Spokane to Yellowstone by way of Chicago--preliminaries

[JayPea]

I recently returned from a trip to and from Yellowstone. It took 6 days for a trip that would have taken me about 8 hours had I driven it myself. But who wants to drive when they can take several Amtrak trains to get there instead?? :lol: I had an intinerary that The Traveler would approve of. :lol:

The trip began with a flight from Spokane to Denver and then a flight from Denver to Midway in Chicago on August 2nd. My flight to Denver left Spokane at 6:20 AM and I had spent the night in a nearby motel rather than drive the 60 miles to the airport in the dark. While beginning the process of going through the TSA rigamarole, I had a very pleasant surprise. As I was standing in line, an agent said that anyone with a Southwest Airlines TSA pre-check notification on their boarding pass could by-pass the long snaking line and basically waltz through. No taking of shoes, belts, etc. Just empty pockets, get a cursory pass through the machines, and that was that. What may have taken 10-15 minutes and include the hassle of taking off belts, shoes, hats, etc and putting them back on took maybe 30 seconds. And since there were so few of us, just a few seconds to be reunited with belongings. I don't know what I did to get on that list, but as I told the agent, "I'm not about to argue!" He replied that he sure wouldn't, either. I wonder if the TSA would be so forgiving if they knew, as a high school lad lo these many years ago, I and a couple of friends went fishing using a pipe bomb. h34r: At any rate, the plane was packed, and as I was waiting on board to take off, I noticed out my window that in a nearby parking lot there were about a dozen vehicles with their car alarms going off. Somebody with jumper cables was going to be busy!

My flight into Denver was early, about the only thing early that would happen on this whole trip. My flight into Chicago was delayed by 35 minutes as the incoming plane we would be flying out on had mechanical issues and we had to wait for another one. After waiting 20 minutes at the baggage carousel in Midwat , we got the announcement that our bags would be arriving at a different carousel. As there were many bags already rotating on it, I had to wonder how many minutes our luggage had been there before they decided to tell us. At any rate, I grabbed my bag, and headed out to catch a cab to the Summit Amtrak stop, where I would ride down to Bloomington-Normal with my uncle, who had ridden to Chicago earlier that day and would ride back with me. As had happened last year, I got a rather surly cabbie who got totally upset with me because I wanted to go to somewhere he'd never heard of. Believe me, it gave me great pleasure to proceed to tell him where to go and how to get there. :giggle: Twice that's happened and I think it will be the last time. Next time I fly into Chicago to meet with my uncle I think I will take the CTA Orange Line from Midway. The hassle of getting luggage down the stairs at Quincy to me sounds more palatable than putting of with jackasses for cabbies. Besides I can splurge for a business class ticket for the Lincoln Service and relax in the Metropolitan Lounge in Chicago Union Station for a bit first than rushing out to sit in a shelter at Summit. At any rate, the Lincoln Service train I took was right on time into Summit and I met my uncle there on the train. The trip into Bloomington/Normal was right on time, and we got there with no problems. My uncle lives between Bloomington and Champaign, and he, his two granddaughters, and I were going to leave on the CONO early the next morning out of Champaign to Chicago, where we would board the Southwest Chief. From there, we'd take the CS from Los Angeles to Seattle, and then the EB to East Glacier Park, where we would rent a van and drive to Yellowstone for a few days, after which we would return to East Glacier, where I would return to Spokane via the EB and they to Chicago and (hopefully) make the same day connection with the CONO to Champaign. That was the plan, and it ended up working out just fine, though not without a few unexpected twists and turns along the way. So stay tuned!

next up: August 3-5 City of New Orleans and Southwest Chief.

 

[Bob Dylan]

Those Chicago Cabbies have that famous CHI Attitude that the Gate and Lounge Dragons and some of the OBS exhibit!

Look forward to the Train and Scenery Reports! We're envious!!

 

[oregon pioneer]

Ooh, yes, I'm staying tuned for more!

