3/2 - 3/3 The Empire Builder

Well, Frank Sinatra has been replaced by Steve Goodman singing "The City of New Orleans", "The sons of pullman porters and the sons of engineers ride their fathers' magic carpet made of steel." Amtrak's Empire Builder doesn't compare well with Viarail's Canadian. The cars are older, worn and dirty, the lounge car is the only modern one. It's upstairs has nice seats and a couple of tv's for twice daily movies, but doesn't have the cool dome with overhead viewing. The downstairs has a guy selling snacks and drinks, and giving me hot water for my tea. The rest of the downstairs was full of people drinking beer for breakfast. Our room is about the same size as before, but is configured better for Lisa to sleep in the upper berth (as she is currently doing) while I sit on the lower berth, propped up like a couch and write at a small fold-out table. Our car attendant is more like a porter (the whole staff is big very black Chicagoans) and anxiously awaits our request for ice or hot water for tea. (I'm going to try to wean myself off coffee before I get home.) We need a car attendant at home, and room service. Any volunteers?

Goodbye Chicago.

We had dinner with an engineering student from Milwaukee. He was telling us how horrible the nerd to women ratio was until they added a school of nursing. The other man at the table assured us that, as a nurse at Minneapolis's County Hospital, nursing school is a great place to meet chicks. The nerd told great stories of engineering school pranks. He shares a 10 by 16 dorm room with another nerd and between them they have about a dozen computers. He's building a system to network their computers together since they only have 2 high speed internet connections.

We got back to our cubicle and I was out like a light. There was no moon so I just saw dark shapes outside, the few times I woke up at a stop. I tried to ignore the call to breakfast at 7, but succumbed at about 8 after a really interesting shower.

Multi-tasking.

I ate with a couple of guys going home to Havre, Montana from a business trip to Minneapolis. They looked like their business must be drinking, and business is good. Lisa was up when I got back to our room and I took her place in the upper berth. It was like a cocoon and I was asleep again in seconds.

There really hasn't been much to see since we left Chicago (even if our eyes had been open). The great plains, I suppose, rolling hills of dead grass. We saw a little house on the prairie. There was a stop worthy of a picture in Wisconsin Dells, but I didn't have my camera ready. Zip in Minnesota, but I guess I was asleep most of it. The Badlands of North Dakota were pretty interesting, but I doubt they put train tracks through the baddest part.

Pretty bad lands.

We slept and read through lunch. It was only burgers anyway. I got some yogurt from the lounge. I'll almost use up my granola before we get home. We had dinner with a kid from New York on his way to visit family on Vashon and another kid from Fargo visiting his grandmother in Seattle then returning via San Diego and San Antonio. The one from New York had a thick accent I didn't quite recognize. We were talking about the small world of the train. He said on a previous trip a man asked him about his accent, "You from Texas?" Turned out the man lived on the same street as the kid's father in Glasgow.

The sun began setting as we finally came into some pretty country near Glacier Park. I think we'll be through the cascades before we get more light. Ah well, more time to sleep.

I'd been waiting a long time for breakfast to be ready, at 5:30. It was so early to give them time to clean up before they loaded up for the trip back to Chicago. I ate with a couple of brothers in their 60's or 70's, maybe twins, from Cut Bank, Montana, going to see their uncle in Port Orchard. They belonged to some sort of train club and were filled with train trivia. I'm pretty sure they were both characters in either Fargo or Raising Arizona. A very surreal breakfast.

The sun came up around Wenatchee. As soon as I got the camera out for a sunrise shot, we went into a long tunnel. When we came out we were in a heavy fog and shaded from the sun. This happened a couple more times before it was finally morning. We went through Skykomish and I saw the park that marks the end of the Courage Classic bike ride. We went through Marblemount and I saw the starting point for the Jan Selvig Century ride. Didn't realize how homesick I was for Washington and my bike. At Everett we switched onto the same track we'd taken to Vancouver to start our journey and I started getting very anxious to get home.

GO HOME!

We picked up the dog and cat, fed the fish, grabbed some pizza and movies and went to bed. What a great vacation. This is the best part.