Seat 2A

The grass is always greener on the other side. Or so I’ve been told. Many Americans who’ve attained the time, money and inclination to travel often look beyond America’s borders to the proverbially greener grass of places like Ireland, Tahiti, Barbados, Hong Kong, France… It’s a big exciting world out there and given enough free time, exploring it is one of our favorite pastimes.

I have travelled all over the world and when I think of all the great people I’ve met, places I’ve seen and food and drink that I’ve enjoyed, I cannot imagine a more rewarding pursuit. Travel has been good to me and for me. While many Americans don’t get a chance to really travel – as opposed to taking a short two-week vacation – until their kids are grown and they’re enjoying their retirement years, I’ve been engaged in fairly regular and sometimes intensive traveling since the summer of my high school graduation when I spent three months hitch-hiking all over the American West. Even in college I used to take advantage of any break longer than a weekend to hitch down to Gallup, New Mexico where a ride on Amtrak’s Southwest Chief awaited. Upon completion of my first year in college, I headed out on a summer of travel that took me to Canada, Hawaii, Alaska, the east coast and back to Hawaii again before finishing up with a weeklong backpacking trip through California’s Sierra Nevadas. My experience in stretching a dollar combined with my willingness to sleep outdoors or in an airport instead of a hotel allowed me to travel a lot more than most for a lot less than most. I still travel in much the same way today, sleeping in airports on occasion and exercising good discipline in managing my budget.



$3.00 per night to camp here or $100.00 per night for a hotel? My home on Moorea for three weeks.

Like most people, I couldn’t wait to go see places like Tahiti, Australia, South America or the South Pacific. Scroll down to my World Map on Flight Memory and you’ll see that I’ve done a pretty fair amount of flying in those regions, not to mention flying around America. As I’ve gotten a bit older however, I’ve put a lot more time into traveling around America by land and for me at least, its every bit as beautiful and fascinating as anywhere else on the planet, and in most cases a whole lot less expensive. Traveling around America may not seem as glamorous as visiting exotic overseas locales, but for those who are willing to take the time to get off the beaten track and see it rather than just fly over it, this country offers spectacular scenery, attractive and picturesque small towns and villages, lots of nice people and a wealth of colorful culture. I’ve driven through all the states and ridden all but 260 miles of the national rail network, yet there’s still so much more to see.

For this trip I’ll be combining visits to friends and relatives with approximately 33000 miles of travel aboard a collection of planes, trains, rental cars and even a ferry across Lake Michigan. Some of the travel will be in First Class; much of it will be in coach. Some of my travels will take me to places I’ve never been before while some will be to long cherished destinations like the Mojave National Preserve or Durango, Colorado.



2012 Autumn Travels

Some friends commented recently that this looked like an awfully ambitious itinerary, given a month of such “intensive” travel. I don’t really see this as a major trip so much as it being just another period of taking my life on the road for a while. This is what I do when I’m not otherwise engaged in more traditional activities performed in exchange for financial remuneration. Regardless of how one sees this trip, it does involve a fair bit of travel and perhaps Robert Louis Stevenson sums it up best with his timeless quote from the book Travels with a Donkey:

The Great Affair is to Move

For most people the physical act of traveling – that is to be actually going somewhere aboard some form of conveyance - is the least pleasant part of their trip. For me it is every bit as exciting as the destination. I love riding aboard planes, trains, busses and other conveyances in the same way that a football fan loves going to see their favorite team play. For this trip, I’m as primed and ready to go as I’ve ever been. For any of you that - having read this far - are not, feel free to hit the back button on your keyboard. It should deliver you back to a wide range of trip reports, most of which are likely to be far more entertaining for those of you looking for reports of international premium class travel to exotic destinations. As for the rest of you willing to take a chance on this trip and report, grab a glass or bottle of your favorite libation and let’s head on out to Fairbanks International.



Departing Alaska

NOTE: I realize that many readers here prefer photo reports to written reports. Unfortunately, that's not the way I do my reports and so rather than flood this report with huge amount of photographs, I have selected only enough to compliment rather than overwhelm the text. If on the other hand you find the text a bit overwhelming and would prefer to see only the photos, simply double click on any photo and ye shall be delivered unto the Fotki host site. Enjoy!

Seat 2A

September 27, 2012
Alaska Airlines Fairbanks – Anchorage 1220p – 122p 737-800 Economy
Alaska Airlines Anchorage – Cordova – Yakutat – Juneau - Seattle 330p – 1118p 737-400 Economy

In the planning stages, I envision sunshine accompanying all of my travels. Sometimes it doesn’t work out that way, though. Today was just such a day. Heavy clouds blanketed Alaska’s Interior and further to the south, along Alaska’s panhandle, a steady rain was forecast to fall throughout the day. It was not a good day for a window seat.

It also wasn’t a good day to be sat in Coach, but then is it ever? On the forty-eight minute flight down to Anchorage, we were advised that due to turbulence enroute there would be no inflight service offered. From my vantage point at a window seat in the first row of coach, I could hear the ice clinking in the glasses on the other side of the bulkhead as the favored few savored their chilled beverages up in First Class.

While in line at the airport McDonalds, I met a man who’d been stuck in the Anchorage airport since earlier this morning. Weather had delayed his inbound flight from Kodiak, causing him to miss his connecting flight down to Seattle. All of the nonstop flights were booked full through tomorrow afternoon, and the best they could confirm for him was a seat on my two-stop flight down to Juneau where he’d overnight and then continue on to Seattle tomorrow morning. I couldn’t help but ease his long layover by guesting him into the Boardroom where we both put in some work on our laptops while enjoying a couple of Alaska Ambers.

Between Anchorage and Yakutat I shared the reclining exit row with a ranger from Wrangell-St. Elias National Park. We traded some great stories about our respective parks (I work in Denali National Park) as well as future travel plans. Seatmate claimed that he’d always wanted to fly Business Class to Australia but could never get the award seats on Qantas. I suggested he expand his search to include Alaska Mileage Plan partners Cathay Pacific, Korean and even Air Pacific. I then showed him some pictures from my 2005 trip to Australia, flown in First Class aboard Cathay Pacific. Like many who’ve experienced only U.S. domestic First Class service, he was predictably agog and aghast. By the time we arrived at Yakutat, he was primed to return to Australia via Air Pacific with an intermediate stopover in Fiji.

Fifty mile per hour headwinds between Juneau and Seattle resulted in a flight time of two hours and ten minutes, plenty of time to enjoy the best $6.00 burger in the air and a complimentary bottle of Alaska Amber. Following an on-time arrival at Seattle, I headed out to my favorite corner of the terminal where I set up camp, read for an hour and then called it a night, comfortably ensconced atop my Thermarest pad while under a warm wool blanket.


September 28, 2012
Horizon Airlines Seattle – Portland 900a – 950a DHC-8-400 Economy
Alaska Airlines Portland – Las Vegas 100p – 324p 737-700 Economy

As of yesterday afternoon, Horizon’s 9:00am departure to Portland was showing just five seats available but by the time we pushed back this morning there were almost fifteen empty seats onboard. No big deal ~ I once flew from Seattle to Portland aboard a 747 with over 150 empty seats onboard! Today’s lighter load allowed me a row to myself along with time enough for the flight attendants to serve me not one but two cups of good, rich Starbucks coffee in addition to a packet of Biscoff cookies.

Forty-five minutes later I was sat at the Laurelwood Pub on Concourse A with a copy of that morning’s Oregonian and a plateful of scrambled eggs and veggies. Life is good, though I do miss those larger jets on the SEA-PDX run.
After breakfast I repaired to the PDX Boardroom where more coffee and a wi-fi connection awaited.

We had a pretty full load down to Sin City this afternoon. Well, it was Friday… Thankfully I’d been upgraded to First Class where a glass of bottled water accompanied the preflight boarding festivities. Later , I replaced the water with a bottle of Alaska Amber to accompany the turkey sandwich being offered for lunch.



Luncheon aboard Alaska 626 from Portland to Las Vegas

I was happy to see that the usual Ciabatta bread had been replaced by a new, softer roll that appeared to have cheese baked onto the outside. Whereas the Ciabatta rolls were dense and rugged, often requiring me to chew hard and snap my head back to get it down, these new cheese rolls were much softer and more flavorful. I must remember to bring along some mustard next time, though...

As we were disembarking at Las Vegas, I couldn’t help but notice the deeper, softer carpeting in the jetway. My first assumption was that the jetways had either been re-carpeted or even replaced, but no! Since my last visit here this past spring, Alaska had moved into its brand new home at Concourse E in the new Terminal 3. Though it would have been nice to have stuck around and checked the new facility out, I had a 160 mile drive ahead of me and only about four hours of sunlight left to enjoy it with. So – more on T3 in a few days. For now, I’m off to the Mojave National Preserve! Check out the pictures!



The Mojave National Preserve



Road trippin’ through the Mojave ~ It sure beats the Interstate



Mojave Sunset



Sunset Mirage



Route 66 over Sitgreaves Pass


On Sunday I drove from Needles to Prescott via Kingman, Arizona where I paid a visit to the Kingman Airport. Located just east of town off old Route 66, Kingman’s airport is one of five major aircraft graveyards in the American Southwest; the others being at Marana, AZ, Mojave, CA, Goodyear, AZ and Victorville, CA. Additionally, a good number of aircraft from American and UPS have been stored at Roswell, New Mexico.

A colorful assortment of bright yellow 727s and A300Bs from DHL dominated the close in aircraft. In the distance I counted almost 50 CRJs from Comair, plus a good number of ERJ-145s from American Eagle and Continental Express. Quite a few MD-80s from SAS and Spanair were also noted. The highlight for me was a set of seven beautiful DHL DC-8-71s resting quietly at a far end of the airport. I snapped a few photographs and continued on…



Kingman, Arizona ~ Where old planes go to die



The Comair Fleet of CRJ-200s awaits its next assignment



Beautiful DC-8-73s bake under the hot Arizona sun

One of my favorite things about driving around the back roads of America is staying in old motels. Once known as Tourist Camps or Auto Courts, these smaller roadside accommodations began appearing in the late 1920s and 1930s as cars became common and more vacations began to center around driving. The first auto courts were more like campgrounds with small cabins and communal toilet and cooking facilities. Located on the outskirts of most towns and generally set around a central courtyard, these accommodations were designed to be automobile friendly. You could park next to your individual room, or under a carport. Eventually, filling stations, restaurants and cafes began to appear nearby.

Route 66 between Chicago and Santa Monica, California probably did more to promote the modern day motel than any other highway in America. The “motel” became a fully integrated building under a single roof. Swimming pools and restaurants were often located on site as well. One of the things I like most about many of the older motels are the colorful neon signs at their entrance. After a long day of driving, the warm, bright colors of the sign advertising amenities like color TV and air conditioning is always a welcome and alluring sight.

Above all else, motels are an affordable alternative to expensive hotels in town. I don’t believe I’ve ever paid more than $50.00 for a motel room, and in most cases I’ve paid a lot less. Many places around the west charge no more than $35.00 per night and there are still plenty of places with rates in the high 20s. The least I ever paid was in 1988 when I booked a room at the Alpine Motel in Bozeman, Montana for just $9.00 a night. I’ve stayed in plenty of $30.00 per night motel rooms that offered more space and amenities than some fancy hotels going for five times that price.

While many inexpensive motels can be quite good, some of them can also be quite rundown. We’ve all heard the horror stories and jokes about run down motels with springy beds, leaky plumbing and peeling paint. There are plenty of places like those around. There are many more motels that are clean and well run.

Often, though not always, the quality of a motel can be discerned from its overall appearance. First and foremost, does it look inviting? Does the building appear to be well maintained? Do the grounds look clean? Next, I look at the amount of space between the doors to each room. It’s a good indicator of how spacious the rooms are. And, what about those windows? I like a big window set waist high, not a small window mounted high up on the wall. Also, I much prefer single level ranch-style construction to multi-level buildings such as Motel 6s. It’s also worth noting that many older motels are more solidly built than the newer multi-story buildings. This generally means better insulation between rooms and less noise. Regardless, it’s perfectly acceptable to ask to inspect a room in advance.



My kind of motel!

In Prescott, Arizona I found a nice old motel that according to the owner was built in 1953. Now operating under the Budget Host banner, it offered a large, airy room with a king sized bed, air-conditioning, wi-fi and satellite TV for just $39.00 per night. I watched the fourth quarter of the Cardinals game on TV, and then headed into town to check out the park and older buildings. Many parts of the movie Billy Jack were filmed here back in 1969 and I was looking for a few points of reference. The park hadn’t changed any, but many of the old store fronts had been substantially refurbished.

In the morning I took breakfast in the restaurant of the historic Hotel St. Michael. I love nothing better than enjoying a plate of eggs and the morning newspaper while lingering over a few cups of good hot coffee in an old restaurant like this. I didn’t linger long though. A scenic rail adventure awaited just fifty miles away in Clarksdale, Arizona.



Breakfast at the St. Michael

Seat 2A

October 1, 2012
Verde Canyon Railroad Clarkdale – Perkinsville Verde Canyon Express 100p – 500p First Class

The Verde Canyon Railroad got its start back in 1911. It was built to connect the Jerome copper mine and the Clarkdale smelters to the main line of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe which ran 38 miles north at Drake, Arizona. Clarkdale is named after Senator William A. Clark, the owner of both the mines and the railroad. Though the smelters have long since closed, thankfully the railroad lives on to transport passengers through the beautiful Verde Canyon to tiny Perkinsville where the film "How the West Was Won" was shot.

First Class and Coach accommodations are available on this train. Coach cars accommodate 74 passengers in cushioned, high backed seats much like you’d find on most any commuter train. A snack bar is available with a typical variety of snacks and beverages. First-class cars accommodate 24 to 40 passengers on plush chairs and couches. A full bar service at your seat is featured and appetizers are complimentary. Additionally, a private caboose may be rented by groups of six or more. It includes everything First Class does but with even nicer seating and the services of a personal valet. I opted to travel in First Class. Priced at $88.00 (just $20.00 more than Coach), I felt it offered an affordable combination of comfort and service on the four hour, forty-mile roundtrip journey.



Clarkdale Station on the Verde Canyon Railroad



I’ve ridden behind these FP-7s when they belonged to the Alaska Railroad

The station at Clarkdale is essentially a giant gift shop with a small café off to one side. I bought a couple of postcards and set to writing them until boarding was called at 12:45pm. A couple of large tour groups had already assembled out on the platform but thankfully they had been assigned to different cars than I. My car was a 1950s era stainless steel Budd streamliner named “Yuma”. Originally built as a coach car for the Santa Fe’s El Capitan, it now offered a comfortable collection of chairs and couches set amidst wooden walls and southwestern décor. At each table were bottles of water and a drinks menu.



Verde Canyon Railroad First Class Car “Yuma”

I liked this interior set up much better than the traditional 2-2 First Class seating found aboard most train cars. The entire car seemed like a big living room and since seating was open I selected a single seat at a table alongside a large picture window. Outside the car it was sunny and about 90° but inside air conditioning and large ceiling fans maintained a pleasant temperature closer to 70°. As other passengers arrived, a car attendant came around offering glasses of either Champagne or cider. Champagne, please. The couple across from me also requested Champagne and together we toasted a great journey through the Verde Canyon.
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Following a couple of short blasts from the lead FP-7 locomotives, we slowly pulled out of Clarkdale right on time at 1:00pm. The trip begins with views of an enormous mountain of ugly copper slag, standing black against the Verde Valley's greenery. Almost from the get-go the track follows the serpentine path of the Verde River, winding its way through a broad valley before entering the canyon where glimpses of ancient cliff dwellings and a terrific view of the red rocks of Sedona can be seen in the distance.



Verde River

Shortly after departing Clarkdale, our server came around taking drink orders while another person prepared the buffet area. A good selection of complimentary appetizers was available including hot wings, Caesar salad, veggies and dip, potato chips and ham, salami & cheese sandwiches. Our car was only about half full though the food was catered for a full load, so there was plenty to eat and drink for everyone. I started with a bottle of pale ale brewed locally up in Sedona. It was bit too pale in the flavor department for my tastes, so the couple across from me and I split a bottle of South African red wine produced from a winery owned by golfer Ernie Els. We all agreed it was pretty good for the price and I made a point of writing down the name for later purchase.



