© Savannah Grandfather

Trains have been always been a part of Americana. Whether it be the historical stories of heading westward, the sad history of their formation or the legions of movies featuring trains.

As generations continue, the train has really gone by the wayside in terms of a transportation option except for commuters in urban areas. It no longer really has much appeal to this generation now in its real form.

We have an Amtrak station here and I've always thought about hopping the rail and hitting the road. I've been on novelty trains but never on a real one. My daughter's soccer team is playing about three hours away and we found out the train leaves here and arrives in the city she is playing in at about the same time.

Everything seemed to line up - the city we are heading to has some great stuff for kids to do, my daughter and a teammate are tracked out of school and the team hotel is a wonderful Hyatt with a new design for a very fair price with the team deal. My husband is going to drive down Saturday morning.

Wish us well, come tomorrow we will be train hopping hobos! Well more like business class Amtrak travelers but at least it is a chance to do something different.