I get in a few last minute texts to the guys as the train arrives.  (I hope you two had a good day.  I did miss our morning radiator time!) I am happy to be in a sleeper, as the coaches are full with many more boarding in Toledo.  The excitement of being on board takes me through to Port Clinton where I finally lay down and get some sleep.  Sleeping on the train, even in a sleeper room, is still not always super restful.  I woke up several times, but again managed to completely miss Cleveland.  Darn.

Somehow, I wake up just as we enter Pittsburgh.  Perfect timing!  I enjoy the scene of the incline railroad, hills, rivers, and bridges as we cross the river into the train station.  Every time in come into this station, I will think of the memories of a previous visit with Rollie on the way home from Philadelphia.  We did a lot of walking that night!  The sun is beginning to rise as we pull out of town, but I am quickly asleep again.

It is a pleasure to wake up in the mountains (well, these are really just big hills in the east!) when on the train.  The tracks generally follow a river and the Capitol Limited route is no exception.  The river is flowing westward and the vistas are white with a dusting of snow.  There is a calmness to it all.  An element of serenity that I do not find anywhere else.  No better way to enjoy my french toast in the dining car.

The rivers reverse direction as we pass through the tunnel underneath the Eastern Continental Divide.  After the tunnel, we follow a small stream flowing eastward with the train.  It is peaceful, relaxing, and I can picture myself living in such an environ.  The stream turns into a larger river, white water flowing around the rocks with force and recklessness.

This is the way to start a day.  We’re running about 45 minutes late, but that is not of any concern.  My friends are due in Washington, DC, much later than I, so I will enjoy my bonus minutes of train time.  We’re in Cumberland, MD, now.  Time to take a fresh air break.

The Canadian Pacific railroad line the Builder uses through Wisconsin opened the day before we arrived, so were the first or second eastbound Builder that traversed the normal line through to Chicago.  Long story short, we arrived into Chicago at 9:55 PM.  My train to Toledo left at 7:00 PM, so I (and several other passengers) made a mad dash for the Lake Shore Limited, which left at 10:00 PM.  The great crew on the LSL found me a sleeper cabin on the train and I settled in for the quick journey to Toledo.

Yeah, right. Storms through the area caused a “flash flood warning” and a speed restriction on the line.  Turns out, the Capitol Limited (the train I was supposed to be on) was held up for quite some time.  We nearly caught up to it and both trains came into Toledo near 4:00 AM.  I’ve since found out that a large fire near Elyria (Cleveland) has caused further significant delays to the eastbound and westbound LSLs and Capitols.  Glad I’m not on those!  Once home, I promptly fell asleep and am now trying to get back into the right time zone and sleep schedule.

I will get the rest of the photos and some other items during the weekend.  Thanks to all for following along and your comments!  I had an incredibly awesome trip, and while I was really ready to get home, now that I am here I am ready to go out on the rails again.

Here’s the Murphy’s Law of traveling Amtrak.  Whenever some of the best scenery goes by, you will be in the dining car.  Which, I guess isn’t really all that surprising because it seems like you’re in the dining car most of the trip.  Train travel, especially with sleeper reservations (and the included meals) doesn’t mix well with the lose-weight-now diet.  Lots of food, lots of sitting around.

I’ve been trying to figure out how to describe the trip up the northern Cascades out of Seattle.  I still can’t.  It compares with the trip into the Rockies out of Denver as the most scenic and inspiring experiences of my Amtrak travels.  And I, as you can guess from the above paragraph, saw it all from the Dining Car.  So, no pictures.  Not that the pictures would do it any justice.

I used to say “one” in the next sentence; here’s the updated version:  If you don’t do any other train travel in your lifetime, you should (must?) do at least one of these two:  1) the westbound California Zephyr out of Denver through to Sacramento (the Rockies and Sierra Nevadas); or 2) the eastbound Empire Builder from Seattle to East Glacier Park.  On the Builder, be sure to be viewing the north side of the train from Whitefish to Essex, and the south side from Essex to East Glacier Park.

Did you know it was a small world?  I’ve hiked and dined and talked with multiple people throughout this trip, and somewhere along the way there always seems to be an uncanny connection.  On the Builder, I ate breakfast with a couple from St. Paul, Indiana.  St. Paul, Indiana, is a town of less than 500 southeast of Indianapolis.  It is also the home of the Flat Rock YMCA Camp, which, for a while, my friend Arthur directed, and I spent much time at when I worked for the Indy YMCA.  They were absolutely flabbergasted to have met someone on the train, in the middle of Idaho, with a connection to St. Paul, Indiana.  Then, while hiking trails in Glacier Park, I got advice from one group of experienced park visitors, finding out during the conversation that one grew up in Toledo, OH.  She recognized my Maumee Valley t-shirt.  The park offers guided group hikes.  I joined in one the other day and hiked to Iceberg Lake with a fellow Ohioan and a family from Jackson, Michigan.  It’s a small world, after all.  It’s a small, small world (got that song stuck in your head, yet?).

