April 13, 2022: Back through Florida

This morning was nice because I didn't have to rush, with an 11:40 a.m. departure out of Miami. I was able to enjoy a leisurely continental breakfast downstairs, then pack up and grab a sandwich from the Subway across the street. 
I chose to Uber to the Miami station instead of taking the TriRail this morning, due largely to the heavy suitcase I had with me. Additionally, it is also a bit of a walk from the TriRail Station to the Amtrak station (They are close, but not adjacent). 
Miami's current Amtrak station was built in 1978, and is on the north side of town. As I mentioned, it's not easily accessible by public transit. Also, the station definitely isn't terribly aesthetically pleasing, I must say.


I hope Miami is able to get a new modern station at some point. It's a large, beautiful city that deserves one. 
Anyway, train 92, the northbound Silver Star, was waiting when I got there to take me north to Raleigh. 

We boarded about 20 minutes before departure, and left just about on time. Since I hadn't arrived into this station, I got to enjoy passing the Amtrak maintenance facility and some equipment as we made our way out of the yard. We began to pick up speed as we rolled north through the Miami suburbs, back through Deerfield Beach, Delray Beach and West Palm Beach. 
By the time we left the Miami area we were cruising along at around 80 mph -- a speed we were able to maintain most of the day. 
As we got to Winter Haven, I snapped this photo of the station. It reminded me that some Amtrak stations still have the old logo with the red, white and blue. I prefer it to the railroad's current one.
Our train continued to be on time, as we backed our way into the Tampa station once again, then made our way out the same direction. When we reached Orlando the sun was beginning to set. I got off the train briefly to take in some outside air and snap a couple photos, which I hadn't done on the trip down.


We headed back through the dense suburbs around Orlando as the sky got darker. When we came through Winter Park, there was a large festival taking place, which I later learned was a ticketed wine and dine event. 
By the time we reached Deland and Palatka, the sky was dark. But our train was rolling and we continued to be on time, as we reached Jacksonville around 11 p.m. 
As I prepared for "sleep," little did I know our trip was about to take a rather unfortunate turn. More on that in the next post.



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