 

[JayPea]

August 3-5: City of New Orleans and Southwest Chief

Early on the 3rd, the four of us made our way to the station in Champaign. For future reference my uncle's granddaughters are soon-to-be 17 and 15. By way of the status maps, the CONO was about 30 minutes late before Effingham but kept losing time. And we kept getting announcements that its arrival time would be pushed back because of freight interference by the CN. It pulled into Champaign about an hour late. As this was part of an AGR award, we had roomettes to Chicago. Rion was our SCA. We immediately headed to the diner. As my usual selection, the omelette, was not available, I had the French toast. I usually don't have it because I slather too much butter and syrup on it. But I did this time and it was great! Debra was our server and she provided excellent service too.

We were poised to make up a little bit of time into Chicago, but right before Homewood, we got stuck behind a slow-moving freight. And as we pulled into Chicago, we had to pull much further ahead than usual due to computer problems with the switches. As we waited, Rion played the wrong version of City of New Orleans :lol: and told us to make sure to contact our Congresspersons about future Amtrak funding. He also apologized for us being late and laid the blame 100% at the feet of CN.

After we got backed into the station, we got checked into the Metropolitan Lounge. As it was still early, about 10:30, we took a stroll around the streets of downtown Chicago, enjoying the warm, sunny weather. Our plans were to go to Giordano's for lunch. We arrived there a bit early so went for another stroll until they opened. We were the first customers of the day and we were told our pizza would take about 25 minutes. As it turned out it took almost an hour. Something else that was late. :lol: After lunch we returned to the madhouse that was the Metropolitan Lounge. As the SWC is the last of the four LD trains that departs in the same general time frame, we watched as the crowd slowly thinned out. When it was time to board us, the lounge was practically empty. We got out right on time, which the other LD trains couldn't say. They were all delayed by the 2PM arrival of the Late Shore Limited, and their trains were held. Ours didn't need to be, and we got out right on time. Other than a short wait for a Metra train outside of Naperville, we made good time. The weather had taken a turn for the worse as we departed Chicago, and it was pouring by the time we left. That didn't last too long, however, and the day turned out to be just fine.

We made good time all the way through Illinois and Iowa. At Fort Madison, we went to dinner. Nancy was the LSA, and Julio our SCA. We told Julio the pressure was on him because we had heard so many good things about him from this forum. He thanked everyone for the kind words and told us that customer service was his job; he really liked his job and if he provided lousy service, passengers might stay away and he wouldn't have a job. Would it be that all Amtrak employees had that kind of attitude. At any rate, I had the tilapia, and it was great. I even ate the green beans. I don't like frozen green beans, but with enough salt and pepper, anything can be at least palatable. At one point between Ft. Madison and LaPlata we stopped for about five minutes for no discernable reason, and were about 22 minutes late into LaPlata. We had seen freight after freight after freight on that busy line, but thanks to double tracking didn't have to wait for one freight. I retired for the night at LaPlata. As I usually do the first night I'm on a train, I slept like a baby.....I was up every hour. We still made great time throughout Kansas, arriving early at just about every station. I awoke for good before Dodge City and decided to take a shower before the crowds hit. I got out of the shower just in time to see all the lights from the wind towers near Dodge. And as always, the theme music from the X-Files popped into my head when I saw them. We were about half an hour early into Dodge City, and several minutes early into Garden City. I knew that west of Garden City, the track condition was poor and there were a lot of slow orders, so we would not be on time any more. As my uncle's granddaughters had stayed up till midnight playing cards in the SSL, my uncle and I went to breakfast by ourselves and were seated by a couple who was apparently carrying on a long-distance relationship: He was from Indianapolis and she from the Okanogan Valley in British Columbia, north and west of where I live. They were going to Vancouver and were making the same SWC-CS connection we were.