Verde Canyon Railroad Buffet



Verde Canyon Railroad Bar

Rather than give you a mile by mile accounting of the journey, suffice to say that the canyon gets deeper and more colorful before opening up to a small valley where the tiny settlement of Perkinsville is located. Along the way the pace is leisurely, traveling at about 10-13 mph. Located between every couple of cars is an open-air car featuring two large shade canopies and sets of high-backed benches that face out the sides of the train. Depending on the weather - particularly your tolerance for the heat - the open-air cars are the best places to enjoy the scenery. The panoramic windows in the enclosed cars offer good views but can't compare with the 360-degree vistas you experience outside. Given the midday heat, many of us spent alot of the outbound journey inside and most the return journey outside.



Verde Canyon

One of the nicest aspects of this trip for me was its cocktail party like ambience. The onboard setting contributed nicely to mingling over food and drinks while we wandered between the bar and our seats with an occasional foray outside. There was definitely more of a shared experience here than there would have been in a car with 2-2 seating. I was reminded of flying back in the 1970s when many of us would spend fair portions of the flight in the First or Coach Class lounges so prevalent on the widebodied aircraft of that era. Modern day flying is pretty bland by comparison.



Enjoying a warm day and a cold beer on the Observation Car

By the time we returned to Clarkdale at 5:00pm I had exchanged addresses with a couple of people and now had a scenic drive up through Sedona and Cottonwood Canyon to look forward to while driving from Clarkdale up to Flagstaff.

Any of you who happen to be in Arizona with a bit of time to spare might do well to consider a trip on the Verde Canyon Railroad. Clarkdale is a short two hour drive from Phoenix – one could easily drive up there and back as a day trip – and the ride on the train is as comfortable as it is scenic. And – at only $88.00 for First Class railfare, it’s a darned good price as well.


October 3, 2012
Frontier Airlines Las Vegas – Denver 559p – 845p A319-100 Economy

I started out this morning from the tiny town of Fredonia, Arizona, located just ten miles south of the larger and more tourist oriented town of Kanab, Utah, which itself is located about 80 miles east of the substantially larger community of St. George, Utah. Just 120 miles down Interstate 15 from St. George sits Las Vegas which dwarfs them all.

The reason for my visit to Fredonia was to spend a night at the Grand Canyon Motel. Originally built as a hunting lodge back in the 1920s, today the Grand Canyon Motel features six rock cabins set around a grassy courtyard sporting large shady trees and a few tables, chairs and lots of cats. Each cabin has been remodeled and divided into two units, each featuring air conditioning, cable television, Wi-Fi and a small kitchen in addition to the usual trappings found at most any hotel. At only $39.00 per night, the Grand Canyon Motel offers comfortable and affordable accommodation in a quiet setting away from the comparative hustle and bustle of Kanab.



Grand Canyon Motel Courtyard



Grand Canyon Motel 4 Poster Bed

The owners are an older couple, well into their seventies by now. I’ve stayed there so often that I’m now known as the guy from Alaska. Bob always greets me nicely when I arrive, then walks me out to my assigned cabin and explains any differences about it worthy of note. He tells an amusing story as to why he quit accepting credit cards over the phone to hold reservations. Apparently, people would book a room fully expecting a traditional motel. When they arrived and saw the rustic looking front building, they often decided not to stay, and then demanded their credit card to be refunded. Bob gets plenty of business from folks who appreciate the local Americana represented in his property, and those who’ve stayed once often return. The tourists can all head on up the road to Kanab where one of the big chain hotels will better sooth their timid nature.



Grand Canyon Motel Front Building

In Las Vegas I met up for lunch with a fellow Denali bus driver who was driving out to Southern California from Colorado. He’d left Glenwood Springs, Colorado last night, overnighted in Green River, Utah and then got himself into Las Vegas a good hour before I arrived at about 1:30pm. He had 400 miles to drive from Green River this morning whereas I had just 220 miles from Fredonia. Still, Jack got on the road at 6:30am whereas I, who spends all summer getting up at 6:30am and now prefers to sleep in a bit, didn’t get on the road until about 10:00am. Even so, Colorado to California is nothing for Jack. On two occasions that I know of, He has driven from Colorado to Alaska in just three and a half days.

Jack is also a bit of an aviation enthusiast, so while in Las Vegas we stopped by the Airplane Shop, a small commercial aviation oriented store located not far from McCarran. I had seen ads for this place in Airways Magazine and had always meant to stop in on one of my frequent forays through the Las Vegas area. Unfortunately for my interests however, this store dealt mainly in model planes. I was looking for books and postcards.

We said our goodbyes at the store with Jack continuing west to San Bernardino while I returned my rental car and caught a bus out to the airport. The shuttle driver told me that now that Terminal three was up and running, there were plans to demolish Terminal 1 by blowing it up as part of a movie being filmed next year in Las Vegas. I’ll have to make sure I avoid travelling through McCarran for that one.

Back in August, Frontier was offering a one way fare of just $56.00 Between Las Vegas and Denver. This was less than half of what Delta and United or even Southwest was charging, so even though I didn’t accrue any mileage on the flight I felt like it was still money well spent.

The boarding process for this flight took a surprisingly long time, despite Frontier’s considerable efforts to expedite it. I think the biggest problem was that too many categories of passengers had been created, all of which now had to be boarded in the correct priority. Frontier operates its aircraft in a single class configuration, and like many airlines now offers a few rows of seats with greater legroom, so those passengers boarded first. They were followed by Frontier’s elite passengers, families with children, Frontier credit card holders, folks who had volunteered to check their carry-on baggage, women with freckles … it just went on and on until finally they reached group 2, my group which was in reality closer to group 8!

Beyond the boarding conundrum, the rest of the flight went smoothly. Frontier offers a decent variety of inflight snacks and drinks for sale, though on this one hour and twenty minute flight nothing really caught my eye. Entertainment options included a variety of television channels and movies, all shown on small 6” screens mounted in each seatback. There was a fee for this service but the captain came on and announced that since the presidential debates were on this evening, he was authorizing free television for everyone on condition that we watch the debates. From what I could see of the seats around my area, everybody was doing just that.

Thanks to Travelocity’s Secret Hotel deals, I’d booked a room at the Red Lion for just $43.00. I had thought this was the Red Lion located out by the old Stapleton International on Quebec but no – this one was located way down by Parker Rd. and I-225. I was surprised but thankful that they had an airport shuttle. Two hours later I was dialed in comfortably atop a Sleep Number mattress.

Seat 2A

October 5, 2012
Cumbres & Toltec Railway Antonito – Chama 1000a – 525p First Class

The Cumbres & Toltec Narrow Gauge Railway is the longest and highest narrow gauge railway in America. It runs 64 miles from the southern Colorado town of Antonito up and across the eastern flanks of the San Juan Mountains into New Mexico, terminating in the little town of Chama. As I type this, I’m hard pressed to think of any North American railroads – regardless of gauge – that operate higher than 10, 015 feet, which the C&T crosses at Cumbres Pass. I went to college just 120 miles west over in Durango, Colorado and over the years I had ridden the more famous narrow gauge train between Durango and Silverton on many occasions, especially when backpacking through the Weminuche Wilderness Area of the San Juan Mountains. Although I’d long been aware of Colorado’s “other” narrow gauge train, my normal peregrinations about the state rarely took me over to Alamosa and Antonito. A ride on this train has been long overdue, and so here I am at 9:30am on a beautiful Friday morning, well rested and ready for a full day’s adventure aboard this historic old train.

While we’re waiting to board, let’s start with a bit of the railroad’s history. The Cumbres & Toltec line was originally constructed in 1880 as part of the Rio Grande’s San Juan extension, which served the silver mining district of the San Juan Mountains in southwestern Colorado. Sheep, cattle and timber were also hauled to Alamosa where they made the connection up to Denver. Like all of the Rio Grande at the time, the tracks were built to a gauge of 3 feet between the rails, instead of the more common 4 feet, 8-1/2 inches that became standard in the United States. At the time, narrow gauge tracks made sense so that the railroad could make tighter turns in the mountains and thereby reduce construction costs. Eventually, the inability to interchange cars with other railroads led the Rio Grande to begin converting most of its tracks to standard gauge in 1890.

The repeal of the Sherman Act in 1893 (The U.S. government effectively stopped buying silver as a result) had a devastating effect on the silver mining industry and, by extension, the railroads that hauled it. The paucity of traffic over the San Juan Extension was simply not enough to warrant conversion to standard gauge and so, over the next forty years the San Juan Extension became an isolated anachronism, receiving its last major upgrades in equipment and infrastructure in the 1920s. A post-World War II natural gas boom brought a brief period of prosperity to the line, but operations dwindled to a trickle in the 1960s. Finally, in 1969 the Interstate Commerce Commission granted the Rio Grande’s request to abandon its remaining narrow gauge main line trackage, thereby ending the last use of steam locomotives in general freight service in the United States.

Most of the abandoned track was dismantled soon after the ICC’s decision, but thanks to the concerted efforts of a passionate group of railway preservationists and local civic interests, the most scenic portion of the line was saved. In 1970, the states of Colorado and New Mexico jointly purchased the track and railway related structures from Antonito to Chama along with nine steam locomotives, over 130 freight and work cars, and the Chama yard and maintenance facility. The total cost was about $550,000 or about 2.5 million in today’s dollars. The railroad was renamed the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railway and began hauling tourists the next year.

Today, the Cumbres & Toltec is designated a National Registered Historic Site as well as a National Civil Engineering Landmark. The railroad operates from May through October with trains departing from both Chama and Antonito each morning. Passengers have the option of traveling all the way through to the far end of the line and then returning via charter bus or going just to the halfway point of Osier where the two trains meet and luncheon is served during a one hour stop. From there they can ride the other train back to whatever town they started from.

I booked the train all the way from Antonito to Chama because I wanted to see the entire line and its scenery. The total cost for the entire journey in coach was $101.75 First Class seating is also available but it didn’t look all that much more comfortable relative to its extra cost of about $70.00. A chartered bus that would take me back to Antonito later that afternoon was included in the fare.

Boarding for our 10:00am departure was called at 9:45am. Although I was assigned to a car, seating was open and we were free to relocate to any other coach car once the trip was underway. Following four short toots of the whistle, the “All Aboard!” call was made, the gates were closed and off we went. Here’s a map to follow along.




Coach seating on the C&T



Climbing out of Antonito



Climbing out of Antonito

From Antonito the train began a gradual climb into some barren or grassy hills. Shortly thereafter, the train crossed Ferguson's Trestle, named for a man who was hung from a locomotive there. This was explained by an onboard docent or guide from Friends of the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad, a non-profit, member-based organization whose mission is to preserve and interpret the railroad as a living history museum. Our guide's name was Fred and he did a great job throughout the journey. Fred pointed out that the original trestle was featured in a movie called “Where The Hell's That Gold?” starring Willie Nelson and Delta Burke. During filming, a planned explosion ended up getting out of hand and the trestle was burned down. Traffic was halted for a week while a temporary bridge was built, and over the next year a new trestle was built to match the original.

The proximity of the New Mexican border had us making eleven crossings into and out of New Mexico during the day. We continued to climb around a succession of horseshoe curves that took us ever higher into aspen and then pine forests. About an hour and a half in we reached our first water stop at Sublette, an abandoned railroad camp made up of a few old buildings and a siding. After filling the tender with water, we continued on. Perhaps a few photographs might best describe the journey at this point…



Chugging through the aspen forests



High above a local ranch



Looking out my window



The view between cars

It was about 1:30pm when we arrived at the halfway point of Osier, Colorado. Osier sits at 9,637 feet and before the railroad built its tracks through here, a toll road connecting the Chama Valley with the San Luis Valley ran through this area. Today, Osier consists of a large dining hall for the train passengers (built in 1989) along with several out buildings and a water tank. It was explained that in the early days of steam, when locomotives were smaller, water tanks had to be located every 7-10 miles. Larger engines have larger tenders and with the current 1920s built locomotives, water tanks can be placed much farther apart.

The main attraction in Osier was an excellent all-you-can-eat luncheon featuring either hot turkey or meatloaf with all the usual accoutrements such as mashed potatoes, peas and corn, a complete salad bar and a wide selection of desserts. This was included in the fare and the one hour stop and family style seating allowed plenty of time to eat and chat with fellow passengers. Of course a gift shop was situated just off the dining room and, after a thorough perusal of all the usual schlock I just couldn’t resist plunking down 70¢ for a pair of colorful postcards.

Once again, four short whistles signaled that departure was imminent. We had a new crew out of Osier as our Antonito crew would be returning home with the other train. I missed the pretty little concessions attendant with the nice laugh who’d worked the trip into Osier, but the older lady who replaced her was a lot of fun with a great sense of humor.

From Osier the train continued its gradual climb around horseshoe curves, over a couple of trestles and along steep mountain slopes to its highpoint atop Cumbres Pass, elevation 10,015 feet. The paved highway between Chama and Antonito also crosses here, and several cars were parked off road waiting to photograph the train as it passed by.



Cumbres Pass & Highway



Cumbres Pass Station sign

After having travelled 50 miles uphill to reach the summit of Cumbres Pass, Chama was now only 14 miles away; all of it downhill, and much of that down a surprisingly steep 4% grade. After rolling along the rocky face of Windy Point, we descended down along the Wolf Creek drainage and into the Rio Chama Valley. Again, I’ll let my photographs tell the story…



Rolling down Cumbres Pass



The rest of the train rolling down Cumbres Pass



New Mexico mountain scenery



Rio Chama valley ranch

Our arrival in the beautiful town of Chama was right on time. Amongst narrow gauge rail aficionados, Chama is considered hallowed ground because it houses one of the most physically complete railroad yards from the steam era. An abundance of original issue rolling stock from the Denver and Rio Grande is parked throughout the yard and although portions of the roundhouse and warehouses have been changed, the yard and station still maintain a 1950s era ambience. A couple more photos…



First Class cars in the Chama yard



The old water tank and tower



Late afternoon at the Antonito Station

We had about fifteen minutes to look around Chama – a town that in my estimation warrants at least a night’s stay – before boarding a chartered coach that delivered us back to the Antonito station. The coach ride accomplished in a mere one hour and ten minutes what took us five hours to do by train, but it offered nowhere near the excitement and beauty of the train ride. For many people however, spending five hours on a train is the deal breaker. They simply feel that they have better things to do with their time and have little interest in enjoying scenery purely for entertainment value. For those people there are plenty of interstate highways, cities, museums and other man-made attractions to go with the view from their $300.00/night resort room balcony.

For those willing to take the time to ride a train or take a road trip or even stay and eat in local establishments rather than the shinier corporate entities, the reward is a closer relationship with nature and a chance to experience downhome culture sorely lacking in the homogenized world of major airline and hotel chains.

I like the way Chinese poet Li Bai puts it:


QUESTION AND ANSWER

You ask me:

Why do I live
On this green mountain?

I smile
No answer

My heart serene

On flowing water
Peachblow
Quietly going
Far away

This is another earth
Another sky

No likeness
To that human world below


Now after all that, what am I going to be doing tomorrow? Getting on a plane to speed me across the country to Milwaukee where I’ve got a car rented for a week of travel that will take me first to Rochester, Minnesota for three days followed by a 1400 mile road trip through northern Wisconsin and Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. There’s a chance to catch some fall colors up in the UP and I will get to stand on the shores of Lake Superior for the first time. I’m looking forward all of this and more but first I’ve got to get 250 miles up the road to Denver in time for tomorrow afternoon’s flight.

I spent the night in Colorado Springs, located about 60 miles south of Denver. A nice collection of fine old 1950s era motels can be found along U.S. highway 24 as it runs through town. One of my favorites is the Stagecoach Motel. The rooms are spacious and include refrigerator, microwave and satellite TV all for just $40.00 per night.