As Glacier National Park is my “destination”, if I had any, on this trip, I was eager to get to the park.  After all, the glaciers are melting.  Many years ago, there were hundreds of glaciers in GNP.  The last time a study was done with a count, there were 25.  Now, they suspect that when they count this year there will be many less.  Climate change.  No matter what the cause, it is happening.  And Glacier National Park will likely soon be a park with an inappropriate name.

Now, let’s take a moment to discuss driving in Montana.  On curvy, two-lane mountain roads.  Where the speed limit is 70 MPH.  Oh yeah, at night it’s only 65.  And don’t veer right, that’s a sheer cliff over there, buddy.  It’s scary enough doing it by yourself, but then add other cars and motorcycles coming at you and from behind going multiple MPH faster that you.  It’s dangerous at times-just two days ago two motorcyclists instantly killed themselves (in two different accidents, within 15 miles and 4 hours of each other) by crossing the double yellow line and ramming into a car going the other way.

Did I mention the obstacles?  There are those, too.  I had to use the sudden breaking maneuver to dodge a herd of cattle and, then, around the next bend, a herd of horses, who had decided to use the road for passage and grazing that morning.  Yes, horses.  While driving into the park the other night, the obstacle-of-the-day was big horn sheep.  You see, they (apparently) don’t use fences here in Montana.

I’m trying to catch up with some writing and posting here.  Next time, some tales of exploring Glacier National Park.  I’m getting a few pictures posted while I am waiting on Amtrak.  There will likely be more uploaded after I am home.

No, you’ll not find a morning TV show with a bunch of talking heads all talking at the same time here.  Right title, wrong Internet.  I ventured outside the hostel this morning and caught a bus to Discovery Park, a large city park in northern Seattle.  Awesome views and a nice hiking trail were promised.  And delivered.

Discovery Park was and is Fort Lawton, but much of the Army Reserve base has been turned over to the city and turned into a recreation area.  Reminded me a lot of Fort Harrison outside Indianapolis.  With steeper hills.  And a better view.  Sorry, Indy.  You ain’t got an ocean.  I walked the loop trail and down from the bluffs to the beach and lighthouse.  Fabulous.  The bluffs provided magnificent views, both from the top and when down below on the beach.  A local pointed out where there are usually eagles, but we zoomed in with the camera lens and were disappointed not to see any.

I hiked back up through a narrow trail called the “Hidden Valley Trail” and to the other entrance of the park in order to catch another bus back to town.  I’ve known for a long time that I am just not a city person.  I enjoyed this morning, away from the hustle and bustle of city life, far more than all of the moments I spent in New Orleans & LA.  All for simple $3 round-trip bus fare.  Not bad, not bad.

I still had quite a bit of time before I needed to be at the King Street Station for the Empire Builder, so I lunched at the Pike Place Market, and picked up some dried fruit to snack on while on the trails in Glacier.  I really wanted to pick up some of the fresh fruit, but didn’t.

Here I am now, sitting in the King Street Station.  This place really needs some help.  It’s a grand railroad station, but was ruined in the 1960’s with some “renovations” that added pseudo-walls and false ceilings (there are glorious 42′ ceilings about my head covered by an absolutely awful hanging ceiling.  There are plans for restoration, but the cart that is here explaining them is exactly the same as it was when we were here two years ago.  I did read recently that money may have been found to actually start the restoration.  Let’s hope so.  This place, as it is now, is really pretty disgraceful.

I’m on and off line.  The commuter “Sounder” rail has Wifi, so whenever one comes into the station, I can get online!  Just found out though that the Empire is delayed, will be sitting here for another hour.  Oh well.  Onto Glacier…eventually.  All Aboard!

This train has a sleeping car only lounge called the “Pacific Parlour.”  I have really enjoyed having this car along for this journey.  The Parlour car, an original ATSF Hi-Level car built in the 60’s or so, has been delightfully restored and has some excellent cushioned chairs as well as meal service.  It’s been nice to have a calm relaxing meal in the Parlour rather than in the hustle and bustle of the normal dining car.

Before I knew it, we were passing through San Jose in the late evening, and I don’t remember anything past Oakland.  I awoke with the sun at 5:30ish right near Mt. Shasta in northern California.  I’m now in “familiar” territory.  I’ve ridden this part of the journey on the Amtrekkin’ trip in November, 2006.  Back then, the Coast Starlight was running about 3 hours late, and at dawn we were traveling around Lake Shasta.  Not to be seen this time, we were long past this lake this morning.

