Apologies to Simon and Garfunkel-

"I'm sittin' in a railway station, got a ticket for my destination..."
And yet, even with ticket in hand, we stood on the platform and sadly watched as our train departed the station.

In 1987 our son was 4 years old and he was enthralled with trains. EVERY TIME he saw a train he forced us  to stop and watch until it completely passed us by. When I had a school I needed to attend in Los Angeles we thought, "We have to make the trip anyway. How thrilled would he be if he got the chance to ride ON the train?!" I reserved a "Deluxe Bedroom" car, and we had everything we needed for the trip-
Room, board, and transportation to our destination. We made some wonderful memories on that trip. The food was nothing short of fabulous. The scenery out West was also wonderful. We met some very nice people who quickly got on a first-name basis with our son. And we ended up with many stories to relate.

Now it's 36 years later. We're taking our son on a cruise through the Panama Canal as a birthday gift. He only remembers the long ago train ride through the photos we took along the way. Why not repeat that trip on the way to board that big boat?
The First leg of the trip was on an Amtrak commuter to Kansas City to meet the train headed from Chicago to L.A..  After a long day we were overjoyed to hear our transport to L.A. had arrived. We were anxious to hit that bed. Standing on the platform ready to board our first indication of trouble was the shake of the head of the conductor looking at our phones displaying our tickets-
"Someone canceled these in September."
"Is there another bedroom available?"
He replies, "I'm sorry. No."
So the three of us stood dejectedly watching the train and our bed disappear down the tracks.
Now what? We have three days and two nights to spend in a town we had no intention of visiting.

Kansas City is a nice town. It's NICER if you have wheels.