For those of you who haven't been on Amtrak for awhile (or, ever, for all you pussies) it's a smooth ride. In coach from St. Louis to Seattle I never had a seatmate and the deluxe fold out leg and foot rests meant that I slept (as the Chinese say) like a dead pig. Smuggled booze also helped me to drift off after sunsets like this one, in Wisconsin
And to then sleep through most of North Dakota. Aboard the westbound Empire Builder, several groups of charming old men board the observation car to provide commentary and history over the loud speaker (only quietly). This is how I learned that Rugby, North Dakota is the geographical center of North America, and what apparently prompted the retirees in front of me to remark "Hunh, this is the geographical center of North America, how 'bout that?" (when called to the dining car for their lunch reservation, I discovered ominously that they were called "the Darko party").
Here are some pictures:
Most of the trip was self-catered (I don't want to brag, but let me just say it involved a lot of Nutella), but I went to the dining car a few times to meet some of my fellow passengers at the shared tables. At lunchtime on the first day I met a Mennonite grass seed farmer from the Willamette Valley with six rosy-cheeked children (honest, I saw their picture) and striped suspenders, as well as a saucy senior citizen who talked to me about urban planning and her "philosophical problem with Wal-mart". Nice folks all around.
But the primary reasons I chose to take the long way home were the solitude and the endless hours of wistful staring out the window time. I also studied lots of Chinese, wrote letters, lounged in the observation car, and took multiple naps.
Montana's mighty Glacier National Park
The sun set on the second day as we were leaving Whitefish
And by the early morning time we were cutting through the Cascades in my beloved Washington State and I was almost home.
8 comments:
I'm glad you could confirm that North Dakota exists, I was begining to think it was the American Brigadoon.
you take a sexy photograph. I mean you look sexy in photographs. I mean...but ya, really.
georgia:
North Dakota does exist, but it is dangerous to get off the train when it stops there. The possibility that you might transmutate into a buffalo is very high.
vanessa:
thanks, but it is the Headlands t-shirt that is really doing all the work here.
Vanessa... yes, and there are other *unusual* moments in her life too:
http://www.NowAndFutures.com/archive/e01.jpg
(hope the link works)
Trains really are the way to go. I would take them everywhere if only they were less expensive. Do want to share the cost of your semi-transcontinental ticket? Sounds like it was an awesome trip. I take the train between NYC and my folk's place just west of Philly a lot and it's around $60 one way. Pretty pricey if you ask me.
I never understood why those east coast trains are so much more expensive. My ticket from St. Louis to Seattle (with a change in Chicago) was about $155, but the sleeper cars are a hell of a lot more expensive.
Increasing Amtrak ridership is a minor obsession of mine and something I always end up puzzling over with other passengers. I'm glad to hear you are one of us and I strongly recommend that you take the train down the west coast someday -- it's freaking gorgeous.
Is that you eating a sock?
yes, it is me eating a sock on the foot of my father, uh, I mean "anonymous"
and no, I have no idea what it has to do with anything aside from my general public humiliation.
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