Before too long, we started climbing the Cascades, passing an area where a massive mud-slide closed the UP railroad for nearly 4 months back in January.  I had read much about it, as I was sure hoping that the repairs would be done before I left on my trip.  I didn’t appreciate the steepness of the terrain until passing through.  The train passes up and back down some significant mountain valleys and then into Eugene, OR, along Lookout Point Lake and a branch of the Willamette River.

The Sunset Limited and the Coast Starlight have been full-in fact, this Coast Starlight is completely sold out.  I think that it is great for Amtrak, but I have to admit that I really enjoyed the space available back in November, 2006, as it was a lot easier to move around and spread out.  The full coaches, I am sure, don’t allow for much R&R.  Thank goodness for sleeping cars!

On the Sunset, I had the wonderful chance to meet a professional photographer who was traveling with her son to LA and then onto Japan.  They live in rural Texas, away from most things, but were traveling to LA to meet up with family and then travel to Japan to be with their grandmother, who was performing over there.  While she was in LA, she was going to meet up with Diane Keaton, as she had just finished a coffee-table book on Southwestern architecture for her.  She did most of the photography for the work.  It was fascinating!  Her son discovered my GPS and laptop, and we spent a lot of time watching the maps go by and looking at how far we had to go.

I have also enjoyed the people of Amtrak on this trip.  I can say that I have met some wonderfully hard-working and dedicated employees that have really made it easier and much more fun to be on board.  On the Sunset, the lead service attendant (dining car manager), Keisha, did a fabulous job working dinner out of New Orleans all by herself, and handled a full train and other delays with a no-nonsense smile.  This is probably the hardest job to do on an Amtrak train, and she was doing it to the best level.  And I even found out that it was her first trip!  Way to go, Keisha!  On the Starlight, my car attendant Louie has kept everyone laughing, and the Parlour car attendant, Nanette, has made the experience delightful.  Thanks to all!

I am in Seattle now.  Two more days and I will be in Glacier National Park!

Greetings from somewhere in the middle of Texas!  (Actually, by the time I was able to get online to post this, I’m in LA.  I tried at a few station stops to get WiFi working long enough to post, but wasn’t successful).  In case you didn’t already know, this is one damn big state.  The Amtrak Sunset Limited is scheduled to eat up over 22 hours crossing the state of Texas.  And some of you think driving down I-75 through Georgia and Florida is bad.

It’s late afternoon on the Sunset Line, the Union Pacific single track main line from Lake Charles, LA, through to California.  We’re running just a few hours behind.  Four and a half, to be precise.  Now this is the Amtrak that we know and love.

We left New Orleans right on time, at 11:55 AM, Central Time.  Got right up and over the Huey P. Long Bridge (over the Mississippi), and then entered an area of BNSF track that is “dark territory.”  Use the force, Luke.  No, no, sorry, it’s an area of mainline that is not wired back to the dispatcher, so the dispatcher has to “fly blind”-using the reports of the conductors to mark where all of the trains are.  I don’t know about you, but I envision a scale model sitting on a table in the dispatcher’s office with little Monopoly train engines pushed around by a long stick.  Seriously.  Well, not about the Monopoly part.

Then it was into Texas and our meet up with the Texas Eagle in San Antonio.  The Sunset Limited picks up two cars from the Chicago-San Antonio Eagle and takes them through to LA.  We arrived at 4:00 AM, picked up two cars, and parked in the station, awaiting our departure time of 5:40 AM.  “Cool,” I remember thinking, laying there half-asleep, “two hours of sleep in a non-moving train; by the time I wake up, we’ll be well on our way.”

I guess that I am wrong from time to time.  I awoke and looked out the window to see exactly the same scene I saw when I last went to sleep.  Hmm, must be about 5:30.  Nope.  Try 6:30.  Perhaps we miraculously shifted time zones without moving?  Wrong again.  Turns out, the Texas Eagle was running so far behind, they turned it around in Fort Worth.  The poor through passengers were “bustituted” (an Amtrak slang term) to San Antonio.  We had to wait for them, and finally made it out of town at 8:15 AM.

Wow, these posts are longer when I am writing from my little moving cubicle.  I’ve got the GPS connected to the computer – it’s kinda’ fun to watch the real world go by alongside the virtual one.  By far, the real world is better, by the way.

Speaking of by the way, for those of you who think I’m crazy, how about a 27-day round-the-USA train vacation?  There are 19 Kiwi’s on board, nearly finished with their tour.  They flew into San Francisco and have traveled Amtrak through Denver, Chicago, New York City, Washington, New Orleans, and now into LA for their flight to New Zealand.  It’s been fun chatting with them and getting their take on American rail travel.  For the most part, they’ve been impressed.  I was glad to hear that they made it through Iowa before the flooding shut down the California Zephyr, and, as one said, after twenty-some odd days, they’re all still talking with each other.  Not bad.  I guess my 16-day journey isn’t quite so off the wall after all.

