Anyone who has Zoom Pro and is willing to host can set up a Zoom call with unlimited participants and time, I believe. The host could paste the Zoom link and time for the chat into a message here. The only downside is that currently I believe hosts are required to individually admit participants from the waiting room, so the host would have the obligation to watch for waiting room attendees and click to allow them into the meeting.
Have You Made a Lifelong Friend on Amtrak?
- Thread starter oregon pioneer
- Start date
Help Support Amtrak Unlimited Discussion Forum:
20th Century Rider
Engineer
Waiting room feature is an option that can be disabled by the host when the meeting is set up... then a participant with the password and meeting ID can join at any time the meeting is in process.
I think the only correct answer to the question about having met anyone (anywhere) who became a life-long friend can only be - just like the only correct answer to the question: have you lived here all your life? - "Not yet!" 
jloewen
Service Attendant
- Joined
- Mar 10, 2009
- Messages
- 112
Camp Manitowish figures in two of the chapters of my small new book, "Up a Creek, With a Paddle: Tales of Canoeing and Life." You can get it cheap from PM Press if you go to its website and put in the code "TALES" when you see the blank for any discounts. 40% off, so it comes down to c.$12. I bet you'll like the WI stories. Also, the photo on the back is taken 3 mi. east of Camp Manitowish, on White Sand Lake.
jloewen
Service Attendant
- Joined
- Mar 10, 2009
- Messages
- 112
I don't know how to reply privately, but could you send your talk to "jloewen "at" uvm.edu"? Thanks!
Qapla
Engineer
Not quite ...
You can hold as many meetings as you want but the number of participants is limited to how much you pay for your account. They have a 100 limit, a 500 limit and a 1,000 limit ... each priced higher than the tier below it.
I can host 100 people.
It was great to see the Soo Line represented. In 1962-63 I was on the staff of my high school weekly and once a month we carried a national rotogravure supplement that was printed in Milwaukee. What was interesting about that is it was handled by the Soo from Waukesha to St. Paul (and then less surprisingly on the NP Mainstreeter to Spokane and the SP&S to Portland). Why it didn't go on the Milwaukee Road's all mail and express train I do not know. Either the Soo had a discount tariff or a really good traffic rep in Milwaukee. This was after the interurban electric connection between Milwaukee and the Soo at Waukesha had been discontinued.
Aside from it's intermediate stops that were not served by the Milwaukee or the North Western, the main feature of the Soo seems to have been its direct line between Chicago and Duluth. A friend of my dad's was a Soo Line traffic rep in Portland and told about being sent down to Grand Central Station in Chicago (it wasn't grand and it wasn't central) on summer Friday evenings to see off the long string of tramp Pullmans rounded up from various railyards for the families heading out to the cooler North Country.
That's how my church handles Zoom for worship services and a "hymns by request" session on-line.
20th Century Rider
Engineer
Aaah... the Soo Line - mystery of the railroads of the deep north and the Aurora Borealis Skyshows... ran within sight of my dorm room at WSU, Superior WI back in the 60's, and as I understand it... the adopted child for survival under the loving arms of the Chicago and Northwestern RR that captured the PAX service for Northern WI and the North... a land of snow and ice that as a young child I could dream about and ravel in the wildest of fantasies. That the Soo Line continued to exist will always be a dream lost because it no longer is there... Nothing more exotic than a run on the Soo Line under the late summer sun or the January winter on the Soo Line through the mid continent great north !
In reponse to the OP's question, yes two people at different times on different Amtrak trains but with a twist and a co-incidence too.
First we met our great friend Milton on the Southwest Chief heading north from LAX. We were on our way to Kansas City, he on his way home to Syrcuse via Chicago.
As often happens on an Amtrak train we met after being seated together for a meal where the frequent question arose "What do you do?". We gave our version, then he said "I'm a rocket scientist". We certainly don't meet many of them on a daily basis, and in fact Milton was and is the only one we have ever met. On first thoughts we thought he's mildly joking with us as he said it with a smile, he's a shy man and it was the first non reserved thing he'd done, smile.
It turns out after years of asking him questions we understand he worked through much of the US/NASA space program, starting with the Atlas rockets through to the Shuttle. He also turns out to be a very nice man too and a great human being with a sense of humour, aren't we lucky.
A few years later the second life long friend we met was on the Sunset Limited heading from LAX to New Orleans, this time we were travelling with Milton as far as San Antonio where we remained on the Sunset, he continued on to Chicago with the Texas Eagle. Milton and I went to the diner together but at the time Rosie wasn't hungry. We joined a lone man sitting at the diner, he gave us a pleasant smile, said hello and continued eating. Milton and I talked, we included the man sitting opposite when we could until he had mentioned a few things that appeared unusual, connected but not connected. I also noticed some of the other diners glancing across to our table (did they know we were eating with a rocket scientist?).
It turns out our dining companion is an actor, and if you watch movies or have Netflix you would know him. Neither Milton or I hardly watch either. So at one point I blurted out "should I know you, are you famous?" He laughed and said he was currently in a Netflix series and he had done a bit of acting but was not a high profile actor. He also said he enjoyed talking with people who didn't know who he was, in our ignorance we took him just for the person who was in front of us.