My room at the Stagecoach Motel



Check out the cool tiled floor!


October 6, 2012
Delta Airlines Denver – Detroit 210p – 658p A320-200 Coach Class
Delta Airlines Detroit – Milwaukee 737p – 750p A319-100 Coach Class

As an elite level flyer with Alaska Airlines, I’m eligible for complimentary upgrades on Delta flights. While this sounds nice in theory, the reality is that I’m not eligible for those upgrades until all Delta elites of any ilk have been upgraded first. This is only fair as it is their airline, after all. Still, the reality is that more often than not I’ll find myself way down the upgrade list, like number 34 of 37. As a result my excitement over this benefit has waned considerably since it was first introduced. I don’t even bother to check the upgrade list before the flight any more, though checking the monitor at the gate is good for the occasional laugh. I have actually been upgraded on three of about fifty occasions, usually on short flights departing on Saturdays but once on an Atlanta to Portland flight. Today flying to Detroit, a Delta hub, I had no chance – Saturday or not.

A more realistic and cherished benefit for Alaska elites flying with Delta is the ability to pre-reserve some premium quality seating including exit rows at the time of booking. As a result I had a pair of spacious exit row seats awaiting me on today’s flights. I used the Sky Priority lane at check-in and avoided the fairly long line at security via the Premium lane, both of which allowed me that much more time in the Red Carpet Club.

Delta used to operate a small Crown Room here in Denver, and it is my fervent hope that they consider opening another one someday soon. That would seem unlikely however, so for now my only option is the United Club. I’m a lifetime member of Continental’s Presidents Club and not so long ago Continental operated a very attractive facility on the A Concourse here at DIA. However, the merger with United resulted in the consolidation of all operations on the B Concourse, so it no longer made sense to operate the much nicer Presidents Club on the A. That facility has now become an Admirals Club, but where once I enjoyed unfettered access, now I can enter only when flying Alaska out of Denver.

United operates two large lounges in Denver, one on each side of the B Concourse. They are pleasant and functional but somewhat less classy than the old Presidents Club. Still, they provided a quiet space to put in some work on this report which I’ve severely neglected over the past week. Today I wrote about the flight from Portland to Las Vegas.

As for two flights in Coach on a nice Saturday afternoon, there ain’t much to write home about. Delta’s smaller Airbuses are not equipped with the excellent “Delta on Demand” inflight entertainment system, and the inflight snack offerings on this two hour and ten minute flight were not particularly inspiring. Thankfully I’d stopped by the Schlotsky’s Deli over on the A Concourse and now enjoyed a delicious Schlotsky’s Original while folks around me salivated in envy.

Arrival in Milwaukee was fifteen minutes early. With no checked baggage, I headed straight across to the car rental counters where I upgraded my car to a spacious Ford Edge and then headed to nearby Brookfield for a night with friends and a good bottle of bourbon.

Seat 2A

October 7 – 13, 2012
Wisconsin, Minnesota and Michigan

After spending three days consulting with neurologists at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, I hit the road for a little sightseeing through northern Wisconsin and Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. About twenty years ago I drove through this area in the latter part of March. Late winter is definitely not the prettiest time of year to visit the U.P. as the predominant colors were white, black, grey and brown. Beneath all that mud and slush however, the beauty was obvious and I knew I’d have to get back here someday, preferably in late spring or autumn. From Rochester I drove north into Wisconsin and made my way over to state highway 35. I like America as seen from the rural route. Interstates are fine for truckers and those who just want to get there faster, but then they’ll miss out on some spectacular scenery as well as some of the really nice little towns that make up America’s heartland. Just east of Duluth I got on Route 13 which took me on a one hundred mile jaunt along the shores of Lake Superior. It was my first time ever seeing the greatest of the Great Lakes, and I stopped often for photographs. In Ashland, Wisconsin I found a nice old motel with large rooms and a nice view of the lake. Here are a few pictures from that portion of the drive…



The shores of Lake Superior



The shores of Lake Superior



Storm clouds gather over Lake Superior



Old barn in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula

From Ashland I took a leisurely day, driving just 240 miles along the shores of Lake Superior through Marquette to Munising, Michigan where I spent the night in another nice little motel and dined at a surprisingly good Thai restaurant – the only one I’d seen anywhere in the upper Midwest. The next morning I headed south through the Hiawatha National Forest to Manistique, a picturesque town located on the northern shore of Lake Michigan. It was interesting to look south down Lake Michigan given the different placement of the sun compared to seeing it from Chicago or Milwaukee. I liked the view a lot more from the rural north shore. The road continued east another 60 miles before arriving at the Mackinac Bridge, a 26,372 foot long span connecting Michigan’s Upper Peninsula with the main southern portion of the state. The suspension bridge itself is 8,614 feet long, making it the third longest suspension bridge in the world.



Looking south down Lake Michigan



Afternoon shadows on Lake Michigan



Autumn leaves



Mackinac Bridge to the east

Although the best of the fall colors had already come and gone in Northern Michigan, I really liked what I saw of the land, the towns and the people (Da Yoopers!). The local food was pretty good too, especially the pasties. I know I’ll be back someday soon to explore more hidden corners of this beautiful part of the country.



Crossing the Mackinac Bridge



Driving into fall colors


October 13, 2012
Lake Michigan Car Ferry Ludington – Manitowoc 900a – 1200n S.S. Badger
Air Tran Milwaukee – Atlanta 642p – 935p 737-700 Economy Class
Air Tran Atlanta – Washington, DC 1015p – 1157p 717-200 Economy Class

When I booked passage aboard the Lake Michigan Car Ferry, all of the pictures on the LMCF website depicted happy passengers crossing Lake Michigan on a beautiful, sunny day. Yep – that would be me out there on the ship’s bow, wind in my face, sun on my shoulders, soaking it all in. Well at least I got the soaking part right because unfortunately, this morning dawned under gray skies as a steady rainfall pounded the parking lot outside my hotel window. A quick check of the weather channel indicated that a large swath of southern Michigan and Wisconsin including both Ludington and my destination of Manitowoc, Wisconsin across the lake were similarly inundated. Oh well. As ever, I started the day with a tall cup of coffee and then set out for the ferry terminal.

An employee in a fluorescent orange raincoat crossed my name off a list of pre-reserved passengers, and then directed me to a loading lane where another employee took my keys and directed me to a covered walkway leading onto the boat. The ferry staff would drive my vehicle onto the ferry for me. Fair enough.



Lots of room on board today

The 410’ S.S. Badger and her sister ship the S.S. Spartan (Named after the sports teams at the University of Wisconsin and Michigan State) were built in 1952 primarily to transport railroad freight cars for the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway along with passengers and their cars from Ludington, MI. across Lake Michigan to Manitowoc, WI. Early service also included regular crossings from Ludington to Milwaukee and Kewaunee, Wisconsin.

Today, the Spartan is docked at Ludington and doesn’t look like she’s gone anywhere for a while. I believe she might actually be being used for parts. The S.S. Badger now sails daily between Manitowoc, Wisconsin and Ludington, Michigan from mid-May through mid-October. She is the last coal fired ship still operating in America and in 2009 was placed in the National Register of Historic Places by the U.S. Department of the Interior. A ride on her affords a rare opportunity to take a step back into the past while enjoying a big savings in time and convenience by not having to drive down around the bottom of Lake Michigan and through Chicago to access central Wisconsin and beyond. Were it a sunny day, I suppose I could also toss in a few accolades about the scenery as well. Alas, the view out my window today is fifty shades of gray offset by the whitecaps atop the dark gray waters of Lake Michigan.



The S.S. Badger



The S.S. Badger Deck Plans

Accessing the passenger area via stairs that delivered me from the car deck to the rear of the Main Deck, I stepped into a large lounge area offset by the Badger Galley, a food service area offering sandwiches, salads, snacks and the usual variety of hot and cold drinks. A sign post by the menu clearly stated that if you were prone to seasickness, DON’T eat! This sounded like excellent advice, especially given the windy and rainy conditions today.

Continuing on upstairs, I discovered the Upper Deck Café, currently offering a full buffet breakfast for about $9.75. On a nicer day I’d be all over that, enjoying my food out in the Cabana Room. Today however, I limited myself to a cup of coffee and a granola bar. There’d be plenty of time to eat a more filling meal in the terra firma of Wisconsin in just four hours.



The Upper Deck Cafe



The Cabana porch

The distance between ports is 60 miles, and the 7000 horsepower generated by the Badger’s twin Skinner Unaflow four-cylinder steam engines moved the 6650 ton Badger along at a sprightly 18 mph. Today however, we were battling a strong headwind, not to mention the occasional big wave. On a couple of occasions a big wave would cause the ship to lurch impressively, once resulting in a calamitous crashing of plates and cutlery somewhere back in the galley. Through it all a young Badger employee enthusiastically called Bingo games in the main lounge while trivia questions were posted on the television screens around the lounge. Amazingly, nobody around me barfed!

As a guy who enjoys getting there as much as being there, I look forward to riding the Badger again sometime on a nice, sunny day. Today however it was with considerable relief that I disembarked and sped away from the lakeside terminal, happy as I’ve ever been to be back on terra firma!

From Manitowoc it was a short 90 mile drive down U.S. 43 to Milwaukee’s General Mitchell International Airport. I’d made arrangements to meet some old friends from Alaska in the airport bar and so proceeded over there apace. The bar was sponsored by the Miller Brewery and so the offerings were predominantly Miller products. Thankfully they also had Sam Adams on the menu – by my tastes at least a far superior quaff to anything brewed by Miller. My friends made do with a couple pint glasses of Stella Artois.

All too soon it was time for me to head on down to my gate. How did two hours ever pass so fast? This evening’s flights would be my first on Air Tran since I first flew them back in May of 2000. I booked them then primarily to experience my first ever flight aboard a 717 but in the bargain I also scored a connecting flight aboard an ancient DC-9-30. Back then Air Tran passengers could upgrade from Coach to Business Class for just $25.00 more per segment, and so I did just that on the 717 flight. These days the cost to upgrade had risen to $69.00 per segment. Even though my flight out of Milwaukee would be my first ever aboard an Air Tran liveried 737-700, the extra $69.00 seemed a bit steep for the short hour and a half flight down to Atlanta, especially when I’d managed to snag a spacious exit row aisle seat at no extra charge.

In Atlanta I had only to walk to the gate next door where an ex-TWA 717-231 was doing the honors on the 550 mile flight up to Ronald Reagan national Airport in Washington, DC. I wished I’d had a chance to have flown upon this airplane in its original livery as the final TWA color scheme was, in my estimation, one of the more attractive ever to grace an airliner.

Flight time to Washington was a short one hour and eighteen minutes, putting us at the gate about fifteen minutes early. All things considered, Air Tran delivered marvelously upon an excellent and affordable product. The price between Milwaukee and Washington was right at just $108.00 one way; the planes were clean and reasonably comfortable, and the crew friendly and efficient. Well done, Air Tran!

Air Tran operates out of DCA’s Terminal A, which meant that their gate was just a short walk from my nice and quiet camping spot discovered during this past February’s mileage runs. I returned there directly, set up camp with my Thermarest pad, pillow, and alarm clock along with any other accoutrements intrinsic to a restful night’s sleep (headlamp, eyeshades and water bottle) and knocked off about six and a half hours of undisturbed slumber.

Seat 2A

October 14, 2012
Amtrak Washington, DC – Chicago 1105a – 1020a The Cardinal Economy Class

I had a nice, easy morning planned which allowed me to sleep in this morning. In fact, the heat from the bright sunlight streaming in through the windows woke me up a bit before my alarm clock, which I’d set for 7:30am. After breaking camp, I cleaned up in a deserted restroom before heading over to the main terminal where a breakfast burrito and a large cup of coffee got my day off to a good start. From there it was on to the Airport Metro stop where $3.05 bought me a 35 minute train ride to Washington’s Union Station.

Amtrak operates two trains between Washington, DC and Chicago. One is a daily train called the Capitol Limited. It departs at 4:05pm and delivers you to Chicago just seventeen and a half hours later at 8:45am. It utilizes bi-level Superliner equipment that includes a full service dining car along with a Sightseer Lounge Car. Amtrak’s other train is called The Cardinal and operates just three days a week. It follows a longer, more southerly routing through Virginia, West Virginia, southern Ohio and Indiana, taking 24 hours to make the journey to Chicago.



Route of Amtrak’s Cardinal

I’d booked a seat aboard The Cardinal in hopes of enjoying both some train time and some fall colors through the Cumberland and West Virginia. Unfortunately, First Class accommodations had long since sold out by the time I’d booked this trip, but if you must travel long distances in economy class by rail, I cannot imagine a better way to do so than aboard an Amtrak train. The seats are pretty wide with good padding and they offer excellent recline along with foot and leg rests. The large windows are curtained, the reading lights provide good illumination and fairly decent pillows are also provided. Hundreds of train rides worth of experience has taught me to also bring along my own pillow, a blanket and a bottle of melatonin. So equipped, I can survive even the longest trips in coach.

One drawback to traveling coach out of Washington is that I’d not have access to Amtrak’s Club Acela Lounge. Reserved exclusively for First Class passengers and those traveling aboard Amtrak’s Acela trains between Washington and New York or Boston, the Club Acela at Washington is an attractive lounge befitting the station it serves. Polished marble floors are offset by stone planters, glass partitions and brass railing. Artistic posters of historic railroad advertising adorn the walls. The seating is comfortable and overall this lounge is a pleasant place to await the train.



The Club Acela Lounge



The Club Acela Lounge Seating

Continental President Club members used to be allowed access into the Club Acela Lounge regardless of class travelled, so with an hour and a half before train time I strolled on over there to see if my new United Club card (issued to replace my Lifetime Presidents Club card) might also allow me entry. The receptionist looked my card over somewhat quizzically at first, and then spent a minute or so checking on his computer before finally informing me that he couldn’t find any information to support allowing me in. Just as I was preparing to join the masses out in the main boarding area, he suddenly claimed to have had some distant memory of the practice and while he wasn’t sure if it was still in effect, he invited me in anyway. Well dang! Ain’t flashbacks great?! I thanked him and found myself a seat near a wall socket.

One benefit of having been in the Club Acela Lounge was that I got to board first, with the sleeping car passengers. As a coach passenger this was doubly appreciated given that today’s train was completely sold out. As such, seating was by assignment only and I was able to secure a right side window seat from the conductor just moments before he was besieged by the rest of my coach travelling companions. My seatmate was an older gentleman who was traveling with a group of ten who’d spent the past five days touring Washington DC along with a side trip down to Shenandoah National Park. They were all detraining in later this evening in Charleston, West Virginia. Next week he was heading off to a Chevy Corvette convention down in Florida, then off to Las Vegas in January. Seems we FlyerTalkers aren’t the only ones who get around!

Departing Washington with all the punctuality of a Swiss train, we rolled through the suburbs at a moderate pace before the engineers opened it up a bit more as we rolled westward through Virginia. I’d heard somewhere that the top speed allowed for most American passenger trains is 79 mph. Looking out my window as the trees and buildings zipped past, it certainly appeared that we were at or near that speed through much of the afternoon.

It was a little after 1:00pm when I decided to visit the café car. My timing was spurred as much by hunger as it was by an announcement that lunch would be served in the dining car only until 1:30pm. All of Amtrak’s medium and long distance trains include a café/lounge car while long distance trains also include a dedicated dining car. The Cardinal is a long distance train that includes sleeping accommodations but perhaps because it has only one sleeper, there was no dining car. Instead, the café/lounge car had one end set up as a dedicated dining car with menus and nicely set tables while the other end served as a lounge. The café service area was in the middle.

Amtrak’s cafes offer a good variety of affordably priced snacks, light meals and non-alcoholic beverages, but this one apparently also served prepared the dining car meals, which with no grill or oven in sight would mean microwaved meals. Hmm… As I looked over the Dining Car Menu and compared my options. If I sat in the dining car I’d pay $3.00 more for the burger but according to the café attendant I’d also get a different burger (The café burgers are pre-packaged, while the dining car burger is not, so there might yet be a small oven somewhere back in the cafe ) served with lettuce, tomato, onions and chips as well as a beverage. All that for only $3.00 more? I’d like a table in the diner, please.

