2006 Amtrak vacation

Cincy to Boston and back

Summary of a trip to Boston.

Another trip for 2007

This is going to be a catch up. I’m planning a quick trip for 2007. I’ve sort of been thinking about it for two months and I should have started this back then but I didn’t, so, I’ll try to catch up in one session.

I tell all of my friends how much I’ve enjoyed my trips on Amtrak and tell them they should try it some time. Frances and I were visiting our friends, Pat and Penny when the subject came up again. Pat said he’d like to take a trip sometime. We talked a few minutes and Pat said he could take off four days for a trip and wondered where we could go in that time frame. I told him that I would have to look at some schedules / timetables to see what we could do. I guess we could drive to Cincinnati and take the train to Chicago. That’s not a very exciting trip since most of it is during the night. I was thinking about Cincinnati (trains 50/51) to Chicago and then to Whitefish Mt. (trains 7/8) or Salt Lake City (trains 5/6). After a quick scan of the timetables I found that they were out of the question. If we were not going to be able to go through the Rockies, then we would be missing the best parts of those trips. Also, I didn’t want to go somewhere, get off the train, wait 90 minutes in the middle of downtown nowhere, and then catch the train back towards home. What other options did we have. Maybe a trip on the City of New Orleans (trains 58/59) might work. Too much time lost between trains in Chicago and poor timing in New Orleans to make that work well. How about going east? I knew we could go to Washington, D.C. (trains 50/51.) New York was possible but the train arrives around midnight and departs for the return trip around 8:00AM. That wasn’t very desirable. Oh, one other thing. Train 50/51 only runs 3 days a week and we would have to spend two nights in New York. What if we went to Boston? How would those connections work? A quick trip to www.amtrak.com and “WOW,” I think we could do that. Lets see….

Leave CIN on Friday morning around 3:00AM (train 50)
Arrive WAS (DC) Friday evening, around 6:00 PM
Depart WAS at 10:00PM. (train 66)
Arrive BOS 8:00AM Saturday
Spend the day touring Boston
Depart BOS at 9:45PM Saturday evening (train 67)
Arrive WAS at 7:00AM Sunday morning, layover for a few hours
Depart WAS around 11:00AM (train 51)
Arrive CIN 1:00AM Monday morning.
Drive back to Louisville and still have time to rest.

And the cost??? $161.00 per person. Since I wanted to get the most miles for the bucks this looked like a good option. Over 2100 miles round trip, actually 2108 miles.

I sent this info home with Penny the next day and talked to Pat a day or two later. He liked the idea but wanted to wait until the fall. He was going to have some eye surgery and wanted to get through that before making a commitment. Besides, the colors might be nice in the fall and the weather should be a little cooler.

Stay tuned for updates.

Long overdue summary

I should have done this months ago. A summary of our trip, the good and the bad.

We're home but not without some additional adventure.

We're home in Louisville now. The adventure continued, even after we arrived in Chicago. Amtrak was great compared to, well, you'll just have to read the rest of it.

Still late, but some things are better.

A mechanic boarded in St Paul. Things got better and rumors traveled through the train "faster than a speeding locomotive." (I borrowed that line from Superman.)

It gets worse.

Besides being late, things are starting to break. Important things like the restrooms and the airconditioning.

We make up time and then give it away.

Nine hours late, then ten hours late. We make up a little here and there and we're nine hours late again. Then we get stuck waiting for another train and we loose all the time we had made up.

The adventure continues.....

I'll catch you tomorrow

It’s 11:00PM and we should be just a little past Rugby, North Dakota. That’s about five hundred miles from Havre, Montana, and Havre is where we are right now. Every time we make up a few minutes it seems that we have those minutes vanish at a station or while waiting for another train to pass. We passed the westbound train 7 around Essex, Montana. As the two trains parted I heard the engineer on train 7 tell our engineer, “Hey T-bone, you slow down anymore and I’ll catch you tomorrow." That’s not far from wrong. If he is on time tomorrow he will only be fourteen hours behind our train.

On the road again - finally.

It was 1:45AM when we left Seattle, only nine hours late. It has it's good points.

Stuck in Seattle

We're trying to get out of here but the train's broke.

Seattle. BRRRR!!

