Amtrak America post-COVID

Starting Stop

The first leg of our Amtrak trip from Fort Worth to Springfield, Illinois left from downtown FtW. So, we had an Uber driver take us to the Trinity-metro train that runs near our house to downtown. This has become our normal means for getting downtown. 

As we left, we had commissioned a replacement of our 25 year-old air conditioning system in our house - to be accomplished in our absence. Once again, we are relying on the good heart of our dear friend, Don Box. Don has agreed to let the workers in and out of the house at the appropriate times, in our absence.

We have become experienced Amtrakker, so we knew pretty much what to expect. One thing we wanted to accomplish at the Amtrak station, before leaving, was to get a refund on our Sacramento-to-Seattle leg. We had learned that they were canceling that route until they can rebuild a burned out bridge somewhere north of Sacramento. After the refund, we took lunch at the Subway restaurant in the train station and waited for our 2:20pm departure. 

Relax!!

There are, basically, two levels of sleeper cars on Amtrak (at least on the trains we are using). There is the cheaper Super Roomette. And, there’s the Room. We’ve always bought the Roomette. For some reason we had received notification from Amtrak that our reservation on the first leg had been changed from a Roomette to a Room. We received new eTickets that reflected the change and we never asked “why?” Sure enough, upon boarding, Tony (the attendant) showed us to Room D and we spread out in the lap of luxury. A chair. A couch. Our own private shower. A sink. And a private bathroom. We immediately wondering why we’d never traveled this way before. I started trying to contact Amtrak to see about upgrading for our leg to Sacramento. I wouldn’t reach them until the next day and, as I expected, no deal. The California Zepher is supposed to be the most beautiful and popular rides on Amtrak. All Rooms were sold out. So, we will be slumming it in our Roomette for two nights through the Rockies. 

When we stopped, briefly, in Dallas, a
group of ladies took advantage of the
“smoke break” to do some beautiful
accapella  singing. 

Train travel has a completely different feel from air travel. I’ve not really figured out why that’s true. In either form of travel you’re waiting to get going in the terminal or your riding toward your destination. But, on a train there’s a strange sense of community between travelers. You’re a lot more likely to exchange greetings, engage in conversation, and generally become acquainted with your fellow travelers. 

We passed through the hometown of our son-in-law, David. I doubt he’s ever seen the Amtrak station there. When traveling by train one mostly gets to see the “back doors” of the towns and cities. Often times it’s not really very pretty. However, the train stations, themselves, tend to be nicely done - often fairly beautiful and usually what I’d call quaint. Many times, if it’s a