Author: billybobrailcom

Before I really get to the down and dirty part of this blog I want to mention one very lovely occurence at breakfast the day before yesterday. Normally, breakfast on the train at 6:15 is pretty dismal as nobody is totally awake or even functioning.( that is what coffee is for!) Any way I was seated with a young woman who seemed to be both foreign and elegant. She soon pulled out a I-pad and proceeded to play a selection from the opera “Lakme'”, The Flower Song!” What a heck of way to wake up to reality on a train. And although it was very soft she repeated it all through the meal- Now that is an adventure on the train! You just never know. . . !

Now for the down side of the trip. Up to now it was going swimmingly, it was “Party down, dude.” But last night it was a rude awakening. It was pretty much the same,up to time for the beds to be made up. Not too sure what happened but after the call button was pushed, no car attendant showed up to do the magic thing with the bed.( for the unknowing among you, in the sleeper the bed is converted from a bench seat, the mechanism flattens out and then a mattress and sheets and blanket are put on top of it. But this process does require someone who knows how to do it!) So after waiting a decent time, I pushed the call button again and again nothing , so at 10 pm. I decided to take things into my own hands and just sack out on the seat without any bed clothes. Great idea and had potential but it was cold as the AC unit in my room knew no decency . So zipping up my jacket and getting out my slipper socks, I braved it out. I did get some sleep however fitful. But there was the nagging idea that the train was supposed to arrive at 5:45 but it was going to be early. And as I kept checking the Amtrak site, it would say it was early then it was getting a bit late. Finally, at the last couple of stops before Los Angeles, it was 54 minutes early. So right now I am taking advantage of Amtrak’s generosity and using the Metro lounge for a few hours until I can check into the hotel. ( Even then I will have to hang out in the lobby for a while since check in time is 3:00 pm even with a request for an earlier check in time.) 

I guess that the Amtrak police patrol the waiting area of the station pretty regularly and if you are not meeting someone or waiting for a train then you have no business sitting around. ( I am afraid I fall into that classification so the Metro Lounge is a nice refuge!) The irony of all this is I will have to repeat this again tomorrow night as there is a disparity between check out time and departure time, but at least there is a legitimate reason for hanging out in the lounge as my ticket is legitimate and if I don’t make a scene or hog the coffee machine or make obnoxious noises around the television set they might allow me to wait for the train in relative peace and quiet away from the riff-raff down in the seats in the lobby. ( I didn’t again realize the irony of that statement until I came to the lobby before actually going to the metropolitan lounge and sat down among the various passengers from my train or at least at that hour they had to be. Immediately, the Amtrak police were there sorting out the hangers on from the real passengers. What a chore that must be as some times the coach folks are a very disreputable lot!)

Now the traveler reveals why he really likes his hotel in downtown LA in spite of the plethora of sirens!

Holy jumping desert phenomenon! Now just out side of Lordsburg, NM. I can see at least 5 different dust devils of various sizes. I guess that indicates some pretty active thermals in the area. The nice thing about the desert is you can see for miles so almost any feature is easily noticed. And just so you are aware in Lordsburg they serve “real Mexican Food” as apposed to fake Mexican food! ( at least that is what the sign on the cafe in town says!) Along about supper time we will cross over into Arizona. All this time from Texas on to California we will be in the “Gladsten Purchase.” In the 1840s the United States purchased a small part of Mexico to extend the border to accommodate the railroad which was not to be built until the 1870s. That route is the one that the present day Sunset Limited ( the train that I am riding ) takes. It was the old Southern Pacific route.  

Just before I begin the trek for lunch the land scape has changed again and it’s flat but way in the distance I can see the brown smudges of the mountains disappearing into the clouds. Just off in the distance some of them have a whisper of snow on them. Like powdered sugar on a cookie. For now we have gotten out of the rain and it’s partly cloudy. Now we have gone into New Mexico and changed time zones. At least my I-phone is tied to the Atomic Clock and changes automatically, while my analog wristwatch requires my attention and broken fingernails to change it. At El Paso I got out for some fresh air but it was really hot after the cool of the train and earlier stops ,89 is warm and so my presence in the “fresh” air was momentary. Of course, we are now in deserts of New Mexico. Although right where we are at old Mexico is just a few yards over to our left. With the service stop at El Paso I was able to do a complete clothing change over in to some fresh clothes for my arrival in Los Angeles. My adoring fans would expect nothing less. ( and less is what they will get!) 