Today we did Seattle. Gee was it cold!!! The high for the day was 68 degrees. Frances had a jacket but she was still cold. All I had was short sleeves. I bought her a sweater and I bought myself a light jacket. Those are hard to find items in the middle of July. I ask the guy in one of the shops if it’s always this cold around this time of year. He says it gets hot in August but it’s usually warmer than it was today.

We went to the Pike Place Market. It’s one of the places you often see in pictures of Seattle. They sell lots of fresh fruits and veggies there along with fresh fish. Just follow your nose and you can find the fish vendors. One fish shop puts on a show for the visitors. They let people hold the fish while friends or family take pictures. Then when someone chooses a fish to buy, they toss it to they guys behind the counter to fillet and wrap it. We walked through the place and then went into the retail center of town to find something warm. Later we decided to go to the Seattle Aquarium. We figured that it would be inside and warm. Parts of it were outside and they were doing some construction on another part and had some large doors open. It wasn’t but a few degrees warmer than outside but at least the wind wasn’t quite as bad.

We headed back to the hotel, ready to crash. See you tomorrow when we board the Empire Builder.

Coast Starlight part II

They sometimes refer to it as the "Coast Starlate" for a reason. Read on.....

San Francisco and beyond

We toured a chilly San Francisco and got out of town.

L.A. to Emeryville

L.A. to Emeryville on the Coast Starlight has been the best part of the trip so far.

Our LA day

What a great nap I had last night. I had a little head ache last night after we walked around for awhile. I took a few aspirin, laid down, and the next thing I knew, it was 5:00AM. At least I feel better.

We’re staying the Millennium Biltmore in downtown Los Angeles. It’s an older hotel but it’s very nice. Frances ask me what I paid for this place. She was surprised when I told her it was $103 per night. She thought it was quite a bit more. I think they have 5 restaurants in the place.

We sort of had a choice of taking a bus tour of the area or taking a tour on our own. We chose the latter. The Concierge suggested we walk to the Metro station about a block away, get a $3.00 day pass, and take the red line to Hollywood. He also gave us directions to take a bus to Beverly Hills and then get back to the hotel.

We were sort of disappointed in Hollywood. There is an area of about 2 blocks that are nice but the rest of the “Hollywood Entertainment District” is mostly tourist traps. You can buy maps to see where all of the stars live or you can walk a block further and find some ladies’ undergarments. It was interesting to walk the walk and look at the names on the stars. Britney Spears and other “pop” artist have theirs but I enjoyed seeing some or the really classic names. Names like Red Skelton, Bob Hope, and others.

Our next stop was Beverly Hills. No sleaze there. Nothing in our price range either. A few places had visible security in the front of the store. Several limos, lots of expensive cars, and the occasional lady with her dog and the diamond collar.

Back to the hotel but first a short trip to the Macy’s Center. It was a few blocks from our hotel. Frances wanted a book to read on the train. Then, something cold to drink and back to the room. Tomorrow we head up the coast to Emeryville (Oakland.)

Texas is too big

I remember my Dad telling me about crossing Texas on a troop train in WWII. He said it took him 2 days to cross it. Click below for the details.

On the Sunset Limited

After a short stay in New Orleans, we are on the road again. This time on the Sunset Limited. I'm posting this at 5:35 AM local time while we sit in San Antonio. Arrived over an hour late but expect to be leaving on time.

New Orleans in a few hours.

We're in the Big Easy. A bite to eat and a shower are in order.

A day in Chicago and we on the road again.

We probably should have gone to a museum or something like that but we went walking and shopping and trying not to get anything to big or heavy since we would have to take it to California and back.

Click below for the rest of the story.

3:05 in the morning???

Who does anything at 3:05 AM? Amtrak for one. And how does Amtrak define "On time?" It sort of depends on the train. Click below to read the rest of this.

Day one

Day One

The day finally got here. Today is Friday July 7th. We start our trip today. Well, not the train part of I,. Just the part where we leave the house. That’s probably the worst part of any trip. We packed everything, well, most everything on Wednesday. Did a little last minute shopping for snacks and other “junk” on Thursday, took care of a little last minute business Friday morning, and packed the last minute things. We had to get Bailey’s stuff ready to go to stay with Melissa, Jared, and Norah. We also had to get Stinkums (AKA Lil’ bits, Rahab, or Baby) ready to stay with Dennis, Ann, Kirk, and Mallory.

