| Matt's Tips for Long Railroad Trips So if you thought--like Gene Wilder in Silver Streak--that taking a long train trip for a couple of days would be a great way to relax and get caught up on your reading, you are mistaken. There's lots to do andsee. Here are a few tips which might help you plan your trip. 1. Go to www.amtrak.com and just look around. Click on the "Routes" icon to get an idea of places to go. The site also has information about specials that seem to be very popular. I booked my reservation on the website and had no problems. 2. I'm not saying that the folks in coach are the wretched refuse of anyone's teeming shores, but if you can swing it financially, get something on the sleeper. In addition to the privacy, you'll have access to showers, reservations in the dining car, and a special steward on each sleeping car who will look after your well-being. 3. Book early. Sleepers fill up fast. 4. What Amtrak likes to call "roomettes" are great if it's just you or just you and a small child. If two normal-sized adults are traveling together, it 's better to get a regular bedroom. 5. Even if you're traveling coach, eat your meals in the dining car. The food is quite good, and as on cruises, you are compelled to eat with others. Everyone I ate with was terrific and had great stories to tell. 6. Trains have a bad reputation for being chronically late. I can't generalize, but my train arrived in Portland a half-hour early. 7. If you're a smoker, your smoking breaks are litmited to the occasional opportunity to go out on the platform when the train is in station. 8. Be open to meeting new people. It 's one of the best perks of the trip. 9. Generally speaking, "early to bed and early to rise" is the best strategy for train riding. I didn't see anyone who looked like Paul Newman running a poker game as in The Sting, and the bar closes at 10 pm. They dim the lights in the coach, and there's not a lot to see outside in the darkness. I was generally in bed at ten and up around six in the morning. 10. Occasionally, a train will be scheduled for a twenty-minute stop in a city. Don't plan to take in a lot of sights in that time period. It's just about enough time to go into the station and get a newspaper or ice cream from the vending machine. 11. Regardless of how old you are, you'll be the youngest person on the train. 12. Don't expect to get much use out of your cell phone or laptop. (For me, this was one of the very best features of the trip.) 13. Spend as much time as possible looking out the window. It's a beautiful country.. |
| Every two or three hours, the train would stop and let passengers get out, stretch their legs, smoke as much of a cigarette as possible, and take a stab at cell phone coverage. When I got to Portland (a half-hour early!) on Saturday morning, my wonderful friend, Vonne Good, met me at the station, and we spent a beautiful day visiting four of the wineries in the Wilhamette Valley region and the Evergreen Aviation Museum--the new home of the "Spruce Goose", since it left Long Beach a few years back. There's no way I could get the entire plane in one photo, but here are a couple of photos of Vonnie and me with the tail section and the model of the plane that was used in the movie The Aviator. It was a great trip. If you ever get the chance, do it. You'll love it. |
| So why is a train that goes from Chicago to Portland called The Empire Builder? It's named for James J. "Empire Builder" Hill, who founded the Northern Pacific Railroad in the 19th century. His railroad opened a vast segment of the continent to economic development. Here's a statue of Mr. Hill in front of the station in Havre, Montana. For more information about the route, I boarded at Cincinnati at 3 a.m, and we arrived in Chicago seven hours later. After checking my bags, I went for a stroll and discovered that Union Station is only block away from Sears Tower, which I had never visited. So I checked it out and took this picture, looking toward the new Frank Geary buidling in Grant Park (lower right), Navy Pier and Lake Michigan. |
| ... As you'd probably suspect, the scenery was the highlight of the trip. I don't think we ever actually got into the Badlands of North Dakota, but the scenery at right was not too far away. It's very difficult to take a digital photo from a moving train. I spent almost an hour trying to get a decent shot of Mt. Hood. This is as good as I could get. |
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| Riding the Empire Builder, September 2005 |
| At two p.m., I boarded the train and was immediately greeted by my sleeping car host, O.C. Smith, from McComb, Mississippi (right). Needless to say, we bonded right away, and he took very good care of me for the duration of the trip. At one point, I heard an announcement asking everyone who had signed up for the wine tasting to report to the dining car. I hadn't heard anything about it and told O.C. that I was sorry I was going to miss it. His response was that he knew I'd want to go and had signed up for me. I found out shortly that not only is he an outstanding sleeping car host, he runs a mean wine tasting as well. At said wine tasting, I met the folks at left. George from Milan, Indiana, which is where I go to ride my bicycle on nice days. If he hadn't told me that he sent his daughter to Xavier, I would have thought him to be entirely convivial and intelligent. |