Moving again

The Empire Builder of 12 June 2009 was not late into Milwaukee and we left the station on-time. Got my GPS hooked to my computer map and my air card hooked to the internet and my railroad scanner tuned to the current channel and I'm ready to go. From listening to the scanner, it sounds like we may have both a female engineer and a female conductor. The car attendant, O. C., figured if he wanted to know what was happening to the train he'd come check with me.

I had a nice visit in Milwaukee. Everything was on foot so my range was liited. Down on the lake front I saw a tour being conducted on Segways. Now that would be fun. They have some well preserved old buildings here, very unusual architecture in some of them and some very modern stuff, the Art Museum on the lake front is quite distinctive. I think I would like to come back here sometime and explore a bit more, just not in the winter time.

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 ...