As I sit in the Minneapolis/St. Paul Amtrak station, I thought now
would be a good time to do a quick update on the events of the past few days.
Friday the 13th was rather uneventful; I had purposely scheduled
this day as a freebie because I knew I would be tired after travelling most of
the way across the country – which I was. The entire purpose of my trip,
however, took place on Saturday the 14th. Just one block from my
hotel was TCF Bank Stadium, better known as the home of the University of Minnesota
football team. Yesterday, however, it was taken over by drum corps.
I arrived at the stadium just before Noon so I could get to my seat
and scout out the field. I was extremely happy with the seats I had chosen;
they turned out to be near perfect. There were originally supposed to be 26
drum corps scheduled to perform. However, Teal Sound (Jacksonville, FL) and the
Racine Scouts (Racine, WI) both folded mid-season due to a lack of necessary
funds to keep their tours going. With the loss of these two corps from the
competition schedule, there was still a full day of drum corps. After watching
great performances by all of the groups, I returned to my hotel at around 10 PM
last night and began to pack my bag for the journey home.
My hotel checkout time this morning was at 11:00 AM. However, my return trip on Amtrak’s Empire
Builder is not scheduled to arrive until 10:31 PM tonight, nearly twelve hours
away. I had one of two options. I could either pay for another night in the
hotel but not use it, as my train would arrive in twelve hours; or, I could go
and wait out my train’s arrival at the Minneapolis/St. Paul Amtrak Station.
Since I have my reservations for the return trip in a sleeping car roomette, I
am technically considered a “first-class” passenger, and am entitled to the use
of the First Class Lounge at Midway Station. Although it is not really
preferable, I chose to do the latter of the two. As I write this, I am about an
hour into my twelve hour wait.
Sunday, 11:45 PM
(CST) 07/15/2012 – Minneapolis, MN
After waiting nearly twelve hours, the westbound Empire Builder
arrived at 11:06 PM, 35 minutes late. As I boarded the train, my car attendant
was nowhere to be found. As it is late evening and this is a rather large stop
en route to the Northwest, this strikes me as a little odd. I certainly hope
that this is not going to be the normality on this trip, or I may have to
contrive some amazing amounts forbearance in the next few days – something I
tend to run short of at the end of a long trip. We left Minneapolis at 11:38
PM, running 23 minutes late. I decided to write this short bit of travelogue
catching up on the day’s events before turning in, which I will do now. Doing
nothing all day sure did make me tired!
Monday, 1:56 PM
(MST) 07/16/2012 – Glasgow, MT
We are currently at a station stop in Glasgow, Montana. Today has
been extremely uneventful. I woke up
this morning as we were travelling between Grand Forks, ND and Devil’s Lake,
ND. We left Devil’s Lake at 7:47 AM CST, which by my calculations put us about
an hour and a half behind schedule. Unfortunately, I have only seen my car attendant
once during this whole trip. He stopped by to make my bed this morning, but did
not have the courtesy to even introduce himself. He merely threw the bedding
together, stashed it in the upper bunk, put the seats back up and said, “Have
you ridden Amtrak before?” When I affirmed that I had, he said “Ok”, and turned
and left my room. He has not returned since then, nearly eight hours ago. The
only reason I know his name (Miguel) is because I happened to catch a glimpse
of it on his nametag as he was leaving. If this is the kind of “service” Miguel
provides to all of the passengers under his watch, I don’t expect that he
receives too many tips. He certainly won’t be getting one from me.
Monday, 7:30 PM
(MST) 07/16/2012 – Browning, MT
As I write this, our train is climbing into the foothills of the
Rockies due west of Browning, Montana. It is taking me a long time to write,
however. As I do, it is broken by long periods of stopping to look out the
window at the incredible thunderstorm that is taking place outside. There is no visible lightning; but it is as
if I am trapped inside two weather systems at once. Behind me, in the east, it
is sunny; the sun is nearing the apex of the horizon and is nearly ready to
set. Ahead of me lie the darkest clouds I have ever seen in my life. I can see
the rain falling from the clouds. And although they are dark clouds, it does
not appear as if the rain is coming down hard. Rather, it appears to be a
gentle, sinuous rain. I don’t know that there has ever been a time in my life I’ve
ever seen anything so beautiful. People
ask me all the time why I take the train instead of flying somewhere and “getting
there quicker”. If I flew on an airplane, I would have missed out on seeing this
beauty of God’s creation. God can and will meet you anywhere, and He certainly met me
tonight on a train west of Browning, Montana.
Tuesday, 11:45 AM
(PST) 07/17/2012 – Union Station, Portland, OR
I’m in the home stretch of this journey! I arrived about a half
hour ago as the Empire Builder’s Portland section terminated here at 11:18, one
hour and eight minutes late. After I finished last night’s post about the
rainstorm in the Rockies, I put on the movie “Remember the Titans” and went to
bed just after our station stop in Essex, Montana. I woke up this morning just before we arrived
into the Tri-Cities. I stepped outside for a breath of fresh air as we made our
stop in Pasco, Washington; it was 6:45 AM. After getting back onboard the
train, I watched as we turned again towards the west and began to follow the
Columbia across southern Washington. Somewhere between our station stops of
White Salmon and Vancouver, I hit the 5,000 mile mark in my total rail travel!
This trip really helped me with that goal, since I will have travelled 3,915
miles by the time I step off the train in Salem tonight. That’s an average of
559 miles a day since I left Salem last Tuesday. Wow!! On that note, I think I’ll sign off of this travelogue.
It’s been a long week and I’m going to take this last little bit of time to
relax before catching my last train home to Salem tonight. As always, I hope
you enjoyed reading of my experiences on Amtrak.
Safe and Happy Travels!
The Musical Traveler
Safe and Happy Travels!
The Musical Traveler
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