As usual, due to the slow orders, we were about 40 minutes late into Lamar, but made up time into La Junta. The stop at La Junta is listed as 15 minutes; had we held to that we would have left La Junta only 20 minutes late. However, we lingered for well over 30 minutes and left La Junta later than we had arrived. And it didn't get much better. As a result of the recent downpours in that area, the signaling between La Junta and Trinidad was haywire. This required us to go several miles at 15-20 MPH, and stop every so often. It resembled <insert Interstate freeway of your choice> at rush hour. We lost almost an hour between the two and were now an hour and a half late, a pace we maintained into Raton. It was a nice, sunny day so far and I was in hopes of not having a repeat of that nasty weather that had been plaguing the area. The four of us went to lunch at this time and I had the Angus burger, which was great. So was the cheesecake for dessert. Again, because of recent bad weather and lousy track conditions, we lost another 20 minutes into Las Vegas. And immediately after leaving Las Vegas, we had a downpour of Biblical proportions. SIdeways rain, hail, and almost zero visibility. There was a horse in a pasture alongside the track and he was obviously not happy being in that kind of weather. After a few minutes, we escaped the deluge, and the day would continue cloudy the whole way. No rain, though. We had made decent time between Las Vegas and Lamy, but then hit more slow orders. And, just was we were arriving in Lamy, came the announcement that a very late #4 would be arriving in Lamy at the same time and we would have to take the siding. We waited several minutes for #4, and when it appeared, it had a BNSF unit on its front. Apparently the lead Amtrak unit had developed signal problems. We lingered awhile in Lamy, and when we got going, were now 2 1/2 hours late. Fortunately, we didn't have many other problems the rest of the way. We made up time into Albuquerque, and, naturally, upon arrival, the first place the girls headed was the vendor's tables I, showing great restraint, resisted :lol:

We departed Albuquerque about 2 hours late. We had dinner upon leaving Albuquerque, and I again had the tilapia. But I got robbed at dessert. The four of us each had the cheesecake with the strawberry topping, but there was only enough strawberry topping for three of us. I drew the short straw. Mica, see what you did??? You deprived me of strawberry topping!!! :angry: We started to make good time out of Albuquerque, until we had slow orders of 10 MPH for a couple of miles. There had been a washout there a day prior. My uncle and I retired for the night at Gallup, and I vaguely remember seeming like we were going slowly out of Gallup. Turns out we were. Just before I nodded off for good I heard the conductor apologize, saying we'd been following a slow freight for 15-20 miles. I learned later we lost another 20 minutes due to this into Winslow.

I awoke east of Barstow, and found we'd made up some time. I turned on my GPS and found we were going upwards of 85 MPH. That will help! Once again, because my uncle's granddaughters, whom by now Julio had dubbed "the sleeping beauties" had stayed up late, it was just the two of us for breakfast. We were seated with an older couple, and the man was a big railfan. He knew a lot about railroads and their operations.

Because of padding, we ended up in Los Angeles about an hour and 10 minutes late, plenty of time to catch the CS. As it turned out, we had more than plenty of time as the CS's departure was delayed by 20 minutes. We didn't get to see the new lounge in LAUS; instead, hitched a ride with a redcap and rode directly from the SWC to the platform where we would catch the CS.

All was well that ended well. The SWC, as far as amenities, was rather spartan: No juice at all, though Julio had the coffee going until late in the afternoon both times, well past the 11 AM or whatever it is limit. And the plates and utensils were all plastic, and there was no tablecloth. Just paper. All in all, the service was good. Julio lived up to his expectations. Nancy in the diner was all right, though I've had better. And the food was good. No problems there.

Next: August 5-6 Coast Starlight

 

[Alice]

A thoroughly enjoyable read, can't wait for more!

 

[shelzp]

A great report and I'm looking for the next installment!

 

[oregon pioneer]

Plastic cutlery? Even for the steak?

I'm bringing my own set next time... :angry2: h34r:

 

[SarahZ]

Oh my gosh!!! I say the exact same thing every time we pass that huge field of wind towers. The blinking red lights made me think of "X-Files" the first time I saw them, so now the theme goes through my head every time. I feel sad if I don't wake up in time to see them.

 

[JayPea]

Plastic cutlery? Even for the steak?

I'm bringing my own set next time... :angry2: h34r:

I was half asleep when I posted this. :wacko: Plastic dishes, plates, and glasses. Metal cutlery.

