Thursday the 23rd I made my way back home. The Wolverine was just a few minutes late into Dearborn. Spiro was the cafe car attendant and was very good. He wasn't quite as personable as the attendant on the Wolverine two days earlier, but was very good. We made good time and I got to see more of the countryside as the run back to Chicago was in daylight whereas the run earlier had been under the cover of darkness. We were right about on time into Chicago. I met my uncle in Union Station, and we went to Gold Coast Hot Dogs for lunch. After wandering around outside for a while, we went back into Union Station to relax in the lounge until it was time to board the Empire Builder. They called our train a full 45 minutes before boarding time. We found our car and room, and got ready for the trip to Spokane. Which wasn't the greatest.
Our car attendant, Lonny, greeted us, and at first glance I thought he'd be good. Not exactly. It wasn't until after dinner he got around to introducing himself as he stood and talked with one couple for a solid 2 hours. Not that we needed his explanation for anything; we've been around the Amtrak block a time or two. And when he gave his carwide spiel, he told us not to use the call button if we needed him. He said he would be around the car and could be easily found, usually cleaning the bathrooms. If he would leave the car, he would let us know. As he would when he returned. Day one, he did so, Day two, not so much. He did clean bathrooms a lot. I swear the first day he cleaned them after every use. Day two you never saw him. Dinner was good (salmon again); the service, not quite. The dining car crew was fairly efficient, but not one personality amongst them. I've seen cigar store Indians that had more personality than those in the dining car. We had dinner with Stan and Deborah, a delightful couple from Florida who were on their way to Glacier Park for four days. I think she wanted to hit me after she asked what the weather would be like and after looking up the forecast, I told her it would be rainy and in the 50's. For highs. The first two days. And in the low 40's for highs and rain the second two days. I think she was sorry she asked! We made good time throughout that first day. We went to bed around Minneapolis and awoke in eastern North Dakota, about an hour behind. We made up about half of that out of Minot. We maintained that half an hour pace out of Williston. I stuck with the omelette at breakfast and the Angus burger at lunch, all delivered by non-personalities as usual. It should be duly noted that the mussels were available for lunch. Dessert wasn't because the didn't load enough and were saving it for dinner. The way it goes, I guess. I had been advised to look for the Fort Union Trading Post,an historical trading post on the North Dakota-Montana border. And for once I actually saw something I was told to look for:
This second day, Lonny turned into the Great Disappearing SCA. We asked for a bucket of ice right after breakfast; we got it at 9PM, as we were going to bed. We never saw him all day after breakfast until just before 9PM. No idea where he was. We lost an hour and a half between Williston and Wolf Point, and were now 2 hours late. From that time on, though, we actually made up time into Spokane, about 15 minutes. The line was clogged with freights but BNSF dispatchers did a great job getting us through.
I spent most of the day in the SSL. At dinner I had the steak and seafood combo, both of which were good. You could smell the smoke from the fires in the train as we made our way through Montana. As it was dark by the time we got to Glacier Park, I went to bed as I had an hour's drive home from Spokane and wanted to be rested. Our SCA finally made an appearance to announce at a stop for freight traffic that he didn't think we were at Glacier Park yet and not to go downstairs yet. Didn't "think" were at Glacier yet??? Ugh!!! At any rate, I got a good night's sleep, waking up about 10 miles from the Washington border in Idaho. Just before we stopped in Spokane, we headed downstairs, whereupon The Great Disappearing SCA said we were still about 10-15 minutes out and at any rate he wouldn't be open the door yet because they had to run a brake test first. Wrong answer #1: We were only a couple of miles from the station. It wouldn't take 10 minutes, much less 15. Once we got to the station, the conductor on the platform opened the door for us. He told us we could get out, and the Great Disappearing SCA bawled us out for opening the door. Wrong answer #2, jerk! He got the tip he so richly deserved: none. And he claimed to be a hospitality chief who worked several trains. If HE's a hospitality chief, then hospitality on Amtrak is going straight to hell in a handbasket. Once at Spokane, we Ubered to the parking lot near the airport where my car was parked. And that was that.
A great trip! Got all 50 states now and the service and food, exceptions being noted, were both good. Now time to plan next year's trip (or two).