Just boarded the Southwest Chief at KC, and we’re snug in our private bedroom in car 330, heading west across Kansas just before midnight as the train whistle blows, the cars rock us into sleepy submission and the only other sound you hear is clicking laptop keys as I submit this report before bedtime. It’s the end of another perfect day in the middle of the Midwest and the cradle of Fred Harvey—Kansas City and nearby Topeka, where Fred’s first Santa Fe restaurant was. I spoke at a terrific lunch at Kansas City Union Station, where we met the mayor, the former mayor, the chairman of the Kansas City Southern, and many others with a stake in the city’s future (and, judging from their interest, the future of its past). C-Span filmed the event (I’ll post info when we find out when it runs.) As soon as we finished, we dashed to Topeka, where I spoke at the Kansas State Historical Society—where the excellent curators had helped me research the book, and were also very gracious in letting me use their photos. We were greeted by a gaggle of Harvey Girl from the Overland Station museum in Topeka; these aren’t actual Harvey Girls—although we met a bunch of them today as well—but longtime HG re-enactors, a popular and charming pastime in some Fred-fed Kansas towns. (this group also cooked four different dishes from the recipes in the book—especially liked the light-as-a-feather chocolate puffs with raspberry cream and the cheese straws with salsa, yum.) Topeka has a lot of Santa Fe railroad alums, and we met a number of them—including one who came with his 102-year-old father, who worked for the railroad in the 1920s (and was still pretty spry and engaging, I think he was kinda hitting on Diane.) Got back in time for a late steak dinner at Union Station at Pierpont’s restaurant, next to the original Harvey lunchroom (which is still a lunchroom, except tonight it was rented out for what appeared to be a prom with some very un-Harvey-Girl-like outfits.) And then we boarded the Southwest Chief around 10:30 pm. An Amtrak employee took pity on us and our absurd number of bags and gave us and our luggage a ride right to the train door, where our attendant Gwen had already turned down our beds. Speaking of which, it’s time for bed, since we have a breakfast date in the morning somewhere past Dodge City with all the Harveys who are also on this train. We’re all headed to my home away from home, the long silver-haired capital of the world, Santa Fe.

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