Non-Stop Talk

Wow.
I'm going to have to have my left ear looked at...
I was in Car1, seat 7 when I got on in Jax... 2 minutes after settling in, a guy was assigned to seat 8, next to me and immediately started talking and didn't stop until around midnight when we hit Florence SC and the seat across the aisle opened up.
I know all about the kids and wife who are driving back to Whitefish Montana while he takes the train (win-win), his visit to St. Augustine and the Gator Farm therein, his amazement at the Castillo de San Marco, his plans for his 5 hour layover in Washington DC (Smithsonian), his plans for his 6 hours in Chicago (Museum of Science & Industry), the book he is writing (Tales of the Rich Hobo), his past trips on the Sunset Limited, the Empire Builder, the Zypher line, the Crescent line...
If this dude is not a textbook example of Mr. Too Much Information then I don't know defecation from shoe polish.
I know about his swelling feet, his liver issues, his ulcers, his diverticulitis (then stop eating those almonds, dumbass!), his missing toe (tractor accident), and his utter distaste for The French.
Dude couldn't take a hint either...
Reading on my iPad, he keeps talking.
I put in earphones and fire up iTunes... Yak yak yak.
I fire up the laptop and watch a movie (earphones) and he keeps droning on and on.
Even after his Life Story, the organ recital (oh my kidneys, oh my spleen), and his tirade about Them Goddam Frogs(!), and he finally went to sleep, he got rousted from his hijacked seat at 5:45am and woke me up with his nattering - and launched back into a recap of his Florida vacation and how bad it was going to be back in Montana.
I think my ear is permanently damaged...

But...
At least he wasn't coughing up lung cookies like the guy 4 seats up from us...
Every time the train stopped (which was toofucking often) he was first out the door for a quick smoke- even those 1-minute stops in Bugtussle NC and CousinHump Va.
I wonder if anyone ever explained the smoking/lung damage cause and effect loop to Smokey Joe...

2 more hours to Penn Station...
Yay.