This part of New Mexico is flat and barren for the most part with mountains in the misty distance and although there are fences and gates I question what kind of activity is going on as all I can see is big rolls of hay for non- existent livestock. It is hard to tell if there is wind blowing but I did see a dust devil a moment ago. In reality it is this kind of scenery that makes the whole trip worthwhile if any excuse was needed in the first place. 

Somewhere in the middle of the West Texas scrub land where it’s dark and raining. Well, the adventure of staying on the train while the cars are booted about in San Antoino was a non- starter. I was asleep for most of the adventure. I looked out the window after the banging and crunching went on for awhile, and we sat on a siding. The next time I looked there was a old Southern Pacific locomotive next to us and we were a train again. Now as with the Texas Eagle the car I am in is at the end of the train and there are three coaches and the lounge car ahead of us before the diner. this morning it made for a bit of a hike to get the the diner and step over all the sleeping bodies and feet and heads sticking out in the aisles. And I wasn’t paying attention when we passed through Del Rio, Texas. That is where the disk jockey, Wolfman Jack got his start selling autographed pictures of Jesus Christ on the radio! One thing I am sure when some one was passing out trees, west Texas was not interested in any. Most of what is passing for trees are oversized weeds with an attitude. Even these are a poor excuse for a real tree. From what I can see from the train, this is a country of high hopes and zero follow through. Even the fences seem to be pretending to do their job. Now that it is light the landscape is flat, the soil is sandy and the ground cover is low and sort of a gray purplish color. Back in the old days when I watched a lot of cowboy movies, Texas was the west and this is where the great cattle empires were, and are. But West Texas the only thing that I can see being raised is rocks. But out near the horizon there are stories. Or the potential of stories. Empty stream beds, fences that might have once been a home stead, wind mills sagging on old rusted legs. No galant men on big steeds riding like the wind, chasing after evil doers, nor parties of native Americans swooping down on unsuspecting wagon trains, it’s too far south and west for that kind of stuff. My imagination did not encompass where the movies were really made and it wasn’t here in West Texas. More like north of Hollywood, USA at Knots berry farm or in the hills around Los Angeles. With a shooting schedule of 18 days or less, West Texas was not in the budget. 

Just had a stop at Alpine, Texas a neat little town with things happening besides the daily train. It surrounded by brooding mesas and tall rock out croppings. Not too sure what it’s industry is but it looks like farming and ranching are high on the list. Since we are close to New Mexico and Arizona the land is changing and is more of a “foothill” landscape! And now the bushes have an attitude of becoming trees inspite of the weather trying to beat them down. This is kind of the western land scape that I have always imagined was out beyond the Mississippi River. 

Off on the second of the “bucket list” trips. In examining the first, adjustments were made to the processes and packing. I was pretty adamate about the use of a rucksack as my ancillary baggage and how it did not work for me. The use of a “messenger bag” seems to solve most of the problems-( in going through Union Station, yesterday, the treck out of the lounge and down the platform worked with out slippage or lack of balance all the way.) The only slight problem was that of getting it off the handle of the “wheely” bag once on the train but it was solved quickly. Last night proved that the business with using warm up clothes as traveling attire was a good idea and worked pretty well. Also the use of the sock slippers was also a good move in that it kept my feet moderately warm and comfortable. Although not really part of the process of the trip, the shutdown of the house went better the second time. Including the problem with the sink in the bathroom. ( being able to finally get the shut-off valve to function as it was supposed to was a plus.) The only down side is not solving the problem with the back door, which is a matter of seeing why the lock will not entirely engage. 

Some notes on the Chicago Union Depot main hall which, finally I got to see this go around! I have seen this hall several times and it is one of the more interesting places to catch the train. In the present form it has reverted back to its original use of a waiting room. As other spaces with in the station are being prepared for special use facilities. I.e. “The women’s waiting room” The stairs coming down from Canal street, the main entrance into the station are a bit daunting especially if your hands are full of luggage. Now the new Metro lounge is easy to find where the old one was a bit more hidden on the platform level of the station. Interestingly enough this time we did not get the “kindergarten March” to the train but were Just told where to go and went ( see above.) At the gate to the platform we were divided into the various groups as before. The importance of union station in Chicago is never stressed much until you realize that every long distance train passes through that station,plus many of the Midwest regional trains likewise.

