Try as I might I have not been successful in finding a way to live without money.  To date, I still like to eat and buy necessities.  As my bank account balance started to run like water down a drain, I decided to spend the summer working with the hopes of saving enough money to do some more traveling this winter.

I tried looking for office work, waitress positions, and the old stand-by of retail work.  I sent out resumes and got very little response.  It could be because of my lack of permanent address or because I dropped off the work grid for a while. I’m not sure.  But I have been blessed with a really awesome opportunity for the summer.

The Great Smoky Mountains Railroad has offered me a seasonal position working on a train.  How cool is that!  Basically I am a stewardess but on a train.  I got to meet lot of people; older people, younger people and families. We are in the same train car together for several hours. Although I have not been doing it long, I have already meet some great people.  

Every day I work I have the privilege of riding a train.  I get to hear the rhythmic clanking of the train over the rails, I get to try to walk straight in a moving train car and I enjoy hearing the whistles as we pass railway crossings.  I feel so lucky and blessed.

When I was young, my dad took me on a steam train through Pennsylvania.  When the trip was done, we were both covered in soot.  Note to self: close train windows  when traveling through a tunnel.  Covered in soot and smiles that lasted for days, that was us.  My train is a diesel so there is no soot, but the excitement is the same.  

One reason I think I like it so much is because it feels like I am traveling.  The scenery in western North Carolina is breathtaking and always changing.  Each excursion is like a new adventure. So even though I am staying in one place this summer, I am still moving and seeing new things. 

This was a curve in the road I never saw coming but it is a good turn. I hope to make enough money at the end of the summer to take another small trip, one I feel I am ready for.  The first journey was all about learning how to enjoy the journey.  I hope the next journey is less about my fears and more about enjoying the adventures.  Until then I am going to enjoy my train adventures and meet as many new people I can. It is those amazing people that enrich the days.

Here is to an amazing summer.