What a great call! The burger was excellent, especially as the bun and cheese had evidently been broiled rather than microwaved. Believe me, it’s not hard to tell the difference and its even easier to enjoy it. Well done, Amtrak!



Dining Car Burger on Amtrak’s Cardinal

Being as today was Sunday, there were no liquor stores open in or around Washington’s Union Station. Alcohol of any type is fairly expensive on Amtrak, presumably to discourage excessive consumption. A domestic beer such as Budweiser will run you $5.25 and a single serving bottle of any spirit or cocktail will set you back $7.00. First Class passengers are allowed to bring their own alcohol onboard for consumption in their compartments, but Coach passengers may not. I’ve ridden almost 200000 miles on Amtrak over the years and the trick – regardless of what class you’re riding in – is to purchase your alcohol in advance of the trip. Discretion is the rule for those traveling in coach. I once carried a Styrofoam cooler full of ice and beer onboard for a two day trip in coach from Chicago to Los Angeles. I stored it on the baggage shelf in my car, kept it covered with a blanket and enjoyed good cold and comparatively inexpensive beer through most of that trip simply by enjoying it quietly and discreetly from a cup.

The biggest single reason cited by people who don’t like to ride long distance trains is that the trip is too long. I suspect these might also be people who don’t do very well by themselves, because one of the survival techniques learned early on by those of us who for whatever reason have found ourselves spending time to ourselves is the ability to easily and quickly take advantage of that time to enjoy any number of activities from reading a good book to writing to creating things with pen and paper. There’s also a lot to be said for just enjoying the beautiful scenery, which today was being supplied in abundance by the states of Virginia and West Virginia.



Scenery aboard the Cardinal



Scenery aboard the Cardinal

Additionally, people like me are not shy about wandering up to the lounge car where potential interaction with our fellow passengers is an added attraction to the train travel experience. Nothing’s forced. If someone’s reading or listening to music I’m sure not going to interrupt them. I usually just buy a drink or a meal, take a seat at a table and go with the flow. In the communal atmosphere of the lounge car, conversation just seems to evolve naturally.

When I last rode The Cardinal back in 1984, it was made up of a mix of old Heritage Fleet cars from the 1950s and newly built Amfleet coaches. The lounge and diner were old Heritage Fleet cars that I personally liked a lot more than the new Amfleet Café/Lounges. The best thing about the older lounges was the cocktail lounge style seating. It featured booth style seating as well as small cocktail tables set around couches and chairs. That seating arrangement was much more conducive to social interaction than today’s Amfleet lounges which offer only booth style seating. Regardless of seating though, a lounge is by nature a social place and most people end up making a few new friends before the end of their journey.

I like Steve Goodman’s take on long distance train travel across America. Thanks to Arlo Guthrie for doing such a wonderful job of setting his words to music. In reading the lyrics, it’s so easy to put myself right onboard that train livin’ The Life...


The City of New Orleans
by Steve Goodman

Riding on the City of New Orleans,
Illinois Central Monday morning rail
Fifteen cars and fifteen restless riders,
Three conductors and twenty-five sacks of mail.
All along the southbound odyssey
The train pulls out at Kankakee
Rolls along past houses, farms and fields.
Passin' trains that have no names,
Freight yards full of old black men
And the graveyards of the rusted automobiles.

CHORUS:
Good morning America how are you?
Don't you know me I'm your native son,
I'm the train they call The City of New Orleans,
I'll be gone five hundred miles when the day is done.

Dealin' card games with the old men in the club car.
Penny a point ain't no one keepin' score.
Pass the paper bag that holds the bottle
Feel the wheels rumblin' 'neath the floor.
And the sons of pullman porters
And the sons of engineers
Ride their father's magic carpets made of steel.
Mothers with their babes asleep,
Are rockin' to the gentle beat
And the rhythm of the rails is all they feel.

CHORUS

Nighttime on The City of New Orleans,
Changing cars in Memphis, Tennessee.
Half way home, we'll be there by morning
Through the Mississippi darkness
Rolling down to the sea.
And all the towns and people seem
To fade into a bad dream
And the steel rails still ain't heard the news.
The conductor sings his song again,
The passengers will please refrain
This train's got the disappearing railroad blues.

Good night, America, how are you?
Don't you know me I'm your native son,
I'm the train they call The City of New Orleans,
I'll be gone five hundred miles when the day is done.


For me at least, some of the verses in this in this song really capture the essence of “getting there” as opposed to being there. Getting there can be really fun and enjoyable if you’ve a mind to let it be. In the lounge car of a long distance train, there’s a shared experience to travel that can rarely if ever be experienced in the First Class cabin of a Boeing 747. Indeed, I reckon I’ve probably had just about as many memorable experiences while sitting in a lounge car playing cards with sons of Pullman porters and the like as I have meeting new and different people while away from home in a hotel, hostel, bar or restaurant. But then, that’s more my style. You certainly won’t find me trading luxury vacation and travel experiences with the titans of industry out by the pool at some swank resort, or even hangin’ with the FlyerTalk glitterati at some exotic Do. They’d probably call Security on me before I got even ten words out! No – I’m forever more at home with my fellow travelers up in the lounge car of that southbound train, regardless of where it’s headed.

Although I have played many a card game in many a lounge car, tonight I ran across a guy from Victoria, BC with a Scrabble board. Three of us set to playing and although I scored big with GIARDIA, I didn’t win that particular game. We sure had fun though and while I was at it I spent $28.00 on two Jack Daniels and two Budweisers! What I’d have given for that paper bag in Goodman’s song…

It had been awhile since I’d ridden coach on an overnight train. I’d asked the conductor for a window seat along the right hand side of the train because I’m more comfortable leaning my head against the wall on that side. The seat had good recline and, along with my good wool blanket, Amtrak’s pillow and a tab of melatonin, I slept fairly well. The only real problem was some particularly rough tracks somewhere in southern Ohio about 2AM. The ride felt so rough I couldn’t help but wonder if we’d derailed and were running atop the ties!

I awoke shortly after we’d departed Lafayette, Indiana. Chicago was only three hours away and we were running right on time, if not a bit early. The Conductor announced that we’d likely arrive in Chicago a bit before 10:00am, and since I remembered having once gotten a great breakfast burrito in the upstairs food court at Union Station, I decided to hold off on breakfast in the diner. Coffee and a granola bar provided ample sustenance until we’d arrived.

I spent the night out at the Ramada Inn in Elk Grove Village, not far from O’Hare. It’s been my experience that Ramada Inns are wildly inconsistent. I’ve stayed in some like the one by the airport in Spokane, Washington that are attractive and very well managed properties. Others like the one closes to LAX are like something out of a Wes Craven movie. The one I stayed at on this night was a nice enough property with a very nice covered courtyard and swimming pool in the middle of the complex. Although the hotel’s restaurant was no longer in service, there were plenty of options nearby including that quintessential Midwestern favorite, White Castle. The only real drawback was the front desk staff, all of whom I would charitably describe as out of place in any public contact positions.

Seat 2A

October 16, 2012
Amtrak Chicago – Austin 145p – 630p Texas Eagle First Class Roomette

The Chicago Transit Authority’s Blue Line train delivered me from O’Hare Airport to within two blocks of Union Station for a mere $2.25. It was a bright sunny autumn morning, so even the short walk up Clinton Street to the station was a pleasant diversion, street smells notwithstanding. And to think those who don’t know any better or are simply put off for whatever reason with riding public transit would have paid about $30.00 for a taxi that might have saved them only 5-10 minutes, if that.

My First Class ticket aboard the Texas Eagle entitled me to visit Amtrak’s Metropolitan Lounge, specially reserved for those holding sleeping car accommodations. This lounge, though providing a quieter environment with more comfortable seating than would be found out in the station, would not compare favorably with most airline lounges. There are no windows, and the artificial ceiling lights do little to warm up the somber olive, beige and brown interior. Drinks are limited to coffee, tea and sodas with the morning snacks consisting of a tray of mini-muffins. Later in the afternoon, packets of Goldfish® Crackers are available. Although the lounge offers complimentary Wi-Fi, there is but one computer terminal available for public use.



Amtrak’s Metropolitan Lounge in Chicago

Thankfully, a staffed baggage storage area is provided, so I quickly divested myself of my suitcase and then headed upstairs to the food court for another delicious breakfast burrito. Later, I walked across the street to the CVS pharmacy where I purchased enough beer and almonds to get me through the 29 hour journey. As an afterthought, I also grabbed a bag of ice.

Boarding for sleeping car passengers was called at 1:15pm. We were led out a side door from the lounge and escorted directly to the waiting train. It was a fair hike to get out to our assigned track, followed by an extended stroll down the length of our nine car train to the front where the two sleepers were located just behind the engine and baggage car.

My sleeper was the farthest forward and doubled as the crew’s sleeper as well. Known as transition sleepers, these cars are a bit different from the regular bi-level sleepers in that the downstairs roomettes have been removed and in their place is a large open storage area with a couple of booth style tables built in. The shower and toilets remained, as did the large handicapped room which appeared to have become a crew bedroom as well. I stowed my suitcase on the baggage storage rack and then headed upstairs to my roomette.



Trackside at Chicago’s Union Station



Looking up at my bedroom from outside



Downstairs on the transition sleeper

There are ten roomettes on the upper level of each sleeper, along with five deluxe bedrooms. The roomettes measure 3’6” by 6’6” and are truly testament to organization and efficient use of space. During the day they offer two wide opposite facing seats that fold together to become a bed at night. Above the seats is a fold-down upper berth. Other amenities include four separate lights, an electrical outlet, a tall mirror, a fold out table, a small open closet with hangers and a thermostat that had thoughtfully been pre-adjusted to its lowest temperature. Best of all, each roomette has its own huge window, approximately 2’ X 5’, through which to view the passing scenery. Toilet and shower facilities are down the hall as well as downstairs. My car had three shower equipped bathrooms available.



Amtrak’s Deluxe Bedroom Seating



Amtrak’s Deluxe Bedroom Sink and Vanity



Amtrak’s Roomette Seating for two



Amtrak’s Roomette Single Seat

At my seat were two big fluffy pillows and hangers for any coats and jackets. Behind the center console where the table is stored were two bottles of water along with a route guide and a timetable. Not so many years ago, the accoutrements included a small wicker basket that contained a washcloth, shampoo and conditioner. Additionally, Amtrak’s First Class passengers could expect a complimentary bottle of wine, a stationary packet and a chocolate mint. These days, I’m just thankful that the trains are still running.

I spent the next few minutes busying myself in getting settled in for the thirty-three hour journey down to Austin. There were books and toiletries to find a place for, a phone to recharge, a jacket to hang and of course beers to chill. Although a full container of ice was located just at the top of the stairs, I’d recently purchased a full bag of ice in advance of this trip and now took a few minutes to convert my garbage receptacle into a makeshift cooler.



Properly prepared for a long trip on the train

Although Amtrak was once known for broken down cars and consistently delayed trains, my recent experiences in this regard have been quite positive with them of late. Everything in my room worked just fine and when our scheduled departure time of 1:45pm arrived, we departed on time.



Crossing the Chicago River

We were about an hour out of Chicago, rockin’ and rollin’ along at a sprightly 70+ miles per hour, when the Dining Car Steward stopped by to take dinner reservations. First Class sleeper car passengers get first dibs on meal times, followed by anyone in the coaches and subsequent walk-ons. He offered four different settings between 5:00 and 7:30pm and informed me that a big group had pre-booked most of the 5:45 and 6:30 time slots. Experience has taught me that those who choose to eat later risk the more popular choices such as steak or chicken being sold out. As such, I asked for and received a 5:45 dinner reservation, then cracked another perfectly chilled beer and resumed my efforts to keep this trip report updated in a reasonably timely fashion. I’m about a week behind, but downtime on trains and planes do indeed provide excellent opportunities to catch up. Gazing out my window on occasion revealed the surprisingly pretty landscape of south central Illinois. Autumn colors were abundant and our speedy transit down the tracks lent a Monet like quality to the passing trees.



Autumn pallette of colors

One of the best parts of traveling by train is heading up to the dining car to enjoy a nice cooked meal. Entire books have been written on the subject, complete with recipes of favorite meals from famous trains like Santa Fe’s Super Chief or the Union Pacific’s City of Los Angeles. My personal favorite was the blueberry pie served aboard the Rio Grande Zephyr which I used to ride often back in the seventies between Denver and Grand Junction, Colorado. The best part was the crust – light, flaky, buttery in flavor – simply sublime. The Rocky Mountain Rainbow Trout dinners were excellent as well. In the post WWII heyday of train travel here in America, more than a few travelers proclaimed that the entrée or dessert they’d enjoyed in their restaurant on wheels was better than anything they’d ever been served in a traditional restaurant. Readers born after 1970 are unlikely to have ever experienced anything like this on American trains as progressive reductions in Amtrak’s operating budget have reduced the quality, quantity and presentation of the meals on its trains.

That said, you can still enjoy a pretty nice dinner on Amtrak. On its long distance trains, meals are prepared in a fully stocked onboard kitchen and created from fresh items restocked at service stops along the route. Check out the menu on offer in the diner this evening.



Texas Eagle Dining Car



Table for four

Having opted for the 5:45pm seating meant that I’d be joining a good number of folks traveling on a Rail America tour down to Branson, Missouri. In fact, judging by age and all the name tags I saw folks wearing, I may well have been the only person in the diner who wasn’t part of their group. To be sure I was the youngest as most of these folks were well into their retirement years. I joined Tom and Nellie, a couple from Utica, New York who explained that the people on this tour had come from all over America. They’d met up in Chicago for a brief city tour before continuing on to St. Louis aboard the Texas Eagle. They’d disembark and spend tonight in St. Louis before taking a bus down to Branson tomorrow. Needless to say, they were very much looking forward to seeing performances by once well-known stars who I thought had been long retired or worse. Did any of you ever wonder where Tim Conway, Bob Newhart, the Oak Ridge Boys, Kenny Rogers and Yakov Smirnoff ever disappeared to? You didn’t? Well in case you ever do, all of them and quite a few more are alive and apparently doing well down in Branson, Missouri.

First Class passengers may order anything they like from the menu regardless of cost and perhaps for this reason the steak is the most popular selection despite also being the most expensive. I usually order the steak as well but tonight decided to try out the chicken. It’s a pretty sizeable plate of food that includes a whole half chicken with vegetables and your choice of starch. I opted for the baked potato. Tom and Nellie ordered Steak and the Pork Chop Special respectively. We all ate with gusto and I think it’s fair to say we all enjoyed our meals immensely. Dessert is included for us First Class passengers if we so desire, but I was sufficiently sated from three beers, a packet of almonds and the big dinner that I couldn’t have eaten dessert even if Amtrak had paid me to.

Afterwards, I bid Tom and Nellie a good time down in Branson and headed back my roomette for a post-dinner cocktail, thanks to a couple of single serving bottles of Jack Daniels I’d picked up last night. $2.75 on the street sure beats $7.00 each in the lounge car.

We arrived in St. Louis at 8:30pm and dropped off what looked like most of the train’s passengers. Amtrak operates three trains a day between Chicago and St. Louis and I should imagine the Eagle is a pretty popular option given the extra amenities offered by a long distance train in conjunction with a amenable early evening arrival time.

Smokers were advised to take advantage of the fifteen minute stop in St. Louis because once we’d departed, the next chance to smoke wouldn’t come until somewhere in Arkansas at about three in the morning. I couldn’t help but remember back when I was a regular smoker and that long of a break between smokes would definitely have been tough to handle. I’m hardly one to decry smoking as a filthy, awful habit because I certainly enjoyed most every cigarette I ever smoked, but at the same time I sure am glad I quit smoking years ago before the once simple act of lighting up became so much more difficult, not to mention reviled.

