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.