This past weekend I went to SNAP. I feel like my head is a jumble from this weekend and I need to process some before I share more so first I will tell you a little story about the beginning on the trip.

When I travel I try as much as possible to use the local public transportation. I live in a bigger city so I’m used to it and I like to think I’m pretty good at it. I flew into Salt Lake City and decided to take the train from the airport to Thanksgiving Point in Lehi, UT. I got on the train at the airport and took it past downtown to transfer. I got off and quickly realized where the next platform was and headed in that direction. I was interrupted on the way by a man asking if I had change for a dollar. Without thinking I automatically said no, an auto response of living in the city. I took 2 steps and was like you know what I do have change for a dollar and that was rude. I handed him 4 quarters and he handed me a dollar and I kept going.

I figured out where I needed to be and waited for the train that said it was arriving in a 20 minutes. The sign still said 7 minutes to arrival when a different train pulled up. This should have been the biggest clue that it was not my train. But something in me wanted to make sure and check it out. I looked around but couldn’t figure out which train it was and what way it was headed. I stepped on thinking I could ask someone but I didn’t see anyone in that section. I was looking at the map and decided if it were wrong I would just get off at the next stop and turn myself around. Then the door closed and we started moving.

In about 2 seconds I realized we were headed North and I should be headed South. That was really stupid I was thinking and hoped the next stop wasn’t far. It didn’t seem to be according to the map but then I noticed we weren’t quite following the route and we were going really slow. I sat down and tried to stay calm but calm quickly turned to a mild state of panic when I realized we were heading into the train yard and through some sort of a train wash. I had no idea what was going on but it was at this point I realized I was the ONLY person on the train. I discovered this after frantically dragging my suitcase through the train cars and not finding a single person.

I tried to figure out how to use the emergency phone but couldn’t and I tried to notify the conductor but it wasn’t working. Finally the train stopped in the yard and I decided I needed to find the conductor. It was creepily quiet out there. I grabbed my bag and dragged it to what I figured was the end of the train where I saw a backpack that I deduced belonged to the conductor. I stared at it for a few seconds until finally a man appeared who belonged to the backpack. I blurted out, “oh my gosh, what’s going on?”. He explained that they thought everyone was off the train and they must not have seen me step on and that he apologized and would figure out a way to get me on track.

I was relieved and at this point starting to feel less panicked and just more extremely silly. He pulled the train back into the garage to get me off safely and I followed him into the control room of the place to see if anyone could give me a ride. There wasn’t anyone official around but there was a man getting off his shift who happened to live in Lehi where I needed to be. This is the point in most stories where people warn you not to ride in cars with strange men. I was pretty sure I would be fine and I agreed to the ride.

I’m not completely without sensibility though, I’m pretty with it. I sneakily took a photo of the license plate number and texted it to Walker and said I will call in 20 minutes and if not take action. He was all what?! are you all right?! I texted back yeah I think so I’ll explain later. The man was perfectly nice and we chatted during the car ride. I found out quite a bit about his days and a horseshoer. The only weird thing about the ride was when he pulled over on the side of the freeway to make sure his hatch was closed tightly. So 20 minutes later we were in front on my hotel and I unloaded my bag, thanked him for the ride, and proceeded with my day thinking how strangely the smallest events can turn out.

I thought back to the change for a dollar and I like to think that by taking a few moments to be kind to someone else it all came back to me and turned my mishap into a funny story with a good ending.