It was a little after 9:00pm by the time we’d cleared the St. Louis suburbs, rolling south southwest at good speed on what felt like welded rails. The difference between welded vs. split or joint rails is quite noticeable with a quieter and smoother ride on the welded rails. A lot of railroads started to go with welded rail on their mainlines in the 1950s but there is still plenty of split rail trackage still out there.

I had relocated to the Sightseer Lounge car during our stop in St. Louis. The lounge car offers two types of seating. One half is made up of booth type seating with two bench seats on either side of a table while the other half consists of individual swivel chairs and small couches on either side of the aisle. I was sat in a single seat watching as the bright lights of St. Louis were replaced by the darkness of the country. I’d just returned from my room with a freshly chilled can of Beck’s when a girl who’d taken the seat next to me asked about my headphones.

My headphone of choice since way back in the 1980s has been the Koss Porta-Pro. Given its sound quality and size, I cannot imagine a better headphone to travel with. I have never been all that bothered by ambient noise around me such as that produced in the cabin by jet engines, so I don’t require a $275.00 pair of Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones. As for sound quality, the Porta-Pros are awfully darned good, especially for their price which is usually about $45.00. Sure, the Bose and other noise cancelling headphones are better, but nowhere near $200.00 better in my estimation. Not even close. Plus, they’re bulky and take up a lot of space in my carry-on. The Porta-Pros fold up to a little smaller than a tennis ball and fit easily in the side pocket of my daypack with plenty of room left over to put other items in that same pocket.

In any event, I’d been listening on my laptop rather than my Zen player and let her have a listen to my phones while I headed downstairs to the café to purchase some almonds. I’d been listening to the May 22, 1977 show that the Grateful Dead played at Pembroke Pines, Florida. That entire concert was released on CD as Dick’s Picks #3 a few years ago. It was a pretty hot show as were most all those shows on that Spring 1977 tour, and the recording quality was supurb. The song I just happened to have on was Franklin’s Tower and I’ve always liked it for Garcia’s guitar riffs which percolate nicely throughout the song. Well, by the time I returned my seatmate was amazed by both the headphones and the music. At 24 years old, she was only seven years old when the Grateful Dead played their last show and she’d never really heard any of their music except for a couple of the usual American Beauty tracks deemed safe for radio play.

Anyway, to make a long story shorter, she had four blank CDs with her and she definitely wanted more of that music. I’ve got over 100 hours of GD and GD related music on my laptop, not to mention similar amounts of SCI and many other jambands, so she could hardly have met a better man for the job. She was getting off at Poplar Bluff, Missouri, just three hours away, but we used up pretty much all of that time putting together four quality discs. We finished off my beer, bought a couple more and all in all it was a nice relaxed evening riding the rails down through southern Missouri.

We were running right on time, which meant it was almost midnight by the time we resumed our southbound journey out of Poplar Bluffs. It felt like a good time to call it a night so I returned to my roomette to find that Michael, the rarely seen but ever efficient car attendant had already lowered my bed and made up my room for the night. My empty water bottle had been replenished and all I had left to do was hang up my clothing and hop into bed. I generally sleep pretty well on trains. Provided the tracks aren’t too rough, the otherwise gentle motion of the train is quite comforting. I should note however that I’m not overly fond of the rather tight sheet and blanket arrangement on Amtrak’s mattresses. I’m more partial to ViaRail’s duvets and the closest thing I had to one was a nice wool blanket sitting just downstairs in my suitcase. I returned with that, placed it over me and then delved into my latest read, a great thriller called The Bricklayer written by retired FBI agent Noah Boyd. I love this guy’s writing style and have already ordered the next two books in the series. Before long we returned to the distinctive clickity-clack cadence of split rails, which actually sounds rather nice at 70 mph. I was asleep soon after.



Ready for bed in Amtrak’s Superliner Roomette

The next morning I awoke to sunshine and grassy plains somewhere out in northeast Texas. Dallas was still three hours down the tracks, but a good hot shower was just twenty feet down the hall. In our day to day lives at home I reckon most of us take showers for granted, but when you’re traveling on a train or now – even in a plane – I’d say they are doubly appreciated. Amtrak’s showers provide plenty of space combined with ample hot water and good pressure. I emerged clean, refreshed and ready for a good hot breakfast.



Waking up to a shower sure is nice!

I don’t often cook breakfast at home, preferring an expeditious bowl of cereal and yogurt most days. When traveling however, be it on a plane or train, I always opt for the hot option. Amtrak’s breakfast menu provided exactly that with a delicious omelet washed down with plenty of fairly decent coffee.



Dallas skyline on arrival



Glass and steel tower above the dome lounge

We arrived in Dallas ahead of schedule at about 11:00am and spent a good 45 minutes at the station before departing for nearby Fort Worth. Now according to Amtrak’s schedule, Fort Worth is just 31 miles down the track from Dallas and yet the schedule allows a generous hour and thirty-five minutes to cover that distance. That averages out to about 20mph and as we accelerated out of Dallas with considerable alacrity it was abundantly clear that we’d likely be arriving in Fort Worth a bit early as well. We did, arriving at 12:45pm, forty minutes ahead of schedule. I asked a member of the crew about this but they claimed to have no idea about such matters. I looked around the lounge car for any “foamers” but didn’t see anyone who fit the bill. In any event, we spent another hour and twenty minutes sitting in Fort Worth Station before finally rolling on down the tracks towards south central Texas. At least the cigarette smokers were happy! Most of them managed to choke down at least four or five cigs over the course of those two long layovers. On board the train, service proceeded per normal with luncheon being served shortly after our departure from Dallas. Being in the mood for some southwestern flavored food, I ordered the Chipotle Black Bean & Corn Veggie Burger which was just plain excellent!



The greener side of Texas as seen from the Sightseer Lounge Car

After lunch, I headed back to the lounge car to watch as we made our way out of urban and suburban Fort Worth and into the country. It was hard to believe that I’d been on the train for a full day so far. Time had just flown by and now Austin was only four and a half hours away. My wonderful First Class train ride was almost over. On the opposite end of the spectrum, a lady nearby lamented to her traveling companion that there were still another eight hours until the train arrived in San Antonio. Interesting how our outlooks were diametrically opposed.

Four hours later we rolled into Austin, five minutes early. It occurred to me as I disembarked that most people only hear about Amtrak when the trains run late or something bad happens like a crossing accident. I thought this was a great trip from start to finish with timely performance, comfortable accommodations, good food and quality socializing with fellow passengers. In short, this train ride was a very civilized way to travel.

*** *** *** *** ***

I’ve had the good fortune to visit Austin on a few occasions over the years with ample time to enjoy the excellent food and music available here. This time however, I was only transiting Austin as my real “destination” was South Florida to visit a couple of ex-Denali drivers. Both of them are now full time rangers at Everglades National Park, located one hundred miles south of Miami.

Through the latter half of the 1990s, Amtrak’s Sunset Limited used to operate from Los Angeles all the way to Miami. During that time it was the only true transcontinental passenger train in American history. In December of 1994 I did the trip westbound from Miami all the way to LA, then up to Seattle. The Miami to LA trip took 76 hours and I did it in coach without a second thought. Oh, to be young again…

As much as I would love to once again ride those Gulf rails from Texas across to Florida, unfortunately track damage by Hurricane Katrina ended all service east of New Orleans in 2005. Those tracks have since been repaired and while there is talk of once again restoring service from New Orleans to at least as far as Jacksonville, for now the Sunset Limited terminates at New Orleans. Left with a choice of either bus or plane to Florida, I’d booked a flight on Delta from Austin to Ft. Lauderdale departing tomorrow morning at 8:00am. As such, I now needed to get from the train station to the airport.

I can afford a cab to the airport. Heck, I could just buy the cab and the whole damned company while I was at it. But I refuse. Paying $25.00 for something that can be easily accomplished with a minimum of effort and inconvenience for just $2.00 has always made more sense to me than wasting ten times the money just to get to the airport a half hour earlier. (Somehow I just can’t bring myself to apply that same logic to the expenditure of miles when it comes to flying in Economy versus First Class on long, overseas flights.)

Tonight my thrifty ways resulted in my having to walk down to the far end of the station parking lot, hike through a rough area overgrown with weeds, cross over the railroad tracks, then continue through a gap in a chain link fence onto a street that took me up to the corner of Fifth & Baylor. The bus stop was two more blocks up the street to my left. That bus took me to Fifth & Congress where I walked two blocks down to Third & Congress and caught the 100 Airport Flyer out to the airport. Total time spent from the time I left the Amtrak station: About an hour and twenty-five minutes. The $23.00 savings will go toward the cost of my one day car rental in Ft. Lauderdale, making it almost “free”.

I’ve crashed in the Austin Airport before. The usual spots for most people who for whatever reason find themselves sleeping in an airport generally involve a set of padded chairs or a carpeted area. The problem is that in most airports those are public areas that are brightly lit and heavily travelled starting in the early morning. I travel with a Thermarest Pad which allows me to sleep comfortably on even the coldest and hardest linoleum floor. The places I look for are generally away from the main public areas and thus don’t require seating or bright lighting, especially at night. All I need is a floor.

Returning to my usual spot, I set up camp and slept undisturbed until my alarm went off at 6:30am. I can usually break camp in less than ten minutes and then it’s off to a baggage claim area rest room to change clothes and clean up a bit. Many airports don’t have many (if any) flights arriving at 6:30am so I can usually find a rest room that’s completely deserted. All I’m doing is changing some (but not all clothes) washing my hair and shaving – in a deserted rest room no less. Even so, it never fails to amaze me how squeamish and prissy some people get over the very idea of such activity, as if it were some unthinkably distasteful social faux pas. Pfft ~ like I care…


October 18, 2012
Delta Airlines Austin – Atlanta 800a – 1112a 757-200 Economy Class
Delta Airlines Atlanta – Ft. Lauderdale 1228p – 220p 757-200 Economy Class

If Stephen King ever made a movie about horrific airport experiences, the line he’d envision at the security checkpoint might have looked very much like the one at Austin this morning. The maze of eight or nine back and forth lanes were completely filled and the procession of humanity continued a good forty yards back into the terminal before doubling most of the way back on itself. For some odd reason only two scanners were operational and - with just fifty minutes left before my flight was scheduled to depart – I would have likely missed my flight had I joined that line. Thankfully, there was a Premium lane available and incredibly, I was through the checkpoint and on my way down to the gate in all of about five minutes. That was worth far more to me than any First Class upgrade would ever be.

Speaking of upgrades, as an MVP Gold 75K in Alaska Airlines’ Mileage Plan I was eligible to be upgraded on this Delta flight. As usual however, I was so far down the waitlist (27 of 28) that it wasn’t even worth hoping for. With no First Class breakfast to look forward to, I stopped by a local concession and purchased a pretty decent breakfast burrito. The best part was the salsa. This is Texas after all, so one would expect a properly spiced salsa instead of that wimpy stuff they call salsa in much of the rest of the country.

Although the low fare I’d booked had required a three hour layover in Atlanta, I was able to stand by for an earlier flight and managed to arrive in Ft. Lauderdale at 2:20pm, well ahead of rush hour traffic. Forty-five minutes later I was southbound down I-95 in a black Chrysler 300, headed for a nice evening in the Everglades.

Seat 2A

October 19, 2012
Amtrak Ft. Lauderdale - Orlando 1214p – 708p Silver Star First Class

And what a nice evening it was ~ robust camaraderie accented with good spicy Cuban food and a cooler full of ice cold Warsteiners and St. Pauli Girls. I awoke the next morning with just enough time for a shower and a coffee to go before making my way up the beautiful 38 mile road from Flamingo to Florida City and joining the morning rush hour on the Florida Turnpike.



Morning drive through Everglades National Park



Morning drive through Everglades National Park

From Ft. Lauderdale I’d booked a seat aboard Amtrak’s Silver Star up to Orlando. This served two purposes, actually. First, I needed to get to Orlando for a flight out tomorrow morning. Secondly, this train routed through Tampa on its journey from Miami to New York, and in doing so would allow me to ride the 99 mile stretch of track between Tampa and Orlando. This is one of three small sections of Amtrak’s national system that I’ve not yet ridden, the other two being the 96 mile stretch between Galesburg, IL. and Quincy, IL along with the 69 mile section between Richmond, VA and Newport News, VA. Other than that, I’ve ridden over every bit of rail in the entire Amtrak system.

At Ft. Lauderdale Airport there is a free shuttle van to the Airport Tri-Rail station. It stops to pick up passengers right across the street from the Car Rental Center which – today at least – was a good thing because the van was almost totally full by the time it reached its third stop at Terminal 2. We were able to squeeze on another two passengers and their luggage but the three or four others who’d been waiting there would now have to wait another hour for the next van with no guarantee that it too might not also be full. If I were one of them, I would have recommended sharing a taxi at that point.

It was raining hard when we arrived at the Tri-Rail station. Those of us heading north to Ft. Lauderdale and beyond were required to cross over to the other side of the tracks to catch our train. Then, typical of South Florida “order and efficiency” we were informed that the northbound train would now be leaving from the southbound side of the tracks. Back through the tropical downpour we trudged, getting good and wet in the process.

At Ft. Lauderdale Station where Amtrak and Tri-Rail share the same platform, I headed into the blissfully air-conditioned ticket office and waiting room and decided to plunk down an additional $69.00 for a First Class roomette for the seven hour journey up to Orlando. When I’d purchased the tickets a month or so ago, it just didn’t make sense to spend the extra money for a roomette for a seven hour daytime journey. Now however, wet and sweaty from the oppressive South Florida heat and humidity, I was really looking forward to a shower. Purchasing a roomette would provide access to that plus a complimentary lunch and dinner in the diner. All in all, it seemed like money well spent, especially given the shower.

An announcement was made that the northbound Silver Star was running about ten minutes late. This was hardly a concern as I was thoroughly enjoying the refrigerated ambience of the waiting room along with about twenty other overheated souls. Perhaps ten of them were a group of English tourists who were all booked in First Class accommodations up to New York. When the call came that our train’s arrival was imminent, we all headed up the platform to a point about fifty yards beyond where all the coach passengers had gathered. We were all thankful to enjoy a brief respite in the rainfall as we waited. Unfortunately, the high humidity continued unabated.

Once safely ensconced aboard the Silver Star, I took a few moments to settle into my Viewliner Roomette. Amtrak’s Viewliner cars are First Class single level sleepers used only east of Chicago. Although the popular bi-level Superliner equipment is used throughout the west, many of the tracks back east won’t support the taller Superliners because of the shorter underpasses and tunnels. The Viewliner roomettes differ from those on the Superliner in that they have an additional set of windows for those in the upper bunks. During the day when the beds aren’t set up, those windows allow in lots of wonderful natural light, not to mention extra view. Additionally, Viewliner roomettes also include an ensuite sink and toilet, features not found on the Superliners except in the deluxe bedrooms and handicapped rooms. My car was named Sylvan View.



Amtrak’s Viewliner Sleeper exterior



Viewliner daytime seating

After hanging up my sports coat, I quickly stripped down to my boxers and a shirt, then grabbed a change of clothing and headed twenty feet down the hallway to the shower room. Yeah, yeah, I know I was in my underwear but hey – they’re boxers and they look just like cheap swimming trunks. The shower room is stocked with soap and towels, so all I had to bring was my shampoo. There was plenty of good hot water and fifteen minutes later I was back in my room, freshly clothed and feeling like a new man. Now, it’s time for lunch!

The diner was just one car up and upon entering I was thrilled to see it was one of the new Amfleet diners upon which I’d never ridden before. For guys like me who truly enjoy traveling, riding upon new and different equipment is actually rather exciting. I paused briefly to take a couple of photographs of the new car and its layout. Stuffy old “Well travelled” pragmatists will likely look upon such activity with disdain, but theirs is a gray and colorless world, where service and products have become expected rather than anticipated and celebrated. I cannot imagine a bleaker outlook. Poor stiffs.



