There is an old saying that home is where the heart is. One home in Kokomo really makes that point.
Julianno's Restaurant in Kokomo has become a staple in the community in six short years. It is not at all unusual to see the noon time rush become a noon time crush. By its very nature, the restaurant business can be demanding. It demands Neal and Diana Miller's around the clock attention.
Fortunately, when the two need to get away, all they have to do is drive across the road and hop a train.
"An Amtrak passenger car. Been here at this location for 30 years and I have converted it into a house," Neal said.
"When people say, 'Where do you live?' what do you say?" I asked.
"I try to avoid that. Normally, I say, 'Across the street in the train' and they look at me like, 'You are crazy'," Neal admitted.
"I say across the street in the train. Don't laugh. They are like, 'No way.' Yes we do. Nobody believes it," Diana said.
Neal's dad moved the train car to this location 30 years ago, nestled in the middle of over 40 acres of wilderness.
"I think it is about 110 long and some of the wiring is still connected. Like the luggage rack lights, center lights," Neal explained as he walked down the train's center aisle.
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The house has all the amenities, including a refrigerator, microwave and other appliances, though there's no kitchen.
"We just eat across the street. Everyday, all day. The kitchen is across the street," Diana said.
"Live there. Sleep, eat and shower," Neal said.
The lights and the blinds all work.
"So where is the emergency cord?" I asked.
"Yeah, where is that?" Neal said.
The windows are scuffed, which allows the light in, but no one can actually see in.
"So keep walking through. What else are we looking at here?" I asked.
"We have the living room, bedroom...it's a combo," Diana says, acting like a tour guide.
"And then a walk-through his and her closet," Neal says.
"We have the best walk-in closet. It's huge," Diana says.
"She's got the right side and I have the left," Neal says.
The couple, who have been married a year-and-a-half, had some work to do to turn the train car into a home.
"No, the center part was filled with seats all the way through the tables in the middle, but all those came out, but that was years and years ago," Neal said. "But it's a lot of work to convert something like this over."
"When he first said he lived in a train, I said, 'No way'," Diana said. "I didn't believe him, the normal response. Then I thought it was cool, then, as we worked, we were over there most of the time anyway and it works. Everybody thinks it's really cool. It's neat. It's different."
It does have one downfall. Temperature extremes prompts the skin on the train car to pop.
But the Millers say the noise is no big deal.
"You get used to it. I mean, for awhile there, it would bring you out of your chair," Neal said. "Getting used to it. You can hear it from the restaurant. I've been at the front door and heard it pop."
It's a low-cost, low-maintenance home Neal's father bought for around $1,000, which now allows these two to live a life of leisure.
"Enjoy your hard work, rather than be married to it. A lot of people are married to their house payment. We are married to our restaurant," Neal explained.
Maybe they have just come to realize that we are all just passengers in this life anyway, so why not just take a seat in a passenger car.
"It's not about what I have or what I own. It's about enjoying it," Neal observed as we stood outside, surveying the train car and the property that surrounds it.
"Home sweet home," Diana added.
As unusual as it might sound, the Millers say they are not the only Hoosiers to take up residence in a train car, but they do know they are the only ones in Kokomo.
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