Also mentioned before was my adventures at Union Station after joining the army and being shipped off to Ft. Leonard Wood. I still cannot figure out where the USO was located in that depot. I am pretty sure that I will never locate it. ( I wasn’t there very long and didn’t ever come back through the station for a long time after.)

Just finished a stop at Marshall Texas with quite a depot. Marshall is an old town on the rail road.It also has a long history of being a major player during the War of Rebellion or the Civil war. Functioning as capital of Missouri in exile when the state reverted to the Union. Also as a major supply base for the south in the early years of the Civil war.  East Texas is green and not much different from Illinois although the difference is subtle and in the rain it’s somewhat swampy. The soil when exposed is reddish rather than black or brown. At this time I am listening to a pod-cast about the route of the “Texas Eagle.”( I should have done this earlier but I thought it would be nice to do it while on the train.) Texas is the second biggest state in growing peanuts! So all the green crops I have been seeing was not soy beans but peanuts. As we get further into Texas the country changes, more scrub oak and pine trees. As I have mentioned in blogs before traveling on the train is a bit like being a peeping tom as you get to see into a lot of back yards and hidden parts of the land. And we Americans are messy lot. Piles of trash, old cars and in Texas old oil wells and the obsolete equipment there of. Stories every where, tumbled down houses, garages, old businesses, rail spurs that go off nowhere. The ones that interest me are ones with yellow derailures attached to one side of the rails. What is up that track that is so important to keep from the main line? 

We have been stopped in Ft. Worth for almost an hour for crew changes and servicing. We were early coming in and we will be early leaving according to the projected time of arrival we will be early into Los Angeles tomorrow. ( that will be fun as we are early in the morning as is and now earlier still! ) At least, in Ft Worth, the monsoons have let up and it is just cloudy. From here we will start south towards Houston and San Antonio. Now it gets exciting as this is unknown territory for this train rider. All the better, that’s my philosophy! 

More fun than you can shake a stick at! We arrived in Chicago in plenty of time, but my inattentiveness to where the depot was gave us a fine tour of the loop of Chicago. Thank goodness for the patience of my brother-in-law, Pete, since we circled the immediate neighborhood of the depot several times while I figured out where we were. ( Some co-pilot I am!) Anyway we made it in plenty of time and I found the new and improved Metropolitan Lounge with very little trouble and I was able to negotiate the stairs to the main hall of the depot with out falling on my face! I gather the new lounge is much better than the old and while I was there they had a wine and cheese tasting. I was not all that excited as I had not had lunch and wine on an empty stomach is not a good idea. My idea of a snack pack paid off and I had some nuts and crackers and that will suffice until dinner. The place was packed! But there were several trains that left at almost the same time. Again, the usual line up, those who needed help, people with children, military personal with orders and anyone over the age of 62 ( pretty much the whole place as far as I could see. )
Since the last two cars are the ones that will be dumped in San Antonio and then added to the Sunset Limited, the walk to the train was abrevated. Of course the first thing I want to know is where in the consist is the dining car and we have lucked out as its only one coach car away from the sleeper.
The most important thing on this trip is to keep the electronics charged and ready for what ever they will be needed for. So the first thing out the bag was the cords and the charging unit. Phone, Wi-Fi hot spot, and the I-phone are all in charge mode.
On the way down state and from what I can see the corn looks pretty good and almost ready for picking as do the beans. As far as I can see this is corn and bean country and all the fields are planted horizon to horizon.
As we are moving along I just looked up and the fields are full of wind generators from edge of fields to the horizon and then are BIG! All are slowly turning in the wind like big ancient beings. They seem to facing in all directions.

