Maybe it’s a generational thing - the people that are on this train are largely middle aged, 40+, often senior citizens - but the nature of this train is friction. There isn’t anywhere to go without running into another person here, especially in the dining cart.

Parties of three or less are required to dine with other people in the dining cart. But it’s not like they don’t have seating. There’s at least 5 tables open at any given time. I’m sure the expectation is that we dine with others, in the case more people come at some point I suppose.

Even if you decide you hate food and everything it stands for, it’s tough avoiding the draw of the observation cart, with its panoramic views of the American west dusted with the hint of white in the peaks of the Rockies. It’s been a light season this side of the country so far. And the observation deck also has fairly limited seating. Even in the boring legs of the trip, you are inevitably going to brush elbows with another human being as some point.

As such - friction. Unlike every other form of transportation, including commuter trains, you stick to your ilk and never dare to bother the people around you. Yet three square meals, and I’ve met a 74-year-old, illiterate professional storyteller, an elderly couple who’ve been married 55 years, and a beautiful woman named Chanel disenchanted with the mountains of Utah and a yearning for the beaches of Belize. She’s moving there forever, though having been I feel it would be very difficult to do better.

The passive environment for building relationships is something I have been craving for a really long time. It does feel a little unfortunate that there’s no proper routine to it all, as everyone does de-train every so often and whisk themselves out of your life forever. I suppose the cynical approach would be to liken these engagements to a sort of emotional pornography. But while they aren’t profoundly meaningful relationships, I think it’s a little disingenuous to think that these conversations are purely out of utility and politeness. There is a genuine vulnerability exposed through the conversations that simply isn’t available in the day to day babble.

The quality of relationships I have with elderly individuals amongst my family friends feels strange to compare. I suppose when I was a child it didn’t matter too much, but the nature of a language barrier means there’s no decent way to have meaningful and complicated conversations. It’s a very strange feeling to be treated in some sense like an equal by seniors because the experience is fundamentally out of reach through existing relationships and barriers.