Halfway To My Destination (part 3 of a 4 part series)
In Denver Amtrak switches from running on Union Pacific tracks to BNSF. One of the major constraints on Amtrak is that outside the Northeast Corridor Amtrak doesn’t own any of the rails its trains run on. Therefore the Amtrak 
trains are at the mercy of the freight train operator orders and must often step aside to wait for a freight train to pass through a section of track. On my trip these delays were generally fairly short 10-15 minutes so in total we were about 2 hours behind schedule in Denver without encountering any major problems. It seemed to me that the Union Pacific tracks were a smoother ride than BNSF on which there was a lot of harsh swaying back and forth. A lot of people got on and off in Denver and we stopped long enough for the windows on the lounge car to be washed, the only time I saw them do this during the trip. We hurtled through the night at what felt like great speed, and I slept very well not waking up until the sun came up near Omaha. I lay in bed reading the paper for a while until Joyce called at 6:45 with the first breakfast call. I asked Tony to make up my bed and headed up to the dining car once more.
The plains of Nebraska are not nearly as majestic as the mountains we had just passed through, but the sheer endlessness of the rows of corn is something to be
appreciated. I breakfasted with a lady and her young daughter traveling to Des Moines from Colorado who said it was cheaper for them to take the train than to fly. As I would hear from many people on this leg of the journey in the heartland of America a lot of people do not live near airport hubs. That makes air travel inconvenient and expensive, therefore they rely on the train. People getting on in the Midwest use Amtrak as a means of getting from point A to point B not merely as an adventure or sightseeing vacation. The fourth lady at our breakfast table mentioned that a lot people said the ride through Nebraska and Iowa was so boring but being from Iowa she rather liked it and thought it was a really interesting trip. I thought, lady you need to go to Utah but just nodded in agreement. Having spent seven years living in Wisconsin and Minnesota I understand the love of the Midwest shared by those who live there. And in truth passing by the small towns and farms of Iowa caused me to reflect on how there was a lot of good and a lot of bad in those years and I am very grateful to be now living in California.
At 10:45 we had our first walk around stop of the day in Ottumwa, IA and stepped out into thick soupy hot humid air of Midwestern summer. I had pretty much forgotten that it was nearly June. I like to call these walk around stops but they are more commonly referred to as cigarette stops. Since there is no smoking on Amtrak trains the occasional ten-minute stop prevents the smokers from going crazy. Just be sure you listen for the horn and all aboard call, as the stops don’t last long and I have no doubt they would leave you if you didn’t jump back on.
After my morning shower I headed up to the lounge car. But with the train being full of coach people going places, the lounge car was rather noisy and crowded so I spent more of the day in my compartment. I made a lot of progress reading my book without all those distracting mountains. One thing I got a real kick out of was passing through the small towns and watching the cars line up at the railroad crossings
waiting for us to pass. Somehow it makes you feel very special to be holding up traffic. In anticipation of arriving in Chicago mid-afternoon I went up to the early lunch call at 11:30 since the afternoon would be short. I ate with a woman who got on in Iowa and was headed to Chicago, even though it was only a half day trip she had taken a sleeper compartment since it cost just $20 more and included lunch. That seems definitely worth it to me. Little did I know this was to be my last meal (probably ever) on real china in the Amtrak dining car as most routes had already changed to plastic as a cost cutting measure.
We approached Chicago around 4:00 just about an hour behind schedule. Coming into the city we passed a large freight yard with containers – Yao Ming, Hanjin, Matson the same names I see every day in my neighborhood in Oakland. Seems like there should be some economy to be gained in moving freight and passengers by the same system. I
wondered how much faster the containers had gotten there than I had. We arrived Union Station, Chicago 4:11pm, Monday. I said goodbyes to my fellow travelers and gleefully headed up the platform away from the California Zephyr. Union Station is a beautiful, enormous, old building in the middle of downtown Chicago. I had three hours until the Lakeshore Limited left for New York. I found the Amtrak lounge, checked my bags had a soda and some pretzels and headed out to make the most of the short time I had to stretch my legs and explore Chicago.