He's a very nice man ideed, also interesting too. We enjoyed his company every meal time thereafter and often at longer station stops through to New Orleans. His name is Matthew Modine and Stranger Things was his then current job.
Rosie joined us before our meal was over and was introduced to Mr Modine. Later Rosie and I went back to our roomette and sat with our door open so we could catch Milton on his way back to his car, he remained to have an extra hot drink.
In the same car across the passage from our roomette was a lady travelling alone, we'd say hello, how are you but as she appeared to want her own space left it at that.
While waiting for Milton we spoke with Dorothy as she too had her door open just sitting. She was full of life and laughed easily, a nice person to spend some time with.
When Milton came past we introduced them, chatted with Milton for a few minutes and said goodnight to Dorothy.
Next day Dorothy and a second lady were sitting opposite Mr Modine for breakfast, by this time the whole train knew he was onboard. We said good morning to them all and sat at the both across the aisle from the 3 of them, that was the meal pattern for the rest of the journey the 5 of us sitting together on 2 tables.
Dorothy was in the Pentagon on 9/11, she had an appointment with her boss that day but was asked to delay it for 30 minutes. Her boss was killed and Dorothy survived, it made a big mark on her.
She's a special lady and we stay in regular contact.
We have met others too, most we are in infrequent contact with, not very regularly. We've also met the lovely Jeb and Chelsea who are part of the AU forum, and then there's Bob Dylan from here, a very fine man indeed.
The co-incidence was Milton and Dorothy were on the same train in the same place at the same time, but we didn't really know Dorothy while Milton was onboard, they met but only as strangers. What a small world.
First we met our great friend Milton on the Southwest Chief heading north from LAX. We were on our way to Kansas City, he on his way home to Syrcuse via Chicago.
As often happens on an Amtrak train we met after being seated together for a meal where the frequent question arose "What do you do?". We gave our version, then he said "I'm a rocket scientist". We certainly don't meet many of them on a daily basis, and in fact Milton was and is the only one we have ever met. On first thoughts we thought he's mildly joking with us as he said it with a smile, he's a shy man and it was the first non reserved thing he'd done, smile.
It turns out after years of asking him questions we understand he worked through much of the US/NASA space program, starting with the Atlas rockets through to the Shuttle. He also turns out to be a very nice man too and a great human being with a sense of humour, aren't we lucky.
A few years later the second life long friend we met was on the Sunset Limited heading from LAX to New Orleans, this time we were travelling with Milton as far as San Antonio where we remained on the Sunset, he continued on to Chicago with the Texas Eagle. Milton and I went to the diner together but at the time Rosie wasn't hungry. We joined a lone man sitting at the diner, he gave us a pleasant smile, said hello and continued eating. Milton and I talked, we included the man sitting opposite when we could until he had mentioned a few things that appeared unusual, connected but not connected. I also noticed some of the other diners glancing across to our table (did they know we were eating with a rocket scientist?).
It turns out our dining companion is an actor, and if you watch movies or have Netflix you would know him. Neither Milton or I hardly watch either. So at one point I blurted out "should I know you, are you famous?" He laughed and said he was currently in a Netflix series and he had done a bit of acting but was not a high profile actor. He also said he enjoyed talking with people who didn't know who he was, in our ignorance we took him just for the person who was in front of us.
He's a very nice man ideed, also interesting too. We enjoyed his company every meal time thereafter and often at longer station stops through to New Orleans. His name is Matthew Modine and Stranger Things was his then current job.
Rosie joined us before our meal was over and was introduced to Mr Modine. Later Rosie and I went back to our roomette and sat with our door open so we could catch Milton on his way back to his car, he remained to have an extra hot drink.
In the same car across the passage from our roomette was a lady travelling alone, we'd say hello, how are you but as she appeared to want her own space left it at that.
While waiting for Milton we spoke with Dorothy as she too had her door open just sitting. She was full of life and laughed easily, a nice person to spend some time with.
When Milton came past we introduced them, chatted with Milton for a few minutes and said goodnight to Dorothy.
Next day Dorothy and a second lady were sitting opposite Mr Modine for breakfast, by this time the whole train knew he was onboard. We said good morning to them all and sat at the both across the aisle from the 3 of them, that was the meal pattern for the rest of the journey the 5 of us sitting together on 2 tables.
Dorothy was in the Pentagon on 9/11, she had an appointment with her boss that day but was asked to delay it for 30 minutes. Her boss was killed and Dorothy survived, it made a big mark on her.
She's a special lady and we stay in regular contact.
We have met others too, most we are in infrequent contact with, not very regularly. We've also met the lovely Jeb and Chelsea who are part of the AU forum, and then there's Bob Dylan from here, a very fine man indeed.
The co-incidence was Milton and Dorothy were on the same train in the same place at the same time, but we didn't really know Dorothy while Milton was onboard, they met but only as strangers. What a small world.
Last edited:
Rosie's instant response was "We fooled Jim then" hahaha
