Right now I'm on a train from Texas to Oklahoma, and it hit a vehicle on the tracks at a crossing.

There are conflicting reports as to whether there are fatalities. Amtrak announced that there was "an incident", then they admitted a vehicle collision...They have also been sure to tell us that the cafe remains open.

I was calling my mom when it happened, and they were blowing the horn so loud as we approached the intersection that I couldn't tell if she had picked up the phone. We hit right as she said "hello", and I was too confused to feign conversation. 

The jolt of impact felt similar to riding in a car where the transmission doesn't shift smoothly. It was relatively mild, perhaps even unremarkable...then I saw debris and flames out my window. It smelled like burning rubber and gas, and it took hundreds of feet to come to a complete stop.

We have been stopped outside of Davis, OK for almost 3 hours while police and firemen investigate. 

I can't see the front of the train, and they aren't letting passengers off. I could see the emergency vehicles that pulled up alongside the train, but now they have either pulled so far forward that I can't see them, left, or turned off their lights - the sun has set, and we're out by an empty field, and I can't see anything in this blackness. 

There was no ambulance, and the responders didn't seem to have much hustle on, so it suggests there was no one to tend to on the quick mode. As I say, I can't see the front from my seat, but I really really really hope anyone in the vehicle had a chance to bail before impact...however, circumstances don't look so good for that. There was another train passing at this crossing, headed the opposite direction from us on a track closest to the waiting traffic; it appears that maybe the driver took off as soon as that train passed without even realizing there was a second train. 

 All train passengers are fine (honestly, my mom freaked out the hardest).

Please join me in sending love and light and prayers and blessings to anyone in that car as well as their families, and I encourage you to appreciate your loved ones - life is so precious!

^{The train ride was actually pretty cool...until it wasn't.}

For most of my life, I had a fear of stalling on railroad tracks and being hit by a train...Thankfully, a) I'm alive and b) this train has wifi so we can all be together.

💛 Sara!