 

[OlympianHiawatha]

Pipe Bomb Fishing? Now that sounds almost as good as Telephone Fishing :unsure: :lol:

Telephone Fishing - Fishing using a Crank Style Electromagnetic Telephone. Simply lower the 2 leads into the water, crank like hell for a few minutes and get ready to scoop up the Floaters as they come to the surface. It is now VERY illegal

 

[amtkstn]

Thanks for the info on the Chief on time performance. It help us understand way the train is almost always late every day.

 

[JayPea]

Oh my gosh!!! I say the exact same thing every time we pass that huge field of wind towers. The blinking red lights made me think of "X-Files" the first time I saw them, so now the theme goes through my head every time. I feel sad if I don't wake up in time to see them.

I almost missed them this time. I took my shower thinking I'd have plenty of time to see them. But I underestimated the SWC's speed and only happened to see them through the vestibule window after exiting the shower. The first time I saw those lights I had no idea what they were. The second time I saw them we were running a bit late and it was light enough to see the lights were on the wind towers. I was about half disappointed to find they were not some other-worldly phenomena! We now have a big wind farm about 20 miles from here and to me the lights are nowhere near as impressive on those towers as they are on the ones near Dodge City.

 

[SarahZ]

Oh my gosh!!! I say the exact same thing every time we pass that huge field of wind towers. The blinking red lights made me think of "X-Files" the first time I saw them, so now the theme goes through my head every time. I feel sad if I don't wake up in time to see them.

I almost missed them this time. I took my shower thinking I'd have plenty of time to see them. But I underestimated the SWC's speed and only happened to see them through the vestibule window after exiting the shower. The first time I saw those lights I had no idea what they were. The second time I saw them we were running a bit late and it was light enough to see the lights were on the wind towers. I was about half disappointed to find they were not some other-worldly phenomena! We now have a big wind farm about 20 miles from here and to me the lights are nowhere near as impressive on those towers as they are on the ones near Dodge City.

I first saw them while riding Coach a few years ago. I couldn't sleep (shocking), and it was really hot, so I was leaning against the window to stay cool. I saw the lights in the distance and got creeped-out and excited at the same time. It was winter, and the moon was full, so there was juuuuuuuust enough moonlight reflecting off the snow to make out the outline of a few fan blades as we passed the middle of the wind farm. It was still creepy, though, even though I knew what they were.

I always hope we're on the right side going to ABQ and the left side coming home so I can see them both ways. I'm usually awake for them on the way there, but I'm always awake for them on the way back, since it isn't that late when we get to Dodge City.

 

[JayPea]

Here are a few photos of my journey so far now that this self-confessed Luddite has figured out how to post them from their phone: :lol:

This is one of those flat-topped buttes that fascinate me for some reason:

It was a nice day in Raton:

Private varnish on the rear of #3:

This sign at Albuquerque has always fascinated me. I mean, ya think??:

Speeds like this, east of Barstow, take a bite out of any time deficit Amtrak might have. Too bad more track isn't sufficient for speeds like this. :

 

[JayPea]

And now, on to the CS: August 5-7

Continuing with the theme of late trains, the CS started off 20 minutes late due to a delay in loading supplies. After that delay we got going. Our trip took until the first stop at Burbank for an interesting development. We were delayed there about 10 minutes thanks to Mark Spencer. Now, I don't know Mark Spencer, never met him, and so far as I know have never met any Mark Spencers. But he delayed us anyway. Seems the train was ready to go but Mark Spencer left a bag on the platform. So we were delayed for 10 minutes while Mark Spencer and his bag were reunited. Don't know if that ever happened though. With that out of our way we continued. Phil was our car attendant and there were more amenities available. Juice, fresh fruit, and a little dish of candy. And he kept the coffee hot well into the afternoon. Trish the Dragon Lady was the LSA and was her usual not so charming self. Nanette was the PPC attendant, a perfect reason to avoid the PPC. She, too, has all the charm and warmth of a cactus. We were treated to photocopied menus which in no way reflected what was actually served in the dining car. It was a radically different menu from that of the SWC; in reality the actual menu was the same. It was a brilliant day, as it has been every time I've visited Southern California. We won the ocean side roulette; our room was on the ocean side. It was, indeed, a great day to view the ocean.:





For lunch, reservations for which the Dragon Lady had written down on her famous white board, I stuckwith the Angus burger but had the cchocolate cake for dessert. Daysi was our server, about as pleasant a food service worker as I have ever encountered on Amtrak. She was outstanding.