Part I; Part II; Part IV
trains are at the mercy of the freight train operator orders and must often step aside to wait for a freight train to pass through a section of track. On my trip these delays were generally fairly short 10-15 minutes so in total we were about 2 hours behind schedule in Denver without encountering any major problems. It seemed to me that the Union Pacific tracks were a smoother ride than BNSF on which there was a lot of harsh swaying back and forth. A lot of people got on and off in Denver and we stopped long enough for the windows on the lounge car to be washed, the only time I saw them do this during the trip. We hurtled through the night at what felt like great speed, and I slept very well not waking up until the sun came up near Omaha. I lay in bed reading the paper for a while until Joyce called at 6:45 with the first breakfast call. I asked Tony to make up my bed and headed up to the dining car once more.The plains of Nebraska are not nearly as majestic as the mountains we had just passed through, but the sheer endlessness of the rows of corn is something to be
appreciated. I breakfasted with a lady and her young daughter traveling to Des Moines from Colorado who said it was cheaper for them to take the train than to fly. As I would hear from many people on this leg of the journey in the heartland of America a lot of people do not live near airport hubs. That makes air travel inconvenient and expensive, therefore they rely on the train. People getting on in the Midwest use Amtrak as a means of getting from point A to point B not merely as an adventure or sightseeing vacation. The fourth lady at our breakfast table mentioned that a lot people said the ride through Nebraska and Iowa was so boring but being from Iowa she rather liked it and thought it was a really interesting trip. I thought, lady you need to go to Utah but just nodded in agreement. Having spent seven years living in Wisconsin and Minnesota I understand the love of the Midwest shared by those who live there. And in truth passing by the small towns and farms of Iowa caused me to reflect on how there was a lot of good and a lot of bad in those years and I am very grateful to be now living in California.At 10:45 we had our first walk around stop of the day in Ottumwa, IA and stepped out into thick soupy hot humid air of Midwestern summer. I had pretty much forgotten that it was nearly June. I like to call these walk around stops but they are more commonly referred to as cigarette stops. Since there is no smoking on Amtrak trains the occasional ten-minute stop prevents the smokers from going crazy. Just be sure you listen for the horn and all aboard call, as the stops don’t last long and I have no doubt they would leave you if you didn’t jump back on.
After my morning shower I headed up to the lounge car. But with the train being full of coach people going places, the lounge car was rather noisy and crowded so I spent more of the day in my compartment. I made a lot of progress reading my book without all those distracting mountains. One thing I got a real kick out of was passing through the small towns and watching the cars line up at the railroad crossings
waiting for us to pass. Somehow it makes you feel very special to be holding up traffic. In anticipation of arriving in Chicago mid-afternoon I went up to the early lunch call at 11:30 since the afternoon would be short. I ate with a woman who got on in Iowa and was headed to Chicago, even though it was only a half day trip she had taken a sleeper compartment since it cost just $20 more and included lunch. That seems definitely worth it to me. Little did I know this was to be my last meal (probably ever) on real china in the Amtrak dining car as most routes had already changed to plastic as a cost cutting measure.We approached Chicago around 4:00 just about an hour behind schedule. Coming into the city we passed a large freight yard with containers – Yao Ming, Hanjin, Matson the same names I see every day in my neighborhood in Oakland. Seems like there should be some economy to be gained in moving freight and passengers by the same system. I
wondered how much faster the containers had gotten there than I had. We arrived Union Station, Chicago 4:11pm, Monday. I said goodbyes to my fellow travelers and gleefully headed up the platform away from the California Zephyr. Union Station is a beautiful, enormous, old building in the middle of downtown Chicago. I had three hours until the Lakeshore Limited left for New York. I found the Amtrak lounge, checked my bags had a soda and some pretzels and headed out to make the most of the short time I had to stretch my legs and explore Chicago.
Part I; Part II; Part IV
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