My plans were to leave around 2:30PM but we didn’t leave home until closer to 3:00PM. We dropped off Stinkums, made a quick stop to see Emma before we left(we missed her, she stayed with her aunt last night). We were on the road. Nothing eventful about that part of the trip. We arrived at Melissa’s place around 5:30PM, about a half hour later than we planned. After we unpacked the truck we went for a belated Fathers Day meal at Buckheads. Melissa and Jared were not sure how to get to the Amtrak station so we made a practice run. No trouble finding it. I knew where it was but I wasn’t sure how to get to it.

Back to the apartment for a little TV, chit chat, playing with the pups, and it wasn’t too long before we all went to bed. I wasn’t really sleepy. I sort of just laid there looking at the insides of my eyelids. Maybe I was sleepy but just excited about this trip. We had decided to get up at 1:30AM and have some breakfast before leaving.

Where to stay, and some thoughts.

So I know where I’m going to be and when I’m supposed to be there and for how long. I need a place to sleep. I tried a new tool for some ideas. Google Earth. Incase you don’t know about it you can get it free at www.google.com and click on “more.” Look for “Earth,” click on it and follow the directions to download it. The free version works fine.

With Google Earth you can get a birds eye view of most major areas in the U.S. and many parts of the world. Google Earth also lets you turn on a “layer” that shows the location of hotels. Find the area you are interested in, zoom in, and start looking for hotels. There are no ratings or other information about the hotels on Google Earth but you can click the icon associated with the hotel and go to a web site for that hotel. I found that I could get an idea of what the neighborhood looked like. Did it have an industrial complex across the street or was it in a downtown area. I had the AAA Tourbooks for some of the locations and that listed several possible hotels. I also used the AAA web site. I didn’t use any of the popular web based services (Hotels.com, Expedia.com, etc…) because some of them won’t tell you where the hotel is until you put your money down to complete the booking process. I didn’t want to save $20.00 on a hotel only to spend $25.00 each way on a taxi. Some of the hotels have special rates if you make your reservation on the internet and pay in advance.

After searching and narrowing the possibilities down I started making the reservations. It was rather easy. It only took a few minutes for each hotel. The AAA discounts amounted to between 10% and about 35%.

As I’m writing this, it’s less than two weeks until we depart. I have received my tickets from Amtrak, I have the hotel reservations, and I have an idea of what we are going to do while we’re at most of the stops. Amtrak has been running late on the Sunset Limited and the Coast Starlight most of the dates that I checked. When I say late, I’m not talking 30 minutes or an hour. Some trains have been 14 and 16 hours late. The Sunset Limited is supposed to arrive at 10:10 AM. If it’s two or three hours late we’ll still have most of the day to enjoy LA but if it arrives at 10:10PM, we’ve lost a day. The Coast Starlight has really had problems this summer. It should arrive in Seattle at 8:30PM but if it’s twelve hours late, we’ve bought a hotel room that we won’t be able to use except for taking a shower and freshening up. We will have slept on the train that night. I’ve been tracking its arrival for about a month and the earliest arrival was only three and a half hours late. Amtrak called me about two weeks ago and told me that the departure time from Los Angeles had been move up one hour in an effort to improve the overall performance of the Coast Starlight. The schedule change was effective June 14th but it hasn’t helped much. It might be a few minutes earlier at Emeryville but it is still late by about an hour every day.

Stay tuned for updates.

Brass tacks time

I had a plan and I had the OK from Frances. Time to get down to brass tacks and nail this trip down but there were still some wrinkles that had to be ironed out. Eventually a call to 1-800-USA-RAIL and, well, you'll just have to read the rest of this. Click the link below for all the details.

Where can you go for $771.75

It's 2006 and I've talked Frances into going on a train trip this year. It started out as maybe an eight day trip with stops in two cities but it grew a bit larger. It turns out to be a real bargan at.... You can probably guess. Click below to read the rest of this entry.

