Wouldn't you know

Amtrak will not make a reservation with a connection of less than one hour. I presume that if you figured away around that and made separate reservations, you would just be out of luck if the first train was late and you missed the connection. In my past experience they have been very good about making it good if you missed one they guaranteed. So, Texas Eagle scheduled to arrive in Chicago at 1:52 pm. Empire Builder scheduled to leave at 2:15. No way will Amtrak guarantee that close so a layover in Chicago is required.

But hotels in downtown Chicago are expensive and I got the suggestion that I should go on to Milwaukee on the next available Hiawatha Service train and find a cheaper hotel there. Then I could catch the Empire Builder in Milwaukee the next day. Sure enough, four blocks from the Milwaukee station I found a Best Western for about half the price of what I could find near the Amtrak station in Chicago. Hiawatha Service has a train that leaves Chicago at 3:15 and another at 5:08 and again at 8:05. So I set it all up and planned to take some additional advice I got about Milwaukee and eat at Maders which was very convenient to the Best Western. Everything went fine. I got to Chicago on time and because I was arriving in a sleeper I had access to the First Class Lounge. The lady there told me to go to gate B at 2:45. I checked my email on their free wifi, got me a free glass of orange juice and read a little. Then I headed for gate B. When I got there the lady asked me if I was getting on the Milwaukee train or the Empire Builder. "What! The Empire Builder left an hour and a half ago." "No, they were running late, please wait over here for the Hiawatha." When I finally boarded the Hiawatha the Empire Builder was sitting on the other side of the same platform and was still there when we left. Wouldn't you know!

Breakfast in St. Louis

I was up at 6am. We were a little early into St. Louis and it was raining. Thinking I couldn't explore in the rain, I went to breakfast. I was surprised to find Tamales on the menu. The tamale was meaty and tasty and along with scrambled eggs, hash browns and some salsa was pretty darn good. By the time I finished breakfast the rain had stopped and I had plenty of time to explore. The new depot is a bit north of the old Amshack and set way back from the tracks. It's reached by going up either an escalator or and elevator and crossing above the tracks to the main building. There was a nice waiting area, small food service area, a very small retail area closed at 7:30 in the morning and a Greyhound bus station. A short walk away was the Metro station. Overall, a GREAT improvement from the previous version.

End of day one

Diner Lite is not as bad as some have said. This is the limited menu, reduced staffing, plastic plate service in the "new" diner/lounge cars. Existing diners were reconfigured with a diner area and a lounge area with the idea of eliminating one car on a train. On the Eagle they still have the lounge car and the supposed lounge area of the diner is used to serve meals. I suppose this is a sign of flexibility. The menu is somewhat limited. For instance on the lunch menu there was no chicken dish offered unless you wanted to add grilled chicken to a spinach salad. Dinner had about four choices but my trout was very good. All the food is served on hard plastic plates that are then discarded. Lunch is eaten with plastic utensils but dinner rates stainless. There is no dishwasher on board so dinner utensils are carefully conserved by the service staff. "Save your fork for dessert" we were told, "we don't have extras." We are coming into Little Rock and I expect good 3G service to send this post. After that I'm going to bed and hope to get up early enough in the morning to eat breakfast then check out the new station in St. Louis.

On the Railroad Again

I can't imagine why anybody would be interested in this but it's fun and creates a sort of journal for me when dementia sets in. This Amtrak trip will not be nearly as long as my previous one but the technology has changed so much in two years it's amazing. Last time I was depending on the odd wifi site or dial in and generally only posted when not riding the train. This time I have an "Air card" from AT&T and have had good luck getting mail and web pages since leaving San Marcos, TX. Even in the depths of the East Texas Piney Woods I got pretty good service. I'm now in Southern Arkansas and service is more spotty but still getting out occasionally. We are just now coming into Malvern, AR. I have a strong five bar signal but my iPhone shows it to be AT&T's EDGE service rather than 3G. However it's good enough for some text.

Los Angeles to El Paso part II

Woke up in the middle of the desert, somewhere between Benson, AZ and Lordsburg, NM. Got up and went to breakfast in time to pass through Lordsburg. Had breakfast with a family of three ... daughter, mother and grandmother. They were on their way to Texas to visit great-grandmother. The resemblance between the three was striking. Back to my room to prepare for arrival in El Paso. When we arrived in Deming, NM I alerted my friend in El Paso, who was to pick me up, that we were about an hour 45 mins late. I guess that with my arrival in El Paso, my Amtrak Adventure is officially over. Still have to get back to Austin with my trailer but that should be just a lot of driving.

The End ...

Thanks for watching.

