Got up early, packed and headed to Union Station for breakfast. The first class lounge, called the Acela lounge in Washington, has a wifi setup so I worked my email and browsed the web some. Pre-boarding for train 51 the Cardinal, was called at 10:40. The Cardinal is the second train I'm riding that I've never been on before, the first being the Crescent from New Orleans to Washington. I got to my room, set up my computer, hooked up my GPS and waited for departure. The Cardinal departed at 11:20, about 10 minutes late. Since we departed by going into the tunnel under Washington, I lost my GPS fix. Sometimes it's hard to get that back while moving at a high speed.
Well, I guess we were moving slow enough so the GPS hooked up right away. Windows Vista however choose that time to automatically install an update and then restart. I think I have that option turned off now. For lunch I got to experience "Diner Lite." In an effort to save money, Amtrak has reconfigured some of it's diners so there is a lounge in one end of a car and diner seating in the other with a preparation area in the middle. Two people are used to run the snack bar and prepare and serve food in the diner that has been precooked and is heated up. The hamburger I had was okay, even though I ordered chicken, so we'll see how it works for dinner tonight.
After an eleven minute stop in Charlottesville, VA we left there at 2:25, about 30 minutes late. It seem strange that a train headed from Washington to Chicago would be as far south as Charlottesville but I guess that has a lot to do with finding a way through the mountains. After after another dip to the south, we cross UNDER the Appalachian Trail and the Blue Ridge Parkway in a tunnel. Out of Staunton, VA at 3:38, about 40 minutes late. I've actually been to Staunton before, on my way to the N-scale convention in Chantilly, VA several years ago. I stopped here and parked my trailer in a local RV park so I could visit the Cass Scenic Railroad in West Virginia via roads that I would never take my trailer on. Staunton is a pretty little mountain town and they have a library with a nice genealogy dept. and free wifi.
We wound through the mountains and met the east bound Cardinal at Goshen, VA. Went to dinner, had the salmon, it was very good. During dinner we passed into West Virginia, I'm not sure exacly where. We followed the Greenbriar river for quite some time then connected with the New River. The New River Gorge is said to be quite spectacular. Too bad we will be doing most of it after dark.Out of Hinton, WV at 7:39, one hour 38 min. late. Finally at Hinton, it looks like we may be headed north for the rest of the trip.
