Random thoughts from the sea
May 11, 2018, Dallas: The romance of the rails drew me to traveling through the American West on Amtrak. I saw the country as I imagined the pioneers saw it – miles upon miles of grasslands, great river crossings, mountain ranges and canyons. I traveled in style, sleeping in my
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April 24, 2018 Dallas: Even though this was my sixth and final Amtrak leg of this trip, I “achieved” several firsts on it. The train’s arrival was the first time I experienced a significant delay. It also was the first time I had a scheduled layover of several hours between
Continue readingMy host in Kansas City for three days, Ginzy, isn’t a morning person, so I grabbed an Uber to Union Station to begin my shortest Amtrak journey of the trip – the Missouri River Runner. It travels between Kansas City and St. Louis, where I will join the Texas Eagle
Continue readingI’ve seen a lot of beautiful scenery on this train journey, but today I saw my first wildlife. A herd of elk grazed in the meadow near the track as we were about to leave northeast New Mexico for Colorado. Not just a handful of elk, but perhaps 40 or
Continue readingWhen I realized that I would almost 24 hours in Los Angeles before my next train left, I decided to follow a suggestion from Trip Advisor and take a food tour. The Six Taste walking food tour is top rated, and they have a Sunday tour in downtown LA from
Continue readingThe last time I rode in the coach section of Amtrak was for seven hours from Chicago to Kansas City a year ago. I watched videos the whole way, as there wasn’t a lot of stunning scenery. This time I spent about 12 hours on the Coast Starlight, from Emeryville
Continue readingAll those stunning photographs of Amtrak trains in scenic locations have a couple of things in common. Professional photographers most likely took them. And the photographers were not on the trains, but taking pictures of passing trains. It’s not so easy when you are on the train, but there are
Continue readingI almost panicked after boarding Amtrak’s California Zephyr early Thursday morning. I had meant to download more Netflix and Amazon Prime shows before continuing my trip to the west coast. I had almost two full days on the train. On earlier legs of this Amtrak journey, I had caught up
Continue readingA feel of excitement filled the air in Chicago’s Union Station Sunday afternoon. Within a little more than an hour, four classic Amtrak journeys west were about to depart. The Texas Eagle would head south to Dallas and San Antonio and then west to Los Angeles. A few minutes later
Continue readingIs taking a journey on Amtrak really like taking a voyage on a cruise ship? Neither trip is likely to get you to your destination faster than a jet. But both are more about the journey. On Amtrak, you may get a feeling for the vastness of America, depending on
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