run, and I was surprised (shocked is actually more like it) to see that they no longer offer any direct routes from St. Louis to Memphis! What the hell? This just seems very WRONG to me. How long has it been this way? Anyone know?

Anyway, feeling pretty aggravated and wanting to make my feelings known, I sent the fine folks at Amtrak a little piece of my mind. It went something like this:

I find it VERY hard to believe that Amtrak does not offer a direct train route from St. Louis to Memphis. You actually make people go via CHICAGO, which makes absolutely no sense at all. If Amtrak wants to increase ridership, they should reinstate service between these two great Midwestern river cities. They’re so similar culturally not to mention they’re now linked with baseball (Memphis is the Cards’ AAA affiliate), yet Amtrak chooses to not serve people wanting to travel between these two great American cities. Unbelievable!

So I dunno… does that get my point across? I hope so. I would also hope that more people would contact them and say the same thing. Hell, this makes me feel so irate that I may even attempt an Internet petition to get them to reinstate this route, especially since gas is so fucking expensive now. So, please, if you, too, like the idea of taking a train to Memphis and back, contact Amtrak and let them know. Who knows, maybe they’ll actually add the route back to their schedule someday.