Amtrak’s Amfleet Diner



Amfleet diner service area

About three quarters of the tables in the dining car were occupied and yet, despite Amtrak’s usual predilection towards communal seating, I was surprised to be assigned a table to myself. Looking over the menu, I decided to go with the Chef’s Special, a plate of meatloaf accompanied by mashed potatoes and veggies. It was filling though I didn’t find the meatloaf recipe particularly inspiring. Per my tastes at least, it could have used more flavor - perhaps some onions and garlic or Worcestershire Sauce.

Walking back to my roomette after lunch, I overhead snippets of conversation in a variety of different languages and/or accents. Wherever these people are from, I hope they’re enjoying their ride on Amtrak. The space and comfort of economy class travel is superior to similar accommodations on most any other railroad I’ve ever ridden upon or researched worldwide, while you’d be hard pressed to find a more affordable First Class in most developed countries.

I’d had a long day thus far what with my early start out of the Everglades, so by the time I returned to my sleeper I was ready for some sleep. Well, a nap at least. In their daytime configuration the roomettes are comprised of two wide seats facing each other. For sleeping the two seats can be lowered and merged into a flat bed measuring 78 inches long. I suppose I could have called the car attendant but I’d seen this procedure performed before and it’s not a difficult task. Moments later I was nicely stretched out and soon after that I was asleep.



Comfortably stretched out in my roomette

I was awoken about two hours later by a knock on the door. It was the dining car steward who’d come by to take dinner reservations. With arrival at Orlando scheduled for 7:10pm, I went with the 5:45pm seating which would leave plenty of time for a nice, unhurried dinner.



Silver Star Dining Car set for Dinner

My dinner companions this evening were two ladies, Ruth from New Jersey and Michelle from North Carolina. Ruth was well into her seventies but sharp as they come and very well versed about Amtrak including its troubles acquiring a decent budget from Congress. Two presidents – Reagan and Bush II - have wanted to do away with Amtrak altogether. Needless to say we were all pleased that their efforts had been foiled. Michelle lived outside Columbia, South Carolina and was heading home after a visit to her sister down in Hollywood, Florida. She enjoyed everything about Amtrak except for the departure and arrival times at Columbia which were both in the middle of the night.

As we looked over the menus, our server delivered salads and took our orders. Ruth and I were both in the sleepers which allowed us the run of the menu. As such, we both chose the Chef’s Special, a delicious

Lamb Shank dinner served with vegetables and a choice of starch. I’ll have the baked potato please. Michelle was traveling in the coaches and selected the ½ baked chicken – always a popular choice on Amtrak and at just $15.75 a plate a great deal as well. Check out my Lamb Shank dinner! The meat was fall off the bone tender and juicy.



Lamb Shank Dinner

Like me, Ruth had ridden Amtrak all over the country mainly because she enjoyed the pace of train travel. “At my age,” she said, “what’s the hurry?” How true at any age I think. That said, with airfares between Florida and New York occasionally going for less than $100.00 one way, the allure of getting there quickly and cheaply is usually too good to pass up for most travelers. I can’t say as I blame them, especially in today’s economy. Even if you get a really low fare on Amtrak, you’re still looking at an easy $20.00 to $40.00 or more per day if you choose to enjoy Amtrak catered drinks and meals onboard. More than a few coach travelers bring along their own food. For those who don’t but wish they did, the Café does offer some reasonably priced alternatives to meals in the diner. (Add $.50 to $1.00 to most of the prices shown on this menu)

Amtrak always offers a delicious selection of desserts. They usually include a cheesecake selection, some kind of cake or torte, and two or three different types of ice cream. While the presentation of the cheesecake and tortes is always attractive, the ice cream is presented in a prepackaged cup complete with a tiny plastic spoon. The Haagen Daz brand is pretty good but it’s a shame they don’t serve it in a proper bowl. Regardless, my Vanilla Beef Gravy Swirl was pretty tasty. Michelle went with a cup of the Tuna Ripple and found it satisfying as well.

Somewhere along the way we’d made up time because we arrived into Orlando at 7:05pm, three minutes early. Alighting from the train into the pleasantly dry Florida evening, I tipped the car attendant who’d not only helped me with my bag both on and off the train but also did a great job of explaining the train and its procedures and features. It’s a shame that most people only hear about delays and poor service aboard Amtrak. While I don’t doubt the veracity of those tales, I can tell you from considerable experience that most of those stories are from years past. Today’s Amtrak has nicer cars, an often younger more inspired group of employees and a better relationship with its host railroads that allow its trains a better on-time performance. This trip was certainly evidence of that in spades. Well done, Amtrak!

Once again I was faced with using an expensive cab or shuttle as opposed to inexpensive but more time consuming public transit to get from the train station in downtown Orlando to the Airport. A shuttle van parked at the station advertised one way transport to Orlando International for just $25.00. I overheard two guys, each with a single small roller bag like mine, asking the driver how long it would take to get to the airport. About a half hour, he replied. I had done a bit of research on the internet prior to my arrival and found that if I were to walk just two and a half blocks from the station down to Orange Avenue, I could catch the #11 bus directly to the airport for just $2.00. Given the bus schedule at that time of night, I’d have about a twenty minute wait for the bus on Orange Avenue but even factoring that in I’d still be at the airport about an hour and ten minutes from now. It was a nice night with surprisingly low humidity as I set off for the bus stop on Orange Avenue.

I realize that a lot of you are well compensated for your professional efforts and can’t be bothered over ticky-tack stuff like a mere $23.00 savings. Besides, if you’re traveling on business your company is covering your costs anyway. I mention these instances of using public transport or sleeping in airports and the resultant savings realized simply because I’ve been taking this approach all my life. It’s not like you could call me cheap exactly – a trip like the one I’m presently writing has cost me about $3600.00 when you factor in the cost of the various tickets for planes, trains and boats along with rental cars, gas, and hotels. And that’s not even considering my day to day expenses for meals, newspapers, the occasional beer, etc. Those kinds of costs and the style of a trip like this are also largely responsible for my being a solo traveler. So when I see an opportunity to save money, and the inconvenience is truly minimal, I almost always take advantage of it. At the end of the trip, much less the end of the year, the savings really add up.

Seat 2A

October 20, 2012
Alaska Airlines Orlando – San Diego 805a – 1040a 737-800 First Class
Alaska Airlines San Diego – Seattle 1140a – 227p 737-800 First Class
Alaska Airlines Seattle – Denver 555p – 924p 737-700 First Class

I’ve been looking forward to this day ever since I purchased the ticket for today’s roundabout itinerary from Orlando to Denver. Alaska has been promoting its new service between Orlando and San Diego with double miles through November 15th along with great low introductory fares. Even though I’ve long since earned the requisite mileage to maintain my status, I figure there’s no reason why I shouldn’t pass up a good opportunity to add a few more miles into my account at a very affordable price. Add to that the fact that I’ve been upgraded on all three of today’s flights and life is looking pretty good. Okay, so it ain’t Cathay Pacific, but it still beats spending the day back in Coach!

First though, I had to get through security. Today being Saturday, I would have figured most people would be arriving at Orlando rather than departing, but the huge crowd at the security checkpoint indicated otherwise – at least during the early morning hours. Thankfully there was a Premium lane available but when I showed my boarding pass to the lady guarding the entrance, she denied me entrance claiming that Alaska Elite Status – First Class travel notwithstanding - wasn’t valid in Orlando.” Yoo mas go to dat line ovah there!” she shrieked. Whaaaat?! I informed her that I’d previously used the elite lane while flying on Alaska earlier this year but she’d have none of it.” Yoo go ova there now!” Why you crazy old ~ then I spied the sign indicating the First Class and Premium flyers lane. It was about thirty feet further up, but clearly seen at the top of the list of airlines was Alaska’s logo. Even then, I actually had to convince her to step away from her spot at the lane entrance so that she could see the sign, at which point she finally relented.

I do sympathize to some extent with the lane dragons because I’m sure they have to put up with all manner of scammers trying to talk their way into a shorter line. Still, I don’t think it’s asking too much that they be aware of the eligible airlines in their zone. The Premium Lane entrance appears to be flexible depending upon the crowd size so perhaps situations such as I experienced might also be avoided by simply relocating the sign to the new entrance. It ain’t rocket science…

Soon enough I was settled into seat 3B savoring a cup of coffee along with a packet of those tasty Biscoff Cookies that I’d saved from my Delta flights a couple of days before. Seatmate arrived decked out in shorts and sneakers but no socks along with a set of Bose headphones which he never removed except for a couple trips to the forward lav. What struck me as a bit odd was his need to wear the headphones prior to his arrival onboard the airplane, especially since they didn’t appear to be hooked up to anything. This guy clearly wanted to be left alone. No problem. As much as I’m capable of conversation with anyone, I must admit to rather enjoying a less talkative flight as well. I suspect that more and more frequent flyers probably appreciate the down time that a flight provides, especially if they travel on business. More often than not I’ll give an initial greeting to my seatmate but beyond that any further conversation is their option. As for me, between a never ending supply of books, newspapers and my laptop, I’ve got plenty to keep me entertained all by myself, without adult supervision. One thing I’ve never done however – and never will do – is walk around in a public setting wearing headphones.

It was a beautiful day for flying and as we climbed away from Orlando through sunshine and sparse morning clouds, Our route of flight took us due west out of Orlando and across the Gulf of Mexico, flying about twenty miles off the gulf coast. I felt a pang of regret that I hadn’t selected a window seat for this flight. In years past I used to always sit by the window but with the degenerative spinal condition that I deal with these days, it’s never a good idea to sit too long. Thus my lot is usually an aisle seat where I can get up about once every 90 minutes or so without being a bother to anyone else.

Service started with coffee and whatever else you wanted to drink in the morning. For me that was a screwdriver. It had been years since I’d had a screwdriver, regardless of the time of day. I don’t know what came over me but it just felt like the right thing to order. And it was, too.

Menus had been placed at our seats prior to boarding, so we’d had ample time to consider the choices. This month’s menu read as follows:

FIRST CLASS BREAKFAST
Orlando to San Diego

To Begin

Fresh Seasonal Fruit
Warm Fresh Pastries

CHOICE OF ENTREES

Steak And Eggs
Scrambled Eggs with Petite Tender Beef
Hashed Brown Potatoes

~ or ~

Corned Beef Hash Potato Cake
Topped with Hollandaise and served with Scrambled Eggs


Both entrees sounded pretty good, but amongst my fellow passengers the Steak and Eggs evidently sounded the best because I got the next to last plate of them and I was just the ninth out of sixteen people asked. The fruit plate starter was simple but tasty enough – a few slices of cantaloupe, honeydew melon, pineapple and a strawberry. I asked for a couple wedges of lime to squeeze over it all. Shortly a basket of pastries was presented, the choices being a standard apple or berry Danish.



Fruit Plate

The steak and eggs arrived nicely plated with an added bonus of asparagus and tomatoes to go with a decent sized portion of hashed brown potatoes. It was all pretty good though I would have happily traded those Danishes out for a basket of less sugary breakfast breads.



Steak and Eggs Breakfast

The flight attendant did a great job of ensuring that our coffee cups were regularly topped off and that - when the time came – our plates were cleared promptly. All in all, for a breakfast flight in the year 2012, this was about as good as it gets.

By the time the last of the breakfast service had been cleared off, there were still another three hours left in the flight. While for some this might be viewed with dread, for others that time represents opportunity. For me it was just enough time to finish my book of the week and put in a bit more work on this trip report. After all, what better place to write a trip report than from a First Class seat while flying high above the planet? This was especially true on today’s flight where sunshine and blue skies lent a pleasant ambience to the cabin while my flight attendant seemed more than happy to supply me with a veritable cavalcade of screwdrivers. It was tempting to take her up on a few refills but as I hadn’t thought to request wheelchair assistance upon arrival in San Diego, I didn’t want to get too woozy.

For a westbound flight we made surprisingly good time, arriving into San Diego 40 minutes early. I suspect our southerly routing had us well below most of the strongest winds. I wouldn’t have minded the extra forty minutes aloft however, if only for the view. Down in San Diego, a city known to have one of the best year round climates in the world, the day was windy and rainy. We parked next to the Honolulu bound flight and I couldn’t help but appreciate the promise of sunshine awaiting those fortunate flyers. I on the other hand was Seattle bound where more wind and rain awaited.

Our early arrival meant I had an hour and forty minute layover in San Diego. Although Alaska doesn’t have any Boardrooms down at Lindbergh Field, United operates a United Club there, conveniently located just about 150 feet from my gate. I have flown into San Diego often over the years and have long been aware of this lounge but today would be the first time I’d actually had enough time to pay a visit. The two ladies working the reception desk welcomed me as if I’d been there one hundred times before and soon thereafter I was enjoying hot coffee and Milano cookies while continuing my efforts to bring this report up to date.

The aircraft assigned to the Seattle flight was the same one that had brought me in from Orlando. This was mildly disappointing only in that as I continue in my quest to fly every aircraft in Alaska’s fleet, I had booked this flight specifically in the hope that it might be a different 737-800. Aside from that, it was a perfectly good airplane but one that I’d flown six times previously. On a separate note, this flight was my 150th of the year. Total distance flown so far: 153,740 miles.

The Captain informed us that it would require two hours and twenty-three minutes of flying time for our 737 to cover the 1050 statute miles between San Diego and Seattle. That amount of time combined with our midday departure warranted a luncheon service in the forward cabin, and shortly after takeoff we were informed that this month’s White Plate Special was a Roast Beef Sandwich with Potato Salad. Unless you’re flying on a transcon or Hawaii flight, there are no entrée choices on Alaska Airlines, so I requested one Roast Beef sandwich with a Bloody Mary on the side.



Roast Beef & Cheese Sandwich with Potato Salad

As airline sandwiches go, this one was pretty good. In years past Alaska has been guilty of serving sandwiches with large, thick pieces of bread between which reside miniscule portions of meat. The ratio of meat to bread in today’s offering was more appropriate and the potato salad was a nice accompaniment, flavored with stone ground mustard. Unfortunately, Alaska continues exclude any condiments such as mustard or mayonnaise, but as one who’s fast approaching one million miles flown aboard Alaska, I’ve learned to bring along my own condiments. My packet of Grey Poupon mustard made me the envy of row 2 and while I would have loved to comp the entire First Class section with this comparatively inexpensive and delicious service item (which Alaska Airlines really ought to offer with its meals) I only had one more packet and that went to my seatmate.

After the meal, I got on the internet to double-check my fantasy lineups for tomorrow’s games. Afterward I took a moment to check out our progress on flightaware.com and was surprised to see that our northward journey was progressing at only 476 mph. That’s not much faster than Horizon’s Q400s! I did take a small measure of consolation in the fact that the accommodations aboard this 737 were far more comfortable than those found aboard the Dash 8s.

Following a three hour layover in Seattle during which a visit to Delta’s Sky Club yielded a hot shower and a cold beer, I returned to the far reaches of the C Concourse where my 737-700 was in the final boarding process for its journey to Denver. Flight time was projected at two hours even. Cocktails and dinner will be offered in the forward cabin…

As one who logged close to one thousand flights before the end of the Seventies (back when fares were higher and the inflight service was considerably more substantial) I’ve developed a real affinity for some kind of nut with my cocktails. Peanuts, almonds, mixed nuts – it doesn’t matter. I just love the flavor combination and for some odd reason I find enjoying dry roasted peanuts or almonds with my pre-dinner cocktail to be far more appealing inflight. Back home, I rarely ever have a pre-dinner cocktail. In any event, with service standards having now deteriorated to levels unthinkable even by prisoner transport standards in the 1970s, I’ve accepted that if I want almonds with my inflight drinks, I’ll just have to supply them myself. So it is that while my fellow passengers must make do with that horrid snack mix that Alaska offers, I’m enjoying my Jack Daniels on the rocks with a packet of Blue Diamond lightly roasted and salted almonds.

This month’s short to medium range dinner offering on Alaska is a grilled chicken breast accented with a tasty tomato/pesto salsa. It’s accompanied by the usual pile of mixed greens and finished with a chocolate from Seattle Chocolates. Not bad, not bad! Worthy of note was the size of the chicken breast. It was a good 1.8 ounces larger than the past offerings, which I’ve often suspected were catered direct from Ethiopia. Hopefully this trend continues.



