Hello kids. As I get older, old-man winter plays more tricks with my brains and I have been freaking out more often as well as being more of a hermit in my 50-degree cold house. The only thing that reboots me is leaving this snowcrusted wasteland from time to time... so I have planned an extensive trip:
- Victoria, BC to see Brother Josh and finally meet his girl, and to see more of Vancouver Island
- Concord, CA to see Alex - Class of 90 and flirt with hairy-armpit-communist chicks in Berkeley
- Breckenridge, CO to ski a maximum 4 runs with Marty and spend time in the chalets pursuing rich widows. I talked Al into coming along for this leg.
Amtrak Superliner coach (not to scale)I have high expectations when flying... it's supposed to be sexy, fast, affordable, and safe. The airline industry planted that idea in our social consciousness. Well, ex-mil TSA hicks barking orders at me is not sexy. Sitting in some hub praying my next flight won't be delayed is not fast - it's miserable. Shelling out $40 to cab it to the airport in the first place and paying $8 for a sandwich at the hub makes that Priceline fare less appealing. And finally, they dropped the ball on 9/11. They used "security" contractors that employed felons and paid them nearly minimum wage to make their pathetic bottom line a little better. And like the sheeple we are we rewarded them for it with a pension bailout and resuming travel on their mode.
The trick to riding Amtrak is lowering your expectations.
Today's passenger train, for all intents and purposes, is a quasi-government service like the post office. You almost expect shit to be falling apart, moldy food, and surly employees. It manages to beat your expectations when you see that stuff is fairly well maintained for it's age, the steaks are better than the $39 rib-eye at Mo's, and that the staff is helpful to passengers and are insanely loyal to their company. Most Amtrak people I have met really have pride in their work.
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Empire Builder
Chicago - Milwaukee - St. Paul - Minot - Whitefish - Spokane - Seattle
My trip begins on the Empire Builder, train #7, out of our station in downtown Milwaukee. I will travel 2,120 rail miles to Seattle, bus it to Vancouver, and finally bus it (with a ride on the ferry to Vancouver Island) to Victoria.
This is a long trip... over 48 hours. The Empire Builder is a popular train, and gets some of the best equipment and people assigned to it, so all should be well.
Coast Starlight
Seattle - Portland - Eugene - Sacramento - Oakland
Next I'll be catching the Victoria Clipper fast ferry direct to Seattle to overnight for my next leg aboard the Coast Starlight #11. This overnight coach trip will drop me off in Martinez, California in the Bay area for a couple of days.
California Zephyr
Oakland - Sacramento - Reno - Salt Lake City - Denver - Omaha - Chicago
Alex B., star of the hit movie "Cahoots", will be joining me on the California Zephyr #6 first-class from Martinez to Glenwood Springs, Colorado where Marty will pick us up for snowfun in Breck.
After a couple days I return to the Midwest aboard the Zephyr #6 arriving in Chicago in about a day.
Hiawatha Service
Chicago - Milwaukee
Trusty regional service to get home. Best on-time performance in the entire Amtrak system.
The trick to riding Amtrak is lowering your expectations.
Today's passenger train, for all intents and purposes, is a quasi-government service like the post office. You almost expect shit to be falling apart, moldy food, and surly employees. It manages to beat your expectations when you see that stuff is fairly well maintained for it's age, the steaks are better than the $39 rib-eye at Mo's, and that the staff is helpful to passengers and are insanely loyal to their company. Most Amtrak people I have met really have pride in their work.
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Empire BuilderChicago - Milwaukee - St. Paul - Minot - Whitefish - Spokane - Seattle
My trip begins on the Empire Builder, train #7, out of our station in downtown Milwaukee. I will travel 2,120 rail miles to Seattle, bus it to Vancouver, and finally bus it (with a ride on the ferry to Vancouver Island) to Victoria.
This is a long trip... over 48 hours. The Empire Builder is a popular train, and gets some of the best equipment and people assigned to it, so all should be well.
Coast StarlightSeattle - Portland - Eugene - Sacramento - Oakland
Next I'll be catching the Victoria Clipper fast ferry direct to Seattle to overnight for my next leg aboard the Coast Starlight #11. This overnight coach trip will drop me off in Martinez, California in the Bay area for a couple of days.
California ZephyrOakland - Sacramento - Reno - Salt Lake City - Denver - Omaha - Chicago
Alex B., star of the hit movie "Cahoots", will be joining me on the California Zephyr #6 first-class from Martinez to Glenwood Springs, Colorado where Marty will pick us up for snowfun in Breck.
After a couple days I return to the Midwest aboard the Zephyr #6 arriving in Chicago in about a day.
Hiawatha ServiceChicago - Milwaukee
Trusty regional service to get home. Best on-time performance in the entire Amtrak system.
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