Are You Lonesome Tonight?

I recently heard that Amtrak is discontinuing the dining cars on its long-distance trains. Apparently people no longer want to go to a special car to eat and have to mix with strangers. They would prefer a pre-packaged meal in their compartments. Classy. I thought that many of the seats on these trains were still in large train cars, which doesn't give you any privacy at all. But no, the report said "eat in their compartments." I suppose I could look up the seating on long-distance trains. But not right now. Right now I'm reconsidering my Bucket List. I've always thought it would be great to do one of the cross country train trips I've read about and seen in movies. Lots of movies. Of course, we all know that movies are an accurate portrayal of real life, so I know it would be a great experience. But if the dining cars aren't going to be there, I'm not sure it would be worth it. I mean, walking through several train cars to get to a restaurant with tablecloths and waitstaff seems like an important part of the package. Part of people's objection to the train cars is that they don't want to sit with a bunch of strangers. Isn't meeting new people part of the travel experience? I'm assuming people are traveling this way for fun. Isn't all business travel done by plane--I mean, who has the time for a train trip unless you're on vacation? Has it struck you how seldom we actually need to leave our homes, with the exception of jobs and medical appointments? Although, it seems that even some of those can be done interactively on the Internet as well. We can have the groceries we order delivered, or even a full restaurant meal. Actually, there's very little that you can't have delivered to your home. A lot of socializing happens on the Internet. Fifteen or twenty years ago you never heard anyone say that they had 1,583 "friends." It's a boon to the very shy, but I believe we're definitely missing out. Now, I'll confess that there are times when I'm crazy-busy or crazy-tired and don't have time for grocery shopping and cooking. Calling for food is a welcome relief. There are times when I'm not feeling sociable at all and happy to stay in touch digitally. So I really do appreciate these options. But it can't be everything all the time. Once in a while I have a daydream, more of a daymare really, where I've gone out to do errands and I'm the only one there. It makes me wonder.