Would I do it again"

WOW! What a trip. Over five thousand miles in seven days. We went through fourteen states by rail, sixteen if you include the driving. It was my first time in eleven of those states. We met some great people and we encountered some real characters. We didn’t go for the destination, we went for the trip. The scenery was great. I didn’t mention it earlier but we saw some bald eagles and some other wildlife that we don’t see around Kentucky. The hills of eastern Kentucky are beautiful but the size of the hills and mountains made the Rockies and the Sierra Nevada’s a totally different experience. The ride was great and the Amtrak employees were pretty nice.

I took over 300 digital photos while on this trip. Some had reflections of the windows and didn’t turn out very good but I expected that. That was one of the reasons I took so many photos. I tried to shield the reflections and sometime I succeeded and sometimes I failed. It took me about two days to go through the photos and choose the one I wanted and then tweak them.

Over all, it was a really great trip. Would I do it again? Just keep reading because the 2006 trip is coming up shortly.

Day 7, Where's "Radar?"

If this is Ottumwa, Iowa, Corporal Radar O'Reilly must be somewhere around here. We were there but we didn't see him. Click below to see the rest of the story.

Kirk's log, day six

This is my sixth day on the trip and I’m in Helper, Utah. Everywhere I look I see something beautiful. Here in Utah there are a lot of large mountains. But once we got into the state of Colorado the scenery was majestic. It got to be about 8:30 here, 10:30 Eastern, Dad called the “Joe B. and Denny Show”. We lost signal in the desert a few times. He told Joe B we were on the Amtrak in Utah. He said we went through Idaho and ask where Denny’s place was to fish. Joe was going to tell Dad but they went to a break. We’ve seen the desert and mirages that look like water but are just sand. The desert turned into mountains. We also followed the Colorado River 300 miles from Grand Junction to Frazier, Winter Park, Colorado. In between we passed over the Continental divide. We stopped at Glenwood Springs. Dad said you would love this place. Tackett was glad he had seen the grave of Doc Holliday. Doc and the Orphice Meister had the same conditions. At winter Park it is know as the ice box because of its 50 and below temps. Then we also went through a six-mile tunnel called Moffitt. In the club car one wire is always finding fresh meat. There were gorges that were breathtaking with white rapid water. We saw 2 eagles, rafters, and fly fishermen. There was a special ed teacher who helping a 7th grade girl with division. One wire joined in with the math lessons. Who else did we meet. A woman pilot, a biologist who has a paper due tomorrow on sage genetics, a Rick Majeras look-a-like, a Mennonite family. That’s all for now. John’s going to the show, “Racing Stripes.”

Day six, Utah and Colorado

Day six starts in Utah and takes us through Colorado. click below to see the details. There's pictures this time.

Kirk's log, Day five

Day Five.
We woke up today and ate at Denny’s then caught the California Zephyr. We went though snow capped mountains, through Donner’s Pass and lake. We’re in a desert now. We’ll write more tomorrow as I’ll be sleeping in Nevada.

To Winnemucca and beyond

Our return trip began today. The first part was a rerun of yesterdays trip between Sacramento and Emeryville. There was alot to see before we got to Winnemucca.

