Back from my rather interesting trip! Overall it was very much enjoyable! Can't wait to go again!
Preliminaries: Planes
My trip began with three flights: Spokane-Seattle, Seattle-Atlanta, and Atlanta-Bloomington. All were on time and two of the three were packed, the exception being the last flight. No trouble with TSA agents this time, though as usual the entire TSA circus was a pain in the posterior. I flew AirTran for the last two flights, and my flight in Atlanta pulled into another terminal than where AirTran flights usually end. I had a nice 15 minute hike to my plane, getting there 40 minutes before it was time to leave. AND FINDING THEY WERE ALREADY BOARDING THE PLANE! :angry: I didn't have time to eat or take a leak or anything! And they pulled out about 15 minutes early. That would never happen on Amtrak! The usual happened on all flights: A group of people crammed uncomfortably together, none of whom interacted with each other. I did wish my seatmate from Spokane to Seattle well, a soldier on his way to Ft. Lewis, WA, and then on to Iraq.
Trains
Day 1: Bloomington-Poplar Bluff
After spending a few days in Illinois, my uncle (Amfan) and I began our trek in Bloomington. The fun began here: http://discuss.amtraktrains.com/index.php?/topic/33721-texas-eagle-or-twilight-zone/ at Bloomington.
We were booked on coach from Bloomington-Walnut Ridge and bedroom from Walnut Ridge to Seattle, due to the peculiarities of the Amtrak booking system. The TE pulled into Bloomington on time, with the following consist:
1 engine
trans-dorm
sleeper
CCC
SSL
4 coaches, the last being car 321 that only went to St. Louis
Uncle Amfan and I were hoping to be able to get our bedroom (Bedroom E, car 2130) right away, but it was being used from Chicago-St. Louis. We'd checked the night before and it still showed it as being available; apparently there were some sleeper rooms sold at the last second. Our coach attendant was a very nice and personable man whose name was Carl. We left Bloomington about 11 minutes late, and lost a bit of time to St. Louis. We gradually ended up about 30 minutes late but were only 10 minutes late into St. Louis. At dinner, we were seated with two young college-aged girls who were traveling from New York to St. Louis. They, too, had hoped to be able to gain access to their sleeper room at Chicago, but had to wait until St. Louis. We also encountered another couple who were booked the same as us, coach to Walnut Ridge and sleeper to LA. I had salmon for dinner, which was very good. The service? Well, not so much. Our dining car steward had on a name tag with only her first initial and last name. Her name was W. Maxwell. She was adequate, but not all that friendly. She did her job and not much more. The server's name was Polly. One minute she was laughing and joking with passengers and another she acted like the whole idea of serving passengers was a tremendous imposition of her time. At one point during the trip, Uncle Amfan hadn't got his dessert and when he asked Polly about it, she gave a rude reply and when it finally did come she flopped it on the table so hard I thought it would hop off the plate onto the floor. Very inconsistant service.
A disturbing trend occurred at dinner: We passed a beautiful scene: the skyline of St. Louis, complete with the Arch, at sunset. And of course I didn't bring either my still camera or video camera with me. I don't know how many times I've missed great photo ops because I was feeding my fat face. :angry:
As we departed St. Louis, we asked the conductor, who looked like he was still in junior high, about our bedroom. He said he would check with the car attendant and seemed very happy not to have to rouse up and get us from the coach to the sleeper. About 40 minutes out of St. Louis, our car attendant, Robert (an excellent attendant, by the way) and another coach attendant, whose name I never did get, came and got us, and even carried our luggage to the downstairs rack for us. So we got our room early and saved the conductor and car attendant of having to rouse at Walnut Ridge. I fell right into bed right after that.
Day two and beyond coming sooner or later!
Preliminaries: Planes
My trip began with three flights: Spokane-Seattle, Seattle-Atlanta, and Atlanta-Bloomington. All were on time and two of the three were packed, the exception being the last flight. No trouble with TSA agents this time, though as usual the entire TSA circus was a pain in the posterior. I flew AirTran for the last two flights, and my flight in Atlanta pulled into another terminal than where AirTran flights usually end. I had a nice 15 minute hike to my plane, getting there 40 minutes before it was time to leave. AND FINDING THEY WERE ALREADY BOARDING THE PLANE! :angry: I didn't have time to eat or take a leak or anything! And they pulled out about 15 minutes early. That would never happen on Amtrak! The usual happened on all flights: A group of people crammed uncomfortably together, none of whom interacted with each other. I did wish my seatmate from Spokane to Seattle well, a soldier on his way to Ft. Lewis, WA, and then on to Iraq.
Trains
Day 1: Bloomington-Poplar Bluff
After spending a few days in Illinois, my uncle (Amfan) and I began our trek in Bloomington. The fun began here: http://discuss.amtraktrains.com/index.php?/topic/33721-texas-eagle-or-twilight-zone/ at Bloomington.
We were booked on coach from Bloomington-Walnut Ridge and bedroom from Walnut Ridge to Seattle, due to the peculiarities of the Amtrak booking system. The TE pulled into Bloomington on time, with the following consist:
1 engine
trans-dorm
sleeper
CCC
SSL
4 coaches, the last being car 321 that only went to St. Louis
Uncle Amfan and I were hoping to be able to get our bedroom (Bedroom E, car 2130) right away, but it was being used from Chicago-St. Louis. We'd checked the night before and it still showed it as being available; apparently there were some sleeper rooms sold at the last second. Our coach attendant was a very nice and personable man whose name was Carl. We left Bloomington about 11 minutes late, and lost a bit of time to St. Louis. We gradually ended up about 30 minutes late but were only 10 minutes late into St. Louis. At dinner, we were seated with two young college-aged girls who were traveling from New York to St. Louis. They, too, had hoped to be able to gain access to their sleeper room at Chicago, but had to wait until St. Louis. We also encountered another couple who were booked the same as us, coach to Walnut Ridge and sleeper to LA. I had salmon for dinner, which was very good. The service? Well, not so much. Our dining car steward had on a name tag with only her first initial and last name. Her name was W. Maxwell. She was adequate, but not all that friendly. She did her job and not much more. The server's name was Polly. One minute she was laughing and joking with passengers and another she acted like the whole idea of serving passengers was a tremendous imposition of her time. At one point during the trip, Uncle Amfan hadn't got his dessert and when he asked Polly about it, she gave a rude reply and when it finally did come she flopped it on the table so hard I thought it would hop off the plate onto the floor. Very inconsistant service.
A disturbing trend occurred at dinner: We passed a beautiful scene: the skyline of St. Louis, complete with the Arch, at sunset. And of course I didn't bring either my still camera or video camera with me. I don't know how many times I've missed great photo ops because I was feeding my fat face. :angry:
As we departed St. Louis, we asked the conductor, who looked like he was still in junior high, about our bedroom. He said he would check with the car attendant and seemed very happy not to have to rouse up and get us from the coach to the sleeper. About 40 minutes out of St. Louis, our car attendant, Robert (an excellent attendant, by the way) and another coach attendant, whose name I never did get, came and got us, and even carried our luggage to the downstairs rack for us. So we got our room early and saved the conductor and car attendant of having to rouse at Walnut Ridge. I fell right into bed right after that.
Day two and beyond coming sooner or later!
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