Grilled Chicken and Salsa with Side Salad

When I last flew into Denver a couple of weeks ago, I noticed a nice dark area over by the British Airways gate on the A Concourse. At the time I remember thinking it was a shame I’d paid for a hotel room that night because that unused gate lounge looked like a great place to crash for the night. Well this time I came prepared with no hotel reservation and my usual assortment of airport camping gear. The cleaners came through about 11:30pm but after that it was nice, quiet and dark. Atop my comfy Thermarest pad, I slept just about as well as I would have on a hotel mattress and awoke the next morning $55.00 richer and ready for a great weekend in Colorado.

The real purpose of this return trip to Colorado was two appointments - one with my neurosurgeon and one with my dentist. As the first of those appointments wasn’t scheduled until the day after tomorrow, I was left with more than enough time to enjoy a nice little road trip through the Rockies. While others here wax eloquent over the pleasures of Paris or the excitement of Hong Kong, I would much rather go out and enjoy a nice cross country drive to a small town like Durango, Colorado where I’ve always felt much more at home than in a large city.

Leaving Denver, I headed up through historic Leadville, Colorado; at 10,230’ the highest incorporated city in America. From there it was down the beautiful San Luis Valley where I picked up U.S. Highway 160 in Del Norte and continued on over Wolf Creek Pass into Durango. Here are a couple pictures from that drive:



Downtown Leadville, Colorado



Driving down the San Luis Valley

I managed to find a great off season rate of just $41.00 at the Ramada Limited in Durango. Anyone who’s stayed in a few Ramada Inns knows that the brand can be maddeningly inconsistent, ranging from excellent to just plain lousy. Thankfully, the Ramada Limited in Durango is one of the better properties with large well-appointed rooms and a quality staff.

The next morning I headed into town for breakfast at one of Durango’s oldest and best eateries – the Durango Diner. This is definitely a locals kind of place. Tourists get scared off by plain exterior and generally head for one of the shinier restaurants in town. I’ve been a regular patron of the Diner since the mid-1970s and both the food and the ambience continue to be top notch.



Breakfast at the Durango Diner

Sufficiently sated, I then made a quick visit to the local music store to check out any new local offerings before turning north onto U.S. Highway 550 for the beautiful drive north through Silverton and Ouray to Delta, Colorado. US 550 is one of my favorite roads in Colorado, delivering the beauty of the San Juan Mountains while passing through the quaint mountain towns of Silverton and Ouray along the way. In Silverton I stopped long enough to take a photo of the narrow gauge train as well as the magnificent old courthouse building before continuing on up over Red Mountain Pass. Check out the photos:



Heading Down Molas Pass



Descending into Silverton



The Silverton Courthouse



Red Mountain Pass

It sure is nice how some things never change. For years I’ve been stopping at this Conoco station in Ridgeway, Colorado – not for gas but rather for tamales. Today I picked up a couple of good hot beef tamales, then took a left at Delta and continued on over McClure Pass into Carbondale, thence on to Glenwood Springs for the night.

In the day of my departure from Denver I specifically went out of my way to explore old Santa Fe Drive in search of a good old fashioned breakfast diner. I found this gem at 930 Santa Fe Drive:



Old Santa Fe Drive through Denver



Swift’s Breakfast House



Green Chile Omelet



Cooks Discussing the Upcoming Broncos Game

Swift’s Breakfast House – Now this is my kind of place! Good, unpretentious, affordable food. Like putting on an old pair of jeans, this place felt comfortable the moment I walked in. I grabbed a copy of that morning’s Denver Post and took a seat at one of the red naugahyde upholstered booths. Coffee arrived almost instantaneously and, soon after that, a fantastic veggie omelet smothered in hot green chile. ¡Ay, caramba! Though Swift’s is certainly not the kind of place your cardiologist would want you to make a habit of eating at, for the occasional visit it is a real treat.


October 24, 2012
Delta Airlines Denver – Minneapolis 120p – 417p A320-200 Economy Class
Delta Airlines Minneapolis – Orlando 721p – 1129p 757-200 Economy Class

When checking the departures board for my flight, I was surprised to see that between Denver and Minneapolis, there were four flights on four different airlines scheduled to depart within 52 minutes of each other. I arrived at DIA a bit later than I would have liked so in lieu of spending what would have been only a short time in the United Club, I instead headed over to the A Concourse to pick up a sandwich at Schlotsky’s Deli before continuing directly to my departure gate on the C Concourse.

Despite having flown more than 2.25 million miles since 2000, I continue to be amazed at how consistently full most of my flights have been over the past few years, especially of late. The average load factors would seem to be about 85-90% compared to perhaps 55-60% back in the mid-seventies. Delta operates six flights a day on the DEN-MSP route. Here it is mid-October so no holiday traffic; Wednesday so no weekend getaway traffic; early afternoon so not exactly a departure time overly popular with business travelers and yet this airplane was almost completely sold out, as have been most of my other flights of late. Just having an empty seat next to you is practically as good as a scoring First Class upgrade these days. Man, I sure do miss those half full DC-10s of yesteryear.

My three hour layover allowed me plenty of time to hike on over to what is surely my favorite airline lounge in all of America. That would be Delta’s Sky Club – ex NW WorldClub – over on the C Concourse at MSP. What I find so attractive about this lounge is its classy atmosphere. It is at once spacious and inviting with polished stone floors and walls accented by dark wood, large potted plants, subdued yet complimentary artwork and large picture windows overlooking the tarmac. A fireplace lends warmth in both temperature and ambience while the various seating areas are small and cozy enough that I’ve never gotten the sense of being in a large airport lounge. Since my main purpose in visiting an airline lounge is to escape the noise and congestion of the main terminal and gate areas, the most important benefit of my visit is that relaxed homelike ambience more so than any food or beverage offerings.

The aircraft operating my flight down to Orlando this evening was N608DA, one of the oldest 757s still operating in America today. At number 64 off the assembly line, this plane took its first flight on May 15, 1985, just over 27 years ago. By comparison, Delta’s youngest 757 (N557NW) is an ex-Northwest bird that first flew in June of 2002 and was number 1016 off the assembly line. Based upon the respective interiors and comfort of these two airplanes, those who didn’t know any better would think the older ship 602 was the younger of the two as it has been outfitted with the latest version of Delta on Demand seatback video. A casual appraisal of the passengers around my immediate seating area suggested that they were oblivious to this fascinating esoterica. Their three hour flights must be a lot more boring than mine...

The next day I rented a car and drove from Orlando up to Savannah, Georgia and then a bit back down the coast to visit my sister. We had a nice lunch the next day in St. Simons Island, after which I returned to Orlando International Airport where a comfortable night atop my Thermarest Pad awaited.


October 27, 2012
Alaska Airlines Orlando – San Diego 805a – 1040a 737-800 First Class
Alaska Airlines San Diego – Seattle 1140a – 227p 737-800 First Class
Horizon Airlines Seattle – Portland 530p – 620p DHC-8-400 Economy

Alas, my night was a bit too comfortable. I slept so well that I slumbered right on through my 6:30am alarm, eventually waking up at 7:20am – just 45 minutes in advance of my 8:05am flight. We’ve all experienced oversleeping, and if as a result we’ve put ourselves in jeopardy of missing something important – like a flight – the initial adrenaline rush can usually be counted on to provide immediate focus and clarity. Beyond that, everything speeds up for some while for others like myself, everything slows down.

I’ve had a number of occasions in my life where things have suddenly and unexpectedly gone wrong, some examples of which would include breaking my arm while playing football, having a train depart after a short station stop with me still off of it and all of my bags still on it as well as various bloody injuries that have required stitches. For some reason, an instantaneous calm descends over me in these situations. I just seem to go into immediate repair mode, and everything from that point on is calmly focused on whatever it is I need to do that will make the situation better, be it stopping the bleeding to planning my next move. It was like this even when I was a kid. In most of these cases, one’s choices are pretty obvious anyway but some people are so overcome by agitation that they just can’t think clearly. Not me.

So here I was, lying “in bed” down on the far end of the first level on the B side of the huge central terminal. Although I’d checked in on line, because no printer was available I didn’t yet have a boarding pass. Alaska’s check-in counters were up on level three, at the opposite side of the terminal building, about three hundred yards away, maybe more. I then had to get through security, followed by the train out to the gate pavilion and the walk down to gate 10. Factor in Alaska Airlines’ predilection towards early boarding and pushback and my situation looked downright dire. To use an analogy from the great game of American Football, here we were in the fourth quarter with just under two minutes to play and I was down by twelve points. Not only would I have to perform my tasks efficiently but a couple things beyond my control would also have to fall in my favor. It was now 7:21am. The clock was ticking.

It was immediately clear that if I was going to have any chance of making my flight I needed to start packing up right away. Well, d-uh! But the main thing was to do so c a l m l y. Ever try doing something as simple as tying your shoes, putting a belt through the loops on your pants or buttoning your shirt while in a panic? Unless you’d specifically and repeatedly trained yourself to accomplish these simple tasks at a faster pace, the reality is that you’d probably accomplish them faster while doing so at a calm, measured pace than you would while fumbling about in a panic.

So – that’s how I proceeded. In order to fit everything into my suitcase, it all needs to be packed in a certain way.
Recognize each step that needs to be done and do it while at the same time recognizing the next thing to be done so that I could immediately move on to that when ready. I'm thinking I may have set a record on breaking camp that morning. Once packed, I made the long walk from the first floor to the third floor, and then across the terminal building from the B to the A side to the Alaska Airlines ticket counter. Self-service check-in at the kiosk and then it was off to the gate.

Uh oh – another huge crowd at the security checkpoint. Thankfully there were no issues this time with the Premium Lane and the line there looked a lot more manageable than it did last week. It was still moving at a glacial pace though, primarily due to people taking way longer than usual to gather their belongings and clear the tables on the other side of the x-ray machine so that it could continue to operate smoothly. It was Saturday morning and these were mostly retirement aged vacation travelers, not well-seasoned business travelers. I didn’t push the issue or try to move up in line, but I did ask a TSA agent if they would spur people on to clear their belongings off the belt a bit faster rather than engaging in idle chit chat with each other or doing other unnecessary and time consuming things like looking through their bags for things or inspecting their shoes. That part was maddening.

Amazingly, I arrived at the gate almost exactly ten minutes before scheduled departure. Seats often start being given away at this time, sometimes even earlier. Additionally, Alaska Airlines is notorious for boarding flights early and attempting to push back early. I was on a flight recently that pushed back 17 minutes early. You read that right - seventeen minutes early! I checked and double checked my watch. Seatmate and I talked about it a little bit. I didn’t know it was even legal to push back that early. Who knows, it may not be. In any event, they were still boarding a few last passengers when I arrived and I was extremely thankful not only to have made the flight but also that my First Class seat hadn’t been given away.

Like last week, it was a beautiful day for flying. Soon we were cruising high above the gorgeous blue waters of the Gulf of Mexico, seats comfortably reclined while the Gulf Coast communities of Panama City, Ft. Walton Beach and Pensacola drifted by as if on parade. Drinks were delivered and breakfast requests taken in short order. Since Alaska’s menus have been on monthly rotations for some years now, the menu was exactly the same as the one on last week’s flight.

Normally I would always go with the Steak & Eggs over anything other than a good omelet, but my dedication to providing readers with a well-rounded description of Alaska's breakfast offerings (which includes having the personal fortitude to not get squeamish or feel immature or foolish about photographing the food) led me to go against my better instincts and choose the Scrambled Eggs Accompanied by Corned Beef Hash Potato Cake topped with Hollandaise Sauce. Needless to say, the Flight Attendant was thrilled being as everyone else was ordering the Steak & Eggs and she was fast approaching that uncomfortable point at which she could no longer offer a choice of entrees.

While in theory a Corned Beef Hash Potato Cake does sound pretty tasty, for it to deliver on its meaty promise does in fact require that some actual corned beef be included in the recipe. As it was, there wasn't enough CBH in that potato cake to offend even the most devoted vegetarian. What I got was a potato cake that looked as though there might possibly be some tiny flecks of corned beef sprinkled through it, though certainly not enough to impart any actual CBH flavor.



Corned Beef Hash Potato Cake with Scrambled Eggs

My advice to Chef Cliff is to drop the pretentious "Potato Cake", open up a can of any old commercial grade Corned Beef Hash (Or make it from scratch if you like, but don't forget to ensure that the bean counters at Alaska’s Corporate Headquarters allow you enough financial resources to include actual corned beef in the recipe) and then serve a simple but imminently more flavorful Scrambled Eggs with Corned Beef Hash.

In any event, my rant notwithstanding, the eggs were moist and the potato cake was – as breakfast potato accompaniments go – pretty good. Some bacon or sausage on the side would have rounded this meal off nicely. I wish Alaska would offer a healthier alternative to its only bread offering which consisted of a basket of Danish pastries, but other than that, this was a satisfying breakfast by 2012 standards.

We landed on an absolutely awesome day in San Diego and I would have loved to have spent a day or two here to take advantage of it but unfortunately San Diego is not allowed as an enroute stopover on the MCO-PDX fare. Indeed, enroute stopovers are extremely rare on any domestic routing. So – on to rainy Seattle I flew, once again enjoying a warm roast beef and cheese sandwich enroute. Following a short layover in Seattle, it was on to Portland where a super low weekend rate on a rental car allowed me the luxury of a weekend on the coast.


October 29, 2012
Horizon Airlines Portland – Oakland 935a – 1131a DHC-8-400 Economy

I got an early start out of Seaside and enjoyed a pretty drive back into the city on US 26. It was a great day to listen to the radio too, what with the Giants having won the World Series and my Broncos beating the Saints with surprising ease the night before. Morning traffic was surprisingly reasonable and I was checked in and at the gate by 9:00am.

Beyond that, what can you say about a 540 mile flight aboard a propeller aircraft? Well, based upon my past experience I’ve managed to dredge up a few points of interest that many others likely never would. For example, although the 544 miles between Portland and Oakland is a fairly long flight to be operated with propeller equipment, Horizon’s seasonal nonstop between Los Angeles and Sun Valley, Idaho may be the longest in the continental United States at 696 statute miles. My two longest flights aboard props have both been aboard Lockheed Electras. The longest was aboard N1968R, an ex-QANTAS and Air New Zealand bird that was acquired by Reeve Aleutian in 1968. That flight was between Dutch Harbor and Anchorage, Alaska – a distance of 789 miles. The other flight was aboard Western back in 1966 between Phoenix and Denver. We had missed our originally scheduled flight aboard a 720B up to Denver and were rebooked aboard the Electra. I was only 8 years old at the time and remember being disappointed about having to fly 600 miles aboard a boring old propeller plane. Ah, the ignorance of youth…

A quick check of my flight log revealed that the last time I flew nonstop on the PDX-OAK route was back in 1979. It was aboard a United 727-100 and I remember dinner being served back in coach. Today we were offered coffee and a tiny package of cookies. The seats did not recline aboard the Dash 8.

Upon arrival in Oakland I caught a bus over to the Car Rental Center and was soon navigating my way up the 880 through the midday traffic. I stopped in Berkeley for lunch followed by a visit to a couple of music stores and a used book store that I’ve frequented over the years. Then it was off to the hills outside Grass Valley where friends and fellow drivers of mine have a nice 5 acre spread. We had a nice evening out on the deck with a 30-pack of ice cold Tecate beer and a pot of Irish Turkey for dinner.

Seat 2A

October 30, 2012
Horizon Airlines Oakland – Portland 1215p – 205p DHC-8-400 Economy
Horizon Airlines Portland – Seattle 330p – 420p DHC-8-400 Economy
Alaska Airlines Seattle – Chicago 605p – 1151p 737-900 First Class

Thankfully we didn’t come anywhere close to polishing off that 30-pack of beer because this morning I was faced with yet another early start during potential rush hour traffic. Well I did catch some of that traffic on I-80 coming into Sacramento but once I got past the I-5 interchange it was pretty much clear sailing on into Oakland.