As the day rolled on, we stayed about 45 minutes to an hour late, making up some time in San Luis Obispo. #11 came rolling to SLO just as we were leaving. At Salinas, even though we were running behind, we had a fresh air stop. I don't remember stopping for a break there though it's possible.



I should add too before I forget that Winston McIntosh, one of the OBS head honchos, was aboard. We remembered each other from a TE trip we took 4 years ago.

At dinner, even though the photocopied menu promised catfish for the seafood selection, it was tilapia. Having had the tilapia twice on the SWC I opted for the steak. Don't tell Mica this but the steak was the best quality I've ever had. And it was cooked to my specifications, too. I'm really not much of a steak fan but I might change my mind after this.

We had retired for the night, just north of San Jose, when I felt a jolt and thought dang, what was that?? followed by Trish saying "Brace yourselves!". And after we came to a stop, Trish ordered all personnel into the dining car immediately. Uh-oh! Sounded like Something Dire had happened. My uncle got his scanner going and it sounded like we'd derailed. But instead we'd hit a suicidal trespasser. Winston made the announcement there had been an incident and we'd be there a couple of hours. Turns out it was five hours before we got going again. I must say the crew was outstanding during all this. Maybe that was because they'd had practice: Phil said it was the third time in a month the same crew had that happen to them. At that we were lucky; it is mandatory to call an inspector from UP in for such incidents. This time, he was in San Jose. The time before, Winston told me, he'd been in Salinas.

At any rate, we finally got going again. I finally fell asleep and awoke for good at Sacramento. The stop there was much longer than usual; I guessed it had something to do with the incident. And after we finally got going, we crawled at 5Mph for what seemed like a long time. It was a good thing same-day connections in Portland are no longer possible between the CS and EB; those obviously would have been broken this time. We were at one point 7 1/2 hours late; we eventually arrived in Seattle 5 hours and 45 minutes late. At least it gave me an opportunity to see territory I'd never seen before like Chico and Redding.



Shortly after leaving Redding Trish made the announcement that all coach passengers would receive a complimentary lunch. She wanted all coach passengers to stay in their seats because she needed a head count. I don't know as I'd have used that terminology given the situation. :lol: I was surprised that after feeding the coach passengers there was plenty of food left for the sleeper passengers. A lot of times on the CS some of the food items are out by lunchtime the second day. I also want to give a shout out to UP; as late as we were, even though we encountered several freights, only once did we stop, and that only for a minute or two waiting for a freight to clear a switch.

As the day wore on we did make up some time here and there. The mood on the train was as one might expect a bit somber. For dinner I tried the chicken. Not good. It was slimy and didn't taste very well. The chocolate cake made up for it though.

I retired for the night after Salem. I didn't know if Phil would want to make up our beds beforehand; to his credit he did not. We finally got into Seattle about 2:20 AM. We grabbed a cab to our hotel, the Moore Hotel, and got to our rooms about 2:45. Because we wanted to make an early run to the Space Needle it was a short night.

And that ended that. Not the way you'd want a trip to happen but so it goes. The crew was professional throughout and the passengers understanding. I have heard of nasty complaints by passengers under these circumstances but not this time. My sympathies go out to the family and friends of the individual who chose a permanent end to a temporary problem.

 

[oregon pioneer]

Sigh. I guess it's not a modern problem, but suicide numbers do seem to be going up. Or maybe I just notice more, becauce I see more news of it on the internet. Like you, I am sad that people choose it, but I also understand the desperate feeling that there is no other way out.

 

[pianocat]

JP - excellent trip report! Looks like we were about 5 days behind each other on these routes. !

