Trip Report: Cleveland to Portland on the Empire Builder

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bms

OBS Chief
Joined
Jan 29, 2018
Messages
534
Location
Cleveland
I'm a college basketball fan and have been to the NCAA tournament three times. My fourth time seeing the tournament was supposed to be in my hometown Cleveland in 2020, and my sister was going to fly in for the games. All that was cancelled because of Corona, so we decided to make up for it by seeing the games in Portland this year instead. Jeff Bezos doesn't pay me as well as I would like, but he does give enough vacation and PTO that I could take this whole week off to make it happen!

Normally I would take the Capitol Limited to transfer to a western train in Chicago, but boarding the 3 a.m. train at the Cleveland Amshack has gotten pretty old. I decided to take Sunday's 4 p.m. bus to Chicago instead, figuring that I would enjoy my trip more if I actually slept Sunday night and didn't have to worry about missing the connection. This bus leaves from the downtown Greyhound station and is operated by Baron's Bus.

504_c0315greyhoundstation.jpeg
Cleveland's Art Deco bus station still looks the same as it did in this 1950s photo.

Baron's Bus really provides a good service in Cleveland. As always, Baron's provided a clean bus that departed on time with a professional driver. This run operates on a 7-hour schedule which even though it makes eight stops, is faster than any of Greyhound's three daily trips on that same route. The bus was a little more than half full, much better than I've seen earlier in the pandemic. Cleveland lost two of its four intercity bus carriers to the pandemic, so I'm glad Baron's is at least getting enough business now to make it worth continuing their service.

The first excitement of the trip happened around Toledo, watching the Selection Show on my phone. We were sure that #1 ranked Gonzaga would play in Portland, but the other seven teams were a mystery. For Thursday's first game at Portland's Moda Center, the selection committee picked #8 seed Boise State against #9 seed Memphis, with a 10:45 a.m. tipoff that is clearly scheduled for TV viewers on the East Coast. The second game matches #1 seed Gonzaga and their surefire #1 draft pick Chet Holmgren against a well-coached #16 seed Georgia State.

The evening session begins with #5 seed Saint Marys against the #12 seed, the winner of Tuesday's play-in game between Wyoming and Indiana. The last game Thursday will be the #4 seed UCLA against a dangerous #13 seed, the Akron Zips. Akron is only 45 minutes away from me and I listen to them on the radio, but this game 2500 miles from home is the first time I'll see them this year. I think we got great matchups, as the favored West Coast teams have a lot to deal with from their eastern opponents.

The rest of the bus trip was uneventful. While Greyhound takes the interstate to Chicago, Baron's takes a route along state and U.S. highways, appearing to stop at every gas station in northern Indiana. Still, we arrived in Chicago just a few minutes late. I normally stay at Cambria in Chicago, but they had a high rate so I booked the Comfort Suites in Schiller Park. Upon arrival, I was disappointed to find out that their excellent Legends sports bar/restaurant has closed and will be replaced with a different venue. Luckily I had brought a six-pack of Victory Golden Monkey with me, which I didn't come close to finishing as I'd been awake since my 12-hour overnight shift the previous night.

Not a bad start to the trip, and I'm really thinking the bus is a better option to get to Chicago than the 3 a.m. train. I'll post again tonight to recap the beginning of the trip on the Empire Builder!
 
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