Chicago
Neither Val
nor I got much sleep last night as the train was very noisy; every time we went
over a switch in the tracks, which was often, the train made a loud bang and
rocked back and forth. Besides that, the
trains in the east have only one level so you are much closer to the tracks and
hear much more noise. We got up around 7:30
and neither one of us was in a very good mood after our near sleepless night. We had breakfast in
the dining car and then went back to our room to await our arrival in Chicago.
We arrived
in Chicago on time and made our way to the Metropolitan Lounge where we had a
five hour wait until the Southwest Chief (our train to Los Angeles) left. As I said on the trip east, the Metropolitan
Lounge in Chicago is brand new so they are still decorating and adding things,
which led to our entertainment for the morning.
They were hanging a giant picture in the area we were sitting in so we were
able to watch and of course supervise and give advice; not really, but it kind
of felt that way as they had a small audience.
We started
getting hungry and headed to the food court for lunch and then had only a short
wait until our train started to board.
It’s always a bit hectic getting to the gate and boarding, but we were
soon sitting in our room watching the countryside go by. This train is so much quieter than the train
we were on yesterday I hope we can get a good night’s sleep tonight.
We spent
the rest of the afternoon reading and watching the countryside go by until it
was time for dinner. We both had steaks
for dinner and they were pretty good considering the limited kitchen space the
train has, but the service was the worst we’ve ever seen on the train. It appeared they were trying to organize it
in some way, but it had the opposite effect as it was totally disorganized. We had a 7:00 reservation and we didn’t get
back to our room until after 8:30, it should never have taken so long. Oh well, it’s not like we had anywhere else to go.
We were
both pretty tired so it wasn’t long before we decided to have the beds made up
and to try and get a better night’s sleep tonight. Tomorrow we’ll be on the train all day.
Train
Day
Last night
we both got a good night’s sleep as the train ride was much quieter and
smoother. Someone told us we would like
the trains east of Chicago much better than the ones in the east, but I have to
disagree with that after our experience. We got up just after 8:00, but we went from
central time to mountain time just after we got up so it turned out to be just
after 7:00. We decided to pass on
breakfast this morning as neither one of us wanted to go to the dining car.
We sat and
read and watched the world go by for a while, but we learned the train stop in
La Junta, Colorado was going to be for a half hour so we decided to get off the
train and stretch our legs. Right across
the street from the train station we spotted a donut shop and decided we would
have our breakfast there. Donuts are a
guilty pleasure of mine and I hadn’t had one on our entire trip so far so I
thought it was my lucky day.
After
enjoying our breakfast, it was back to the train and we continued our journey
home. The train just kind of rolls along
and so does the time as we spend our time reading, talking and just watching
the world outside our window. We made
our lunch reservations for 1:00 and the service was only slightly better than
last night; I really think they need to reevaluate their system. After lunch we spent the afternoon much as we
did the morning. The train stopped for
almost an hour in Albuquerque so we did go out and wander around for a bit, but
other than that we just relaxed.
We made our
dinner reservations for 7:00, but as the time drew nearer, neither one of us
really wanted to eat another meal in the dining room so we went to the cafe car
instead and had some snacks for dinner.
They told us the train was running early and we would be arriving in Los
Angeles at 7:20 AM instead of 8:15. This
meant we would have to be up by 6:00 so we went to bed early. We were lucky in that we had gotten back into
the pacific time zone so that gives us an extra hour. Tomorrow we will finally be home after our
long journey.
Home
Today is
the last day of our journey, tonight we will be sleeping in our own bed. We were up by 6:00, but evidently things
hadn’t gone well in the night and we were behind schedule instead of early; oh
well, such is life on the train. No breakfast
this morning as they closed the dining car very early so we sat in our room and
watched the countryside go by as we made our way to Los Angeles.
We arrived
in LA only about 20 minutes late so we were happy as we had a two hour
layover until our train north leaves. We
opted for Red Cap service today as Val is in the midst of a bad cold and I’m
coming down with one. The Red Cap loaded
our luggage into his cart and whisked us away to the entrance to the
Metropolitan Lounge. Once inside we
checked in and found a couple of comfortable seats to wait until our train home
leaves. They had muffins and juices
available so we helped ourselves and made up for our lack of breakfast this
morning.
We again found
out the benefit of tipping the Red Cap well as the Red Cap who took us from the
train to the lounge magically appeared and said they were getting ready to start boarding on our
train. He took us out the door, loaded our
luggage on his cart, and we were brought to the Coast Starlight, which was the train we
would take north; very nice service especially at the end of a long
journey. This is a short five hour trip,
but we still opted to get a roomette as it is more comfortable and there are a
few amenities that make it worthwhile.
The train
was soon underway and we relaxed and read as the city of LA rolled by. The Coast Starlight has a unique feature
for sleeping car passengers that the other trains don’t have; the Parlor
Car. The Parlor Car is a combination
bar, lounge and diner. We opted to have
our lunch in the Parlor Car and it was very good with much better service than
we had on the Southwest Chief. They
announced they were showing a movie on the lower level of the Parlor Car, but
we wouldn’t be on the train long enough to see it.
We rolled
through the countryside north of LA and enjoyed the views of the Santa Barbara
coast. We were running right on time,
but when we were within a half hour of home, we had to wait for another train
to pass so we ended up being almost a half hour late. We finally arrived in San Luis Obispo and
were met by our good friend Doug who drove us home. Thanks so much Doug.
It was
great to be home, but we did find a few glitches. I found that my car had been vandalized, which
was very strange as we live in a bit of secluded area that doesn’t get much
traffic. It wasn’t too bad, but it will
be a hassle. After the police showed up
and took my report, I went up to turn on my computer and my monitor gave a loud
hum and would not work again. I guess
that’s what happens when you leave home for six weeks. Oh well, it was a great trip, but it feels
great to be home.
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