Kirk's log, Day four

Had a rough night of sleep with a lot of maneuvering in an uncomfortable seat. Woke up in Chico, California. This is the fourth day of our trip. Woke up and saw rice fields, almond trees, and a lot of agriculture for miles. We arrived in Davis and there was Navy ships in the harbor. They were there Dad said in storage or mothballs. We were two hours late but finally got to San Francisco. We walked to our hotel and dropped our bags off. Then took the shuttle to the subway and took the subway to San Francisco, under the harbor to where the cable cars sat. Cable car line was 1½ hours wait. Betty Tackett wanted a gift from Chinatown. So we started walking where a lot of hills were. We took a vote to ride the bus, but nobody knew what bus to catch. So Tackett being a bus driver said we should as we had been sitting for 3 days. One wire gadget man ask the police where the cable cars were Mr. Gadget Man then proceeded to have a conversation with SFP. Tackett’s theory is one wire would talk to anybody, your Dad’s theory is Mr. Gadget cannot talk at home. We walked up and down one large hill were Chinatown stood. Tackett was glad because he found Betty’s piece of heaven. He must have went into 100 places. There were a lot of people from all over the U.S. When we went to look for a place to eat, A china man came up to Tackett and couldn’t speak English. He asked Dad if that was his brother-in-law. All he knew how to say was “I”. He handed us a piece of paper with a menu were we ate. We went up a hill and to a basement. We all at Chinese. I had BBQ Pork Fried Rice. After eating we started walking to Fisherman’s Wharf and Pier 39. There was a lot of people there because it was Memorial Day weekend. There was live music, people selling everything on the street. We walked along the pier and saw a seal in the water. We turned the corner and there lied 100 seals on wooden rafts. Dad was able to see what he wanted to see, the Golden Gate Bridge. We saw Alcatraz on a hill in the water. Dad said no one had ever escaped from there. We were walking and dad found a three card monty game. Dad and Tackett were reminded of there day at the Derby. He was always positive he could find the pea under the bottle cap. A guy was selling pictures. Dad saw the bikes you could ride across the Golden Gate but didn’t do it. John said he shouldn’t do it because he couldn’t find his way back. He would have had to ride the bike 10 miles. There are people on every corner playing music, drawings or selling an item. On man was playing the violin so good John gave him a dollar. We walked to the cable-car line and wait was an hour long. So we stood in line and waited. There was a man playing a guitar and asking for a request. We told him it was Dad’s birthday and everybody sang happy birthday to Dad. Finally we got on the cable car. We had to stand up, it was rough and bumpy. We stopped on Knob Hill, there was a street called Lombard street. The street was shaped like a zig zag with hedges out. Cars moved slowly on the street. We got to the end of the cable car route then took BART to McArthur Station. Then we took a city bus back to the room. Finally I was able to take a shower. I was then able to change my draws and sleep in a bed with clean sheets and a good mattress. I had to sleep with Tackett again. Dad and One Wire wanted to be able to sleep together like the Avery St. days. They remembered when there Dad would rent out the rooms to Uncle Joe and George his other uncle who came in for the Derby. I forgot another thing, there was a guy on the street with bushes that scared everybody with them for money.

Day 4, San Francisco

Day 4 was our "tourist" day. We enjoyed walking around San Francisco, but this entry talks more about getting there and back. Click below to see the entire posting.

Kirk's Log, Day three

Saturday: third day.
Went to sleep last night in Montana after leaving Whitefish. Woke up this morning in Washington aroundSpokane. There were more junk cars but things suddenly started to change and became more scenic. We followed the Columbia River for over 200 miles , at times it seemed we were actually riding on the river. This was a day ov very beautiful scenery. Cothing compares to what I saw at Mt. Hood. As we rounded a curve in the track there was a huge mountain covered with snow. It dominated the whole landscape. This is one spectacular sight you would have to see to appreciate its beauty. It was on to Portland, Oregon and a new state to see. Here we had a four hour layover. We freshened up in the R.R. while we were there. We rode a bus downtown and ate at a place called “Good Dog, Bad Dog” in the city of Roses. We went back to the station to catch the Coast Starlight from Portland to San Francisco. With this new train line on the west coast comes new passengers and encounters. Last night, Tackett and I had the “Orphis-meister” behind us with air coming from every orphis in his body. His grunts sounded like continually trying to start an old uncooperative car. The one that woke us was the sound like an elephant with his trunk raised, makes as he charges at his prey. John and Dad have two girls thinking they’re at the drive-in together. The one thing I forgot to say about the orphis man was he had the nerve to blame me and Tackett for the farting and other noises to the women setting behind him. It’s starting to rain and they’re going to show “National Treasure” in the club car.

Day 3, In and out at Portland.

Today we arrived in Portland, Oregon. It was the end of the line for the Empire Builder ( our trip, not the future of the train.) We would continue south on the Coast Starlight. For a change, we would be running late.

Click below to read the "rest of the story."