A couple of thoughts on the trip, now that it is over and some time has passed. First, in most ways the trip was a success, all the planning, all the forethought paid off and mostly the whole trip went off as planned. In fact there were no major glitches anywhere along the way. As mentioned before, most of any minor problems were in either taking too much stuff or a small failure of the stuff that was taken. Expectations were kept under control and so that controlled any factor of disappointment. The reaction to the trip was I would repeat it in the blink of an eye, and the American west is a feast for the eyes and experience that you have to have at least once in this life.
Now there will be the question of where do we go next? How soon and what will should I take. Of all the things that were purchased for the trip, the I-phone and the I-pad were the most valuable and used most.( along with the personal “Hot-spot” that replaced Wi-Fi connections that might have not been available.) They replaced physical books, CDs for music, compasses and other items that would be just too much to carry. (Since the big complaint was everything was too heavy or cumbersome.) Even as the trip was in progress things were added to each of the devices that aided in making them even more useful. There were some interesting discoveries also in what was taken along and how they might be organized in the next trips.
The other idea and intent of the trip(s) is the compilation of the blogs along the way into some kind of document such as a book! The individual blogs have been printed out in hard copy so that some kind of editing may take place before any attempt of creating a continuous narrative can be undertaken.
For this round of the journey, the numbered blogs are stopped, there are some additional material that will still need to be included. How this will be accomplished is in question at the present time but will be solved mostly by the material itself and how it will be presented.

There is always a bit of a let down when you come back from a trip. Mainly, you are faced with all the loose ends you left as you tried to get going and now are still there to haunt you. Projects undone, people not contacted, e-mails not answered, like that! In this case there is the business of saying, “well I am back and no more train stories for the near future.” In some sense that is what I am saying but as I have some more stuff to add to all this carrying on I will just say, “Stay tuned for new developements!” As there will be new stuff added shortly but I need to retrench, get my act together and do some work before I continue. But up til now, thanks for reading this stuff.

Riding the rails was an experience I knew I would enjoy and now that I am decompressing from the fun, I am now trying to evaluate what I saw, did and generally accomplished. Originally, my plan was to illustrate what I was seeing and doing with drawings, I was so sure that I could make it work. I was very disappointed to find out that I could not draw, even a little bit on the train, it was just too rough. Also, I could not focus and see the stuff I might draw as the panorama moved too quickly to take it in. Now I am not abandoning the idea just rethinking the execution of it. Just now I am beginning the process of printing out the blogs so I can see what I have said so far and where I want to terminate this thread. There are unused photos still in the file and things I did not address on the trip that need to be talked about. One thing about the experience, you had a chance to see how other people did with the same stuff. Observation is a good teacher, it also brings on the “What were they thinking” process too! For a visual person just one hour in a waiting room or depot gives material for years of images to work on and I suppose is one of the other innumerable experiences that one will get from traveling.
The next thing in the process is to plan for the second part of the trip. But now I have done one I can see what I did right, wrong and totally missed the mark. It will be fun to see how I can adapt the process as I go along. In retrospect, all the planning, working on a calendar, dummy input of information into the Amtrak site, all panned out quite nicely. Each of the legs of the trip worked well, including the stops in each of the cities. The original idea was so that I could make good connections but what it turned out to be was a good time to rest, recoup and get my bearings even if it was just over night. It seems this might be a plan to continue along with booking into the same chain of hotels for the various perks and customer points that will lead to sometime down the line a free night or nights. Although pricey, booking a room rather than a roomette or coach was a good and valid idea. ( I might add even though it was mostly serendipity, the roomette on the lower part of the car was also a good thing.)
The planning for the next trip, the dummy input into the website, and spacing on the calendar is well on its way and has even been tentively scheduled. Again, I am faced with a problem of the beginning of the trip. This time it’s getting from Moline to Chicago, in the original plan formulated when it looked as if Moline would be getting Amtrak service it would have been a piece of cake and a nice trip. But since that is at a stand-still I will have to work out transport to Chicago in time to catch the train on the day that I leave. Right now this trip will be shorter than the first as there is no planned layovers except in Chicago again since the connection is off by several hours and Amtrak will not make the booking.
At this point in time( 2 days after getting back from the first trip) I might have solved the luggage problem, some of the clothing problems and maybe some of the organizational packing problems but we will see when the orders get here.

Now we see how our hero wraps up this adventure and tries to pull in all the loose ends.