Tasteless in the Dining Car

The Mississippi River flooded Iowa farmland in June, drowning train tracks and curtailing California Zephyr service.

But Amtrak quickly rebuilt, this time above flood level. Service resumed, safer, only with a different view.

“Take a look at Iowa’s new beach front property,” one dining car worker laughed, as we rattled across the new tracks.



Not funny.

Cruel even.






Yet … would we have smirked if the joke had been served Letterman-style in our family rooms, our toes slipper-warm?

All I know is none of us rebuffed the comedian. Instead … we took pictures.

_{Editor's note: Photos taken through a moving train's windows can look a bit like five-dollar jigsaw puzzles...but the images are real.}