Kirk's Log, Day two

Friday (second day)
Woke up this morning in Devil’s Lake, North Dakota. Dad had a red blanket around him because it was only 42° , this according to uncle John, gadget master. We decided toeat breakfast on the train. I had Railroad French Toast. We went thourgh Rugby, North Dakota which is the center of North America. I had to set my watch from Central to Mountain time. We went through Fort Buford were Sitting Bull surrendered in the Battle of Little big Horn. There are a lot of Indian reservations in North Dakota. Sitting Bull spent his last days here. Then on to Glasgow where a large area of dinosaur bones were discovered. In Havre we got off the train and stretched our legs. Along the empire line butch Cassity and the Sundance Kid with Billy Jarvis blew up a train in 1901 and stole $66,000. The glacier Park was very scenic and had snow capped mountains. As this is the Rocky Mountains. It’s one of the most beautiful sights I have seen. In cut Bank, Montana the area is know for the coldest mid-winter temperature in the country. Coming out of the Rocky Mountians ther is a section known as Mystery Pass. The tracks curves were so severe we coud see the front of the train. Then it was on to Whitefish which was one of the layover points. It was really beautiful and Dad said you would enjoy it. Now we’re in a 7 mile tunnel called Flathead. This has taken us out of the Rocky Mountains and on our way to Spokane, Wahsington. We’ll write more tomorrow as Dad has his red blanket over him. Dad’s taken two who chairs. I’m sleeping with Tackett again. I’ll never be the same.

A trip to the moon.

The Moon. That's what it seemed like. This entry covers the second day of our trip, going through North Dakota and Montana. Click below to read the entire article.

Kirk's Journal - Day 1

Kirk is my Nephew. Kirk (with Sonny's assistance, or embellishments) kept a journal as we traveled. Click below to read his version of day 1.

All Aboard

The "Empire Builder" left Chicago on time and we were on our way. Day one was and adventure, in more than one way.

Cheesborger! No Pepsi. Coke.

Here starts our trip to Chicago and the West Coast. We didn't really drive to Chicago. We went to Naperville and road a train to Chicago. Ate at Billy Goats Tavern and had "Cheesborgers." Click below to read the rest of the story.

What were they thinking?

Once the trip was planned I went to www.amtrak.com to book it. It's easy to use but watch out for a few snags that will get you if you're not carefull. click below for details

Amtrak in 2005, a totally different experience.

In 2005 I took a trip with my brother, his friend Sonny, and my nephew from Chicago to Portland, then Emeryville (Oakland/ San Francisco area) and back to Chicago. These trains were not to be confused with the Kentucky Cardinal.

Click the link below for some of the planning that went into the trip. Then watch for details of the trip.

The Kentucky Cardinal

Amtrak came back to Louisville in 1999, but not for long. The Kentucky Cardinal was often called "The worst train on Amtrak." I road it twice and each time was an adventure. It was late on each of my trips (both ways.) The only really good thing about the trips was the cost. My first trip cost $7.00 each way and the last trip was $14 each way. I happened to catch some "Rail Sales."

Continue reading for all of the details or Google "Amtrak Kentucky Cardinal."

Thank you Mr. Bistline

A few excursions here and there kept me on the rails for awhile. In the southeastern portion of the U.S. it was mostly on The Southern. Railfans in this part of the country knew the name "Bistline." (Pronounced with a long "I", and would rhyme with heist-line.)

The War years (Viet Nam era)

In the late 60's my brother and I were getting a little too old for "family vacations" and my dad's health was not the best. I was going to electronics school 4 hours a day, working 8 hours every evening, and on weekends I was more interested in going on a date with Frances. The years between 1968 and 1971 were years of proud service to our country as a soldier in the United States Army.

See the extended entry for more details.

World's Fair trip, 1964

If you read the extended entry of the previous posting you might be interested in a few additional bits of information. Roundtrip adult fare between Louisville and Cincinnati in 1965 was $6.85 for coach, or $9.25 for Pullman accommodations. Trains 1 and 4 were coach only but trains 6 (northbound) and 5 (southbound), the Hummingbird was a first class train with Pullman coaches and a Dining car. I seem to remember that it cost my dad about $20.00 for our family to make the trip. I assume that children rode for half price. If that is the case, two full fares and two half fares would be $20.55 and that works out pretty close. As I said before, we were making the trips in the late 50’s and early 60’s and the timetable that I’m quoting from is April 1965 so what my dad actually paid was probably slightly less.

A little personal history.

As you can see from the title on this blog, Amtrak is probably involved. I'm planning a vacation to the west coast on Amtrak. As I plan my 2006 vacation, I start this blog by reflecting on some of my early interest in trains. I should have started this a few weeks earlier but, well, I just didn't think about it until a few days ago. Most of the details of my 2006 vacation are pretty much figured out by now. In the next few days I'll go over some of the options that I looked at.

Click below if you want to read the extended entry.