I had an memorable time in Washington. Walked and walked and walked some more. Google Pedometer says I walked 4.77 miles or so. Saw some sights that I felt I had so see, perceived a few more in the distance that I just couldn’t quite make it to. You see, Amtrak travel is finicky–no, it’s just plain luck. My train was on-time, giving me a full 4 hours in Washington. The train the day before and the day after were about 2 hours late. I guess luck was on my side Tuesday.

Knock on wood for me please…my Amtrak luck continued during the ride on The Crescent. I managed to get photos uploaded using the free WiFi in the Acela Lounge, then threw the laptop into the bag to catch my early boarding opportunity. This is an all-single level train, so there is not a Sightseer Lounge car. One thing that I’ve noticed, so far, is that many of the sleeping car passengers lock themselves in their compartments and come out only for meals. Hermits, if you will.

Meals are interesting, as they fill up the tables with strangers and you get to strike up some interesting conversations. Over lunch, I sat with a media-career-hopeful student returning from a CNN internship (he had a very nice personality; he could actually make it in TV news if he catches the right break), a retired 1st Grade teacher, and a 19-year-old women on her way to meet up with her finance in Baton Rouge. But that’s only the beginning–she didn’t know what he does for a living, she recently drove her car into the ditch, got arrested for DUI, and, there’s more, but you don’t really want to hear it. Ironically, both the young lady and gentlemen got sent to the train in Atlanta by Delta Airlines, because they both seemed (twice, each) to have trouble getting to the airport in time for their plane. So, rather than put them on the Clue Bus, Delta handed them off to Amtrak and said, “here, you deal with them.”

I got a lot more sleep on this train. Simply, I was tired. I slept through much of the night, only waking up a few times during various stops. We stopped at some unknown station in some unknown town at some unknown (but very early) time for a long period of time (we were EARLY! I’ve never had that happen on an Amtrak train before!). Unfortunately, we stopped right next to this really, REALLY, bright light. Right outside my window. Thank you very much.

We passed through some very nice countryside, and entered “new” territory for me…traveling through Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana. I’m used to the train following rivers (like we did in Pennsylvania), but not this time. Just a long winding path through countryside, hills, trees, pastures, and kudzu vines. At times, things were very swampy & wet, especially as we got closer to New Orleans (wow, what a surprise). We crossed Lake Pontchartrain, passed City Park (with the Museum of Art) and pulled into the station right next to the (in)famous Superdome. I posted some photos of the lake crossing and a shot overlooking a New Orleans cemetary with downtown in the background. Saw some signs of Katrina damage, still, but in the areas we went by, not too bad. I’m told that parts of town still are a long way from being anything to speak of, though.

So, now, I’m back off to the French Quarter, going to find some frozen beverages and party hardy…well, not really. But I am going to go find some nice Jazz to listen to for a while before crashing back at the hotel. Join me…throw some Thelonious Monk on your iPod, or perhaps a Stanley Turrentine CD…

About to get on #19 The Crescent to go to the Big Easy.  All Aboard!

I hopped on board Amtrak’s Capitol Limited in Toledo at about 12:20 AM for my first adventure in an Amtrak sleeping car.  I have to admit that I didn’t get much sleep.  Just a bit too excited about starting off my vacation.  I stayed awake as the train progressed east over Sandusky Bay, finally got a bit of sleep before Cleveland, but woke up to the bright lights of the station, parked right next to Brown’s Stadium.

Dawn woke me up around 5 AM as we approached Pittsburgh.  Jaded as I am by my previous Amtrak experience, I was quite surprised to be arriving fifteen minutes early.  Alas, our earliness was a good thing, as a medical emergency on board used up all of our layover time and then some.  The ride aboard the Capitol has been very pleasant, since losing time in Pittsburgh, we’ve been fifteen to fifty minutes behind schedule, but the padding will, as of now, allow us to arrive into Washington, DC, on time.

Since Pittsburgh, we’ve followed the Youghiogheny River all the way up the mountains, a winding railroad journey through quiet, green and beautiful countryside.  On the way down the other side, we picked up the Potomac River and, basically, are following it all the way into DC.

My first sleeper experience has been aboard Superliner #32109, the “South Dakota.”  Special thanks to Nathan, our car attendant, who’s helped to make this a comfortable ride.  It’s now time to explore DC for a few hours, then hop on the Crescent for the overnight journey into New Orleans.

All Aboard!