 

[JayPea]

August 7-8: Seattle to Glacier Park

When I last left you, we had arrived about 5 hrs and 45 minutes late into Seattle, in the wee small hours of the morning. We got to our hotel, and managed a few hours of sleep before heading first to the Westlake Center and the Monorail to take in the Space Needle, I've been there several times before but my uncle's oldest granddaughter hadn't. So we took that in, and went back to Pike Place Market to wander around before meeting my sister, brother-in-law, and niece for lunch at Lowell's in Pike Place. Following lunch, we made our way to King Street Station for the EB's departure. In continuing the theme of late trains, the EB was late in leaving Seattle. It was nearly 2:30 before it even got to the station, and we departed about an hour and 10 minutes late. Kevin was our SCA (we had bedrooms) and he immediately got off on the wrong foot by insulting us. He had the unmitigated gall to call us foamers! :angry: :angry: Of all the nerve! :angry: :angry: I mean, how could he even tell that about us? Okay, maybe the fact I was videotaping out one windowm and the fact I had my Magellan GPS attached to the window possibly could have tipped him off. Or maybe it was the fact my uncle had his video camera attached to the window. Or perhaps because he was using his OTHER camera to film out the other side. Maybe those were possible mitigating factors. :lol: At any rate, Kevin jokingly said he was nervous now because he was sure his every move would be documented! :lol: Kevin was in fact a very good SCA. No ice, of course, but he did give us a big bucketful. And there was fresh fruit available. He also had bottled water available at the coffee stand. And, speaking of coffee, it was available well into the night. Dustin was our LSA, and a very good one. At dinner, I had the steak again and again was very impressed. For the second time, it was actually cooked to my specifications. I am really not much of a steak person, but if the quality of the steak that I had was any indication, I may have to partake of it more often. It certainly beats the flat iron steak; I think it was aptly named, because eating it was like eating a flat iron. Michelle was our server, and she did a great job as well. And for dessert I had the cheesecake with strawberries.

We were delayed about 15 minutes just before the mouth of the Cascade Tunnel. I believe there is a 30 minute waiting period between trains in going through the tunnel, due to the need to pump fresh air into it after each train passes. We had to wait for them to do this. I've ridden the EB several times and never had this occur before, not that it made any difference. And, speaking of fresh air, I got a laugh a

s we approached Wenatchee and the announcement was made about the fresh air stop there. Well, due to fires, the air was very hazy and smoky. I didn't see how it could be classified as a fresh air stop when the air was anything but. At any rate, I'd rather smell the smoke from fires than from cigarettes.

Our conductor was very good about making announcements about delays, etc. Between Wenatchee and Ephrata, he came by our room, saw all our electronic gadgetry, and struck up a long conversation. Oh, and he was wearing his hat. :giggle: Both he and Kevin were very much appreciative of us, repeat riders, and expressed their frustrations too about amenities cuts and misinformation. Kevin said that a senator from Georgia thought that SCA's made $106,000 a year for doing very little work. He was wondering when he would be getting his big raise. We told him we knew it was a bunch of bunk about them not doing anything much, which it is. I generally vote Republican but in the case of Amtrak and rail transit in general, it irks me to no end how they spread misinformation (and I suspect it's deliberate) to whip their colleagues into an anti-rail fervor. :angry2: The Republicans are dead, dead wrong on this issue, and I wish they'd at least be honest about it. But asking any politician to be honest is asking too much. Enough of my political commentary for the day. We had a great conversation with the conductor, whose name I never did get.

We retired for the night after Ephrata, and I didn't wake up and shower until almost to West Glacier. We were running about an hour behind at this point. We decided to forego breakfast in the diner, as the girls were still asleep. Upon arrival into East Glacier, we had to wait about half an hour before Dollar Rent a Car opened. So my uncle caught a ride to the Sears Motel, where the rental agency is located, and the girls and I waited at the station. It was a nice morning, and one can do worse than gaze upon views such as this one:

After the half an hour my uncle returned with the rental van. We then had breakfast at Luna's before heading to Yellowstone.

Next up: Yellowstone and the trip home.

 

[Bob Dylan]

Nice pic and its good to hear that the Hi Line Mess hasn't gotten the Crews burned out! Looking forward to the next episode of yalls trip to Paradise!☺

 

[JayPea]

And now, as Paul Harvey used to say, the rest of the story: Aug. 8-12, Yellowstone and the return home.