Los Angeles to El Paso

Slept late .. 8am. Messed around with my computer and headed to El Paseo Inn to see if Chilaquiles were the same as Migas. They're not but were very good anyway. In fact, both meals I had at El Paseo Inn were quite good. Check out time for the hotel is noon and the train leaves today for El Paso at 2:30 so I think I'll hang out in the hotel lobby for awhile. Los Angeles Passenger Terminal is one of the few major Amtrak stations that doesn't have a first class lounge. Got to the station just in time buy a couple of Cokes and sit down. They called my train and I was aboard 30 minutes before departure time. Departed at 2:32, already late. <G> First stop Pomona, CA. Departed there at 3:20, 9 minutes late after just 32 miles. Next stop Ontario, CA. Departed there at 3:37, now 13 minutes late. Looks like I might be having dinner in Palm Springs. Now stopped at the east end of the Ontario airport. Don't know why. Just watched a plane land that had TED in big letters on the fuselage. Need to find out what that is. Well, we just met a UP freight and have now started moving. I guess freight delays will be pretty common on this trip. While I was at dinner we waited for two freights then pulled into Palm Springs, actually North Palm Springs and departed there at 6:47. We are now one hour and forty-six minutes late. We are now skirting the Salton Sea. Our elevation, according to Topo USA is approximately 160 ft below sea level. Hope the dam doesn't break.

Here we are in Yuma, AZ. Too bad I can't jump off and ride the Yuma Valley Railroad. That is the only full size excursion train I missed this summer and some time I'll have to make an opportunity to ride it just 'cus. Departed Yuma at 9:50, one hour twenty-six minutes late. Seems we made up some time. Tucson was in the middle of the night. Looked out the window but didn't check the time. This is another place I would like to jump off and ride a couple of park trains I missed. Someday ...

I awoke in Arizona. It was hard to tell how far behind we were as I was confused by the time. Arizona doesn't observe daylight savings time so essentially we were already on Pacific Daylight time. The train timetable was not clear if the station times reflected this or you had to adjust for it. Eventually we settled that by passing into California and we were about two hours behind the timetable. Amtrak timetables have a lot of pad built into the last station stop so actual arrival time was about one hour late.

I had a hotel reservation in LA but arriving so early, I knew there was going to be a problem. I walked the three blocks to my hotel and presented myself about 9:30. Sure enough, the lady at the desk informs me that I can't check in until four o'clock. Perhaps I might like to explore China town or Olvera street nearby. Well I settled down in the lobby with my laptop and started catching up with email. I can read email from my iPhone easily enough but complicated replies I put off if I can. Took care of all of that, checked on my credit cards, anything I could think of. So then nature calls, I look around a little, don't see a restroom in the lobby so I ask at the desk. "No we don't have a restroom here" she says," you can go down the street to" somewhere I didn't catch, "it's only a minute away." Well, that didn't appeal to me so I decided to go to the Subway I had seen next door and eat lunch then use their facility. Had lunch but this turns out to be the only Subway I've ever been to that didn't have a customer restroom. Things are getting serious so I decided to walk back over to Union Station and while I was there I would browse their bookstore. No problem finding the restroom but the bookstore I thought I saw had only magazines. I stopped at the Information Desk at the entrance of the station and a very nice gentleman there told me he bought all his books at a store in Santa Montica. However, if I didn't want to ride the bus out there, I could take the Red Line subway to Macy's Plaza and they had a Borders Express there. Sounds like a plan. $1.25 for a ticket, third stop and off the train and up the escalator. At the top I encountered a metro security guard so I checked with him. Well, "there are two Macy's Plaza'a he says, which one do I want? " "The one with the bookstore." I say so he says" turn right." Went up another escalator and straight out the door and turned right. Walked a block or so and saw no Macy's Plaza. Hmpt! I saw another security guard standing in front of a bank so I asked him if he knew where Macy's plaza was. "NO" he replied with no further explanation. Kept walking a little bit and encountered something called 7 + Fig. Sure enough, lots of stores around a central courtyard and a Macy's department store is one of them. No book store however. So I backtrack. Maybe he meant go left after all but checking down the street that way got me nowhere. Now I'm standing across the street from Metro entrance and trying to decide what to do. Hate to waste a trip but asking for help hasn't been very useful. Then I notice that the entrance to the station is on a corner. I came out the door onto Figueroa street. The other door opens onto 7th street. Coming out the 7th street door, 7 + Fig is on the left and sure enough, a block and a half down 7th street to the right is Macy's Plaza. Found the book store, bought a book and headed back to the hotel. At the hotel there was a crowd around the desk so I plopped back down in the same chair and prepared to wait until 4 pm. Then I realized, even though most of the conversations were in Chinese, that these folks were checking in. I waited until things settled down a little bit and walked over to the desk. I looked at the lady behind the desk. She looked at me. I said, "do you have a room for me yet?" "Sure" she says, "where'd you go?" She handed me the key and I headed for the room. First thing I did was take a nap.

Despite the confusion in the lobby, I can recommend the Metro Plaza Hotel for anyone laying over in Los Angeles on an Amtrak trip. The hotel has been recently renovated, the facade, the lobby and the rooms. The room are nicely done with mahogany doors and furniture and the rooms and bathrooms are spacious and clean. Although the room AC worked well, the lobby and the halls are not air conditioned which seemed a little strange.

Went over to Olvera street for dinner. Olvera street is a small piece of old Los Angeles that contains mostly markets selling Mexican souviners but also a number of nice resturants and small street resturants. One building dates back to 1818. I had my usual Enchiladas Suizas at the El Paseo Inn and now I'm going to bed. They also serve breakfast, starting at 9:30. If I can wait that late I may try their Chilaquiles Sabrosa which they claim is the same as Migas. We'll see.