I am flying to Chicago today on a surprisingly low one way fare being offered by Alaska Airlines. Delta also offers the fare with some very attractive routings via Atlanta but the availability and timing of its flights for this day just didn’t work for me. On the other hand, Alaska offers a well-timed connection via Portland and Seattle that allows me to meet a friend whose flight out of Portland to Sacramento departs 15 minutes after mine. We agreed to meet for lunch at the Laurelwood Brew Pub, conveniently located right in the Horizon gate pavilion on Portland’s Concourse A.

In Seattle I had the added bonus of crossing paths with a couple of my favorite concierges in the Alaska Boardroom. Poster Girl was off in Hawaii as usual but word was she’d be back on duty tomorrow. D relayed a nice story about some help she’d received from Alaska Airlines when a family member had suffered a severe and very costly injury. Alaska has an Employee Assistance Fund and when they heard about her situation, they provided her with some very much appreciated financial assistance. What was nice was she didn’t need to come to them. They came to her. Another very nice side to Alaska Airlines.

Interestingly, I arrived 28 minutes before the scheduled departure of my Chicago flight and was informed I was the last passenger to board! Moments later the paperwork arrived, the door was closed and off we went, pushing back from the gate 17 minutes early. That’s right – seventeen minutes early. Both seatmate and I were pretty surprised though hardly disappointed.

Flight time was scheduled for three hours and forty-two minutes with substantial turbulence forecast over the Rocky Mountains. In fact, shortly after drinks had been served the flight attendant came around specifically to alert us that the turbulence would commence in about 40 minutes. It was all rather dramatic though ultimately we never did experience any turbulence worthy of note.

It’s been almost a year now since Alaska enhanced its “mid-con” catering affecting flights of 1400-1800 miles such as Seattle to the Midwest or Texas. This improvement was long overdue and the new meal service is substantially nicer. It starts with an individually served salad followed by the main course. This month’s main course is Beef Bourguignon, accompanied by roasted potato wedges and cooked spinach. The beef was a bit overcooked – well, truth be known it was downright rugged really with a tad more gristle than meat presented for human consumption ought to have. I mean like, have you ever watched a dog gnaw on a rawhide bone? Thankfully a packet of Grey Poupon did help me bolt it down a bit better.



Mid-con Salad



Beef Bourguignon

Dessert was a pair of chocolate chip cookies served with a small plastic ramekin of warm mixed nuts. The cookies were tasty and timely, but I truly wish Alaska would serve those mixed nuts with drinks, not dessert. I mean, have you ever heard of any restaurant or even another airline that serves mixed nuts with or after dessert? Perhaps Alaska’s just trying to be “different” but in a culinary sense, they’re just being “odd”. I’m pretty sure most of us would much prefer the mixed nuts to be served with our cocktails.

The last time I spent the night at O’Hare was after a three day gig at Alpine Valley back in 1985. I was so beat that I wasn’t even roused when some thief slit my back pocket with a razor blade and removed my wallet as I slept. This time I stayed airside where I was less likely to encounter your everyday terminal variety crook.


October 31, 2012
Alaska Airlines Chicago – Seattle 800a – 1025a 737-900 First Class
Horizon Airlines Seattle – Portland 100p – 150p DHC-8-400 Economy
Horizon Airlines Portland – Seattle 300p – 503p DHC-8-400 Economy
Alaska Airlines Oakland – Seattle 5:59p – 750p 737-700 Economy

I woke up surrounded by fellow passengers seated in the nether regions of the boarding area where I’d chosen to camp the night before. Unfortunately, Alaska’s gate lounge was the only one that was reasonably quiet owing to the fact that it didn’t have a television blaring CNN or ESPN all night long. It was 7:00am, one hour before boarding, and yet the gate lounge already looked to be about three quarters full. Oh yeah – Alaska likes to commence boarding early. Eh – whatever. I tossed a quick grin and a wink at an older couple I caught staring at me and then commenced to breaking camp.

I thought it was pretty impressive, actually. Starting as some guy crashed out under a blanket on the floor of the gate lounge, over the next seven or eight minutes I got everything methodically organized and repacked, then arose and donned my sports jacket and hat – ultimately looking a lot better turned out than most of my fellow passengers. Jaws dropped again a bit later when people walked past me now sat in a First Class seat accepting a pre-departure cup of coffee from the lovely flight attendant working the forward cabin.

I should note here that prior to boarding I’d headed over to the Starbucks concession in search of a cup of coffee which I would have gladly purchased had it not been for the long line of people standing about fifteen deep. I could never wait in a line that long for a mere cup of coffee. Denver Broncos playoff tickets? Okay, but coffee? No way. Instead I headed back down the concourse to McDonalds who serve a pretty decent cup of coffee in their own right.

One of the advertised benefits of being a Super Duper Diamond Encrusted Kryptonite Level flyer with Alaska Airlines is preferential boarding. I’ve noticed however that Alaska now boards First Class, all levels of MVP plus any elite level flyers from its partner airlines all at the same time. The result was that about half the gate lounge stood up and surged towards the gate. As one of Alaska’s top level flyers, having logged over 100000 miles and 100+ segments on Alaska Airlines alone for the year, this was hardly preferential treatment. But it was probably faster. So be it.

The aircraft was the same one I’d flown in on last night – N307AS – upon which I’ve now logged eight flights and 9,880 miles. Alaska took delivery of its first 737-900ER just last week but it’ll probably be a week or so before it shows up in the schedules. For the time being, this was my 94th flight on an Alaska 737-900 covering 107,420 miles.

The breakfast service commenced shortly after we’d attained cruising altitude. Although the four hour flight provided plenty of time to present the meal course by course starting with the fruit plate, we instead started with coffee and juices followed shortly thereafter with the main course, a plate of apple and walnut strudel accompanied by scrambled eggs and fruit. The strudel was huge, so it got main billing. Though my personal preference would have been more eggs and less strudel, I thought that overall this was a pretty good breakfast by 2012 standards. I wonder what standards I’ll be satisfied with come 2015?



Apple & Walnut Strudel with Scrambled Eggs

Upon arrival in Seattle we parked at gate N-7. The closest lounge is the United Club, conveniently located at the bottom of the escalators just across from the inter-concourse train. Although I’d prefer it if this lounge had some windows, I like its location for C Concourse departures, especially since the escalator from the tracks deposits you in just the right spot for those flights departing down at the end of the C Concourse. My flight to Portland was departing from down at C2B, but first I wanted to stop at Waji’s for a bowl of excellent Chicken, veggies and rice.

Due to headwinds, the flight from Portland down to Oakland took two hours rather than the usual hour and thirty-five. Two hours is a long time to be sat in a non-reclining seat aboard a Dash 8. I hope Alaska returns a jet to this route but I’m certainly not holding out much hope. They’re even running Dash 8s into SFO now.

Due to our late arrival in Oakland, my layover was just short enough to stop by the Silver Dragon Café for a plate of Kung Pao Chicken before boarding the 737-700 that represented a far more comfortable ride back up to Seattle than I’d had down from Portland. Inclement weather across the bay at SFO had resulted in delays and cancellations all day, so this flight was completely sold out due to transfers from SFO. With tailwinds, flight time to Seattle was a mere one hour and twenty-eight minutes.



Sunset off the Northern California Coast

Arriving once again at Seattle’s North Satellite, I returned to the United Club which I was surprised to find was open until 12:30am. That provided me with just enough time to down a couple of bourbons while putting in some work on this report which remains about a week behind. Later, I set up camp in my favorite airport campground. I’ll bet I’ve spent a minimum of sixty to seventy nights here over the past ten years. It’s primary attributes are that it’s dark and quiet – perfect for a good night’s sleep.

*** * * * * * *** * * * * * ***

My original plans called for catching the light rail train from the airport into Seattle where I’d spend the afternoon before returning to SeaTac for my early evening flight to Fairbanks. That all changed when I decided I wasn’t quite ready to return home just yet. Instead, I took advantage of a very affordable weekend rate on a full sized car and sped off up I-5 towards the ferry terminal at Edmonds, Washington. There I drove aboard the S.S. Puyallup for the half hour journey across the Puget Sound to Kingston, thence continuing on to a room for the night at Port Angeles.

The real treat came the next morning when I continued along US 101 towards Crescent Lake and Olympic National Park. I drove out to the Hoh River Rain Forest, hiked down to a beach and then stopped at the Lake Quinault Lodge for lunch in the fabulous Roosevelt Dining Room. I’ll let these pictures tell the story…



Crescent Lake Reflections



Crescent Lake Reflections



Hoh River Rainforest Road



Hoh River Rearview



A hike down to the beach



Lake Quinault Lodge



The Lobby at Lake Quinault Lodge



The Lobby at Lake Quinault Lodge

Returning to Seattle at a little before 8:00pm, I decided to stop in at13 Coins restaurant for dinner before turning in my rental car. The restaurant is conveniently located directly across International Blvd. from the airport and offers 24 hour dining on a scale much higher than the average 24 hour restaurant. I’ve read many accounts of fellow FlyerTalkers who’ve met up for drinks and/or dinner at 13 Coins, so I reckon it’s about time I went in there and checked it out for myself.

The Menu is impressive, offering a wide variety of items suitable for any time of day. The Chicken Dijon Alla Mirot was one of the most delicious chicken dinners I’ve ever been served. Anywhere. Be it presentation or flavor, it was simply excellent. I’m already trying to figure out how I might fit in another visit during future stopovers. There are a lot of other items on that menu that I’d love to try out on future visits.

Even though there was plenty of time to get a hotel room for the night, I really like my little camping spot at SeaTac. Why pay out another $50.00 when I’m perfectly comfortable right here in the airport? I set my alarm clock for 6:30am and after a bit of reading was asleep by midnight.


November 03, 2012
Alaska Airlines Seattle – Juneau 755a – 925a 737-400 Economy Class
Alaska Airlines Juneau - Anchorage 1242p – 220p 737-400 Economy Class
Alaska Airlines Anchorage - Fairbanks 330p – 430p 737-400 Economy Class

Maybe everything went so smoothly this morning because it was Saturday. Whatever the reason, I breezed through security almost as an afterthought and then hit the Starbucks kiosk when the line was only three deep. That kind of crowd I can handle! I’ve always enjoyed Starbucks’ regular everyday coffees, enough so that I’ve never once felt the need or even the curiosity to shell out twice the money for one of those foo-foo drinks on their menu. The Anniversary Blend worked just fine for me and I was soon enjoying it from the first row of an Alaska Airlines 737-400 Combi soon to be bound for Juneau.

This was my 400th flight aboard a 737-400. I know this because I keep a flight log and always have practically since the time I learned how to write. I don’t just record the flights in my log – I also have a lot of fun with statistics. When you’ve flown as much as I have – 4,583 flights on over 150 airlines – statistics begin to take on a life of their own. If you’re at all interested, you can read a more about this right HERE.

I’ve often been asked if I’ve ever publicized these personal milestones or at least mentioned them to the flight crew. It’s been my experience that most flight attendants could care less about such things although some pilots I’ve met have gotten a kick out of my totals. I normally don’t make light of any of these things unless someone seems like they might find them interesting and they happen to be sitting next to me on a flight. The one time I did formally advertise a milestone was back in 1997. As fate would have it, I’d be flying my one millionth mile and 1000th flight on United Airlines both within the same week. I dropped a line to Joe Hopkins, United’s Director of Public Relations at the time. Mr. Hopkins and I knew each other from a few years earlier when I’d been one of only a handful of people to complete United’s Fifty State Marathon, thus earning me an entire year of totally free unlimited First Class travel on United anywhere within the 50 United States.

In any event, on the occasion of my 1000th flight between Anchorage and San Francisco, I was met at check-in by the local sales rep as well as the Anchorage station manager. I was upgraded to First Class, presented with a beautiful leather carry-on bag and escorted to the gate where a small ceremony had been arranged. All of my fellow passengers were there and, after a short introduction and speech, I was presented with a nice little plaque denoting my 1000 flights flown. A nearby table held two large cakes and a couple urns of coffee which we all enjoyed prior to boarding. As we pushed back, the airport staff came out on the tarmac and waved goodbye. It was all really nice and just indicative of the kind of airline and people United has.

We all hear the negative stories about this or that airline and its employees, but it’s been my experience that most of the folks who work in the intensive public contact positions that comprise most airline jobs are generally pretty nice people anyway. They have to be to put up with some of the stuff they do these days and still come into work with a smile on their face after a month of it. I always make it a point to thank anyone in a service position for any service they may provide and I also make it a point to establish eye contact if only to let them know I mean it. When people say one airline has much nicer employees than another airline, I take it with a grain of salt because more often than not I’ve been treated very nicely by airline personnel regardless of the airline they work for.

Flight time to Juneau was scheduled for two hours and nine minutes. This month’s hot breakfast for sale on northbound flights was a French Toast Breakfast Sandwich. It’s just my personal opinion that French toast is best served fresh from the frying pan when it still retains some moistness from the batter and heat from the pan. What we received this morning was two pieces of dry, flavored bread between which had been placed one of those artificial egg discs and some breakfast ham. No syrup was offered. Ugh. What a waste of $6.00.

With a three hour layover in Juneau, I had plenty of time to visit the airport restaurant where good hot coffee and a plate of scrambled eggs and accompaniments awaited. Once the airplane I’d flown in on had departed for Yakutat and beyond, I was the only patron in the restaurant, much less the upper level of the airport it seemed. It’d be a little more than two hours before the next flight would depart.

I’d originally reserved an exit row window seat on the potentially scenic flight between Juneau and Anchorage but the forecast indicated a 100% chance of rain so I switched to a bulkhead aisle which was just as well since our originally scheduled 737-400 had been substituted with a 737-700 which has this really weird exit row configuration.

The Baja Chicken soup was all the rage during my 40 minute layover in the Anchorage Boardroom. Thick, rich and flavorful, it was the perfect comfort food for a cold, rainy day such as it was in Anchorage this afternoon. So taken was I with the soup that I was one of the last people to board my Fairbanks bound flight despite arriving at the gate 19 minutes before departure. There were three more people behind me yet we still didn’t push back until our scheduled departure time at 3:30pm.

The aircraft was 737-400 N794AS, the 3000th 737 to come off the assembly line. While I think this is worthy of mention, to most passengers and crew this airplane is just another 737. Certainly there is nothing distinctive about the airplane inside or out that would suggest otherwise. Still, considering the popularity of the 737 relative to all other aircraft types developed worldwide, I think the 3000th one off the assembly line is worthy of note – perhaps a small plaque at the entrance area.

Forty-eight minutes later we touched down in wintry Fairbanks where it was snowing lightly and the temperature was a chilly 10°F. I adapt quickly though and so took some solace in the reality that two months from now 10°F will represent a warming trend. Regardless, it’s great to be home where soon I’ll be enjoying an ice cold beer in my nice warm cabin.

To those of you who’ve read along with me for this entire trip, thanks for your company and I hope you enjoyed this trip vicariously as much as I enjoyed traveling and writing about it in real life. Who knows, perhaps my text and photos might inspire some of you to get out and see more of America yourselves. Don’t believe everything you read in the papers. Get off the interstates and away from the tourist traps and you’ll discover what a truly great country this is.

Happy travels!

Lounge Expert

Seat 2A

Your dedication to travel along with your commitment to write such detailed and descriptive reports make for incredibily pleasurable reading.

I agree that we sometimes look too far from home when searching for memorable experiences. Reading your report and viewing the accompanying pictures plant the notion of packing in my job and jumping on the nearest train!

yous93

Your photo's are amazing

Maigret

Another masterly testimony to the joys of taking time to enjoy travel.

I've got to make time to try some of those heritage train lines - the views are incredible!

Seat 2A

Thanks for the kind words! I did want to point out that for those of you who might be interested in train travel anywhere in the world, an excellent resource can be found right HERE.

The Man In Seat 61 provides links to many national railroads worldwide as well as photographs, schedules and reviews. Go check it out and you might just decide to incorporate a train into your next journey. See ya in the lounge car!

1P

This is simply fantastic. No other word will do. Thank you so much, Seat 2A!