We had breakfast at Luna's before heading to Yellowstone. Unfortunately, there is no good way to get to Yellowstone from Glacier. It is a long drive just to get to the park from Glacier. And the scenery, until you near the park, isn't much. Sorry about that Montana. Just before Livingston, we encountered a nice little rainstorm. And, after a pit stop in Livingston, some 52 miles from Gardiner, MT, at the north entrance to the park, we really encountered a rainstorm. The rain was coming down in buckets, a torrential downpour that limited visibility and speeds to about 30 MPH. We did finally run out of the rain, and despite dire predictions of nasty weather throughout our stay there, this was the only bad weather we encountered. From the park's north entrance, it was 42 miles from our first destination, Canyon Village, where we would stay the night. It took about 2 hours to go this 42 miles due to mountainous terrain and heavy traffic. By the time we got to Canyon Village and got our rooms for the night and had supper, it was getting dark. But we did have time to explore the area a bit. Prominent feature of this area is the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone:

along with the upper and lower falls of the Yellowstone River.

The hike to the falls is a nice long one, a quick hike downhill, but not so much going uphill. That was enough exercise for one night, so we went back to our motel then.

We stayed just the one night there at Canyon Village, and headed the next morning to our next destination within the park, Grant Village, which is more or less in the southwestern part of the park, about 40 miles from Canyon Village. Our first destination of the day was the Mud Volcano area, south of Canyon Village. We were delayed almost right at the start due to elk by the side of the road, and people parked in the middle of the road taking pictures of them, blocking traffic. The Mud Volcano area is an area where boiling-hot mud (up to 1600 degrees F) steams and bubbles and gurgles.

It is very interesting to see; there are only a few places in the world these exist. But the stench of sulphur is rather overwhelming! After this we headed along Yellowstone Lake, going as far as the East Entrance of the park. No particular reason to go this way, other than to enjoy the scenery:

After we went as far as the East Entrance, we backtracked up to the town of West Yellowstone. There is a wolf and bear rescue center there, designed to take in wolves and bears that for some reason would not be capable of surviving in the wild. We toured this area, and discovered that along with bears and wolves, they take in some of our feathered friends including bald eagles, hawks, owls, and a turkey vulture. Very interesting and very informative.

Before heading back to Grant Village for the night, we took in arguably the most famous feature of Yellowstone, Old Faithful. In the OId Faithful Inn there is a clock on the wall that, based on the length of the last eruption, rangers estimate the time of the next one, give or take 10 minutes. Like almost all the trains, Old Faithful was late, too. :lol: But the wait was worth it:

And that ended our second day at Yellowstone. On Day Three, we headed south, into the Grand Tetons, in search of moose in the wild. We went all over the area, eventually roaming as far as the town of Jackson, but never did see a moose. Thus it stands that the only time I've ever seen a moose in the wild was two years ago between Essex and East Glacier Park, dead and draped over a guard rail. And with a car that had a smashed-in front next to it. No moose, but the scenery in the Tetons is worth it anyway:

After poking around the Tetons, we headed back to Grant Village for the rest of the day, preparing for our journey back to Glacier. My uncle and his granddaughters were going to stay two more nights in Glacier before returning to Illinois, but I had to return back to Spokane that night as I had to be to work the next night. We headed back the same way we had come, and as we neared Canyon Village, we found out first-hand why signs warn of wildlife on the roadway:

This elk was actually in the middle of the roadway, but by the time I got my camera ready, he had moved off to the side of the road. The buffalo were also up close and personal:



I guess when it's time for breakfast, it doesn't matter the location! :lol:

After wildlife delays, we were on our way. We made one last stop, at Mammoth Hot Springs, for a look at another unique geological feature of the park:



We then continued on. My uncle wanted to see Flathead Lake, so our chosen path to Glacier Park was west on I-90 to Missoula, then north on US 93 to Kalispell, where we eventually connected with Highway 2. I had been over that stretch of I-90 before, but that was in 1973, so it was as if it were new to me. As we neared Butte, I wished I was old enough to remember traveling the North Coast Limited when I was 3. The approach to Butte is stunning from I-90 and I can imagine it is even more so via Homestake Pass. A pity the North Coast Hiawatha was discontinued and a pity they would go over Mullan Pass to Helena if it were. Such a beautiful area. At any rate, the trip took much longer than expected, due to numerous pit stops and the fact the west side of Flathead Lake has been developed the way it has. I'd been over US 93 once before, but that was almost 30 years ago, and it has certainly developed much more than I had remembered it. I was, when my cell phone signal allowed, checking the progress of #7, and on this date, just my luck, it was making good time, for it. It departed Havre only a couple of hours late, and with padding, was going to make Shelby less than an hour late.So we had to hustle along. We got back to East Glacier around 8PM, time to have dinner at Luna's before heading to the station. Based on our best guesstimate, it looked as if #7 might arrive in East Glacier about 1 hour and 10 minutes late. We got to the station about 8:45, and figured on a half hour wait. Turns out it was a bit longer than that. The gal on the loudspeaker every so often kept saying the arrival time would be pushed back a little bit further. Turns out it was almost 2 1/2 hours late. It had taken almost 3 hours to get from Shelby to East Glacier. Some of it was no doubt due to freight congestion; between West and East Glacier we spotted 7 BNSF freights going one direction or the other. And as we waited on the platform, several passed us by. At one point, when it was announced that #7 would be arriving shortly, we saw the approaching lights of a train. And Loudspeaker Gal began to announce where people would board according to accomodations and destination. Turns out it was a container train. Ms. Obvious then announced, with great aplomb, "Wrong train!" That gave us our laugh for the day.

#7 then arrived a few minutes later, around 10:40 PM. As soon as I boarded, I tried to get some sleep, but the best I can ever do is a half hour here, a half hour there, in coach. Just can not get comfortable enough in coach to sleep. And, as I faced an hour's drive home, it was a good idea to try to get some sleep. Somehow, and I still don't quite know how, we managed to lose about 45 minutes between East and West Glacier, putting us 3 1/2 hours behind. And almost immediately after departing West Glacier, ww had to stop for a freight. That was the only time we had to wait for freights, however, and we eventually reached Spokane "only" 2 1/2 hours late. Still too early to be able to see the view south out of Sandpoint by train, however. Once I got to the Spokane station, I put a call into the parking lot where I had left my car, and shortly the shuttle arrived. Despite my lack of sleep, I managed to get home in one piece. And that ended that trip, and, unless something unusual happens, ended my Amtrak travels for the year. So it's time to sit back, relax, and travel vicariously through others on AU and through my massive collection of DVD's I have of my travels over the past few years.

One word about the service overall: for the most part, on all the trains, it was great. No major problems with anyone.. Our SCA's were quite apologetic about the amenities cuts, and thanked us for supporting Amtrak even with the cuts. I myself will not stop riding Amtrak unless they shut down the whole system altogether. One thing I do miss is the newspapers. I could care less about USA Today; it's a waste of paper and ink as far as I'm concerned. What I do miss is the local papers, like the Klamath Falls Herald and News. With all the stuff about riots following a police shooting, famous celebrities committing suicide, and journalists beheaded, to me it's refreshing to read about Mrs. Harriet Smedley winning the grand prize for her chrysanthemums at the county fair, or the Wayne's Building Supply Dodgers winning the local Little League Championship or the police blotter where the top story was a call to the area of 1313 Mockingbird Lane about dogs tipping over garbage cans. Now that I do miss.

Now as I say it is time to sit back and relax. And start planning next year's trips!

 

[JayPea]

Don't know how those bottom two pictures got there nor how to delete them.

 

[bobnjulie]

Great report only uh oh! I got along great with Nanette when I was on the Coast Starlight! I tortured her a bit and she tried to snap and I razzle dazzled her and we ended up ok It's so funny that I've taken Amtrak enough that I am recognized names - especially good ones like Julio and Kevin! I think that's actually been a newer cool part of riding enough trains - bumping in to crew that you've connected with! Thanks for sharing. I really do enjoy reading posts and enjoying people's journeys.... which also brings back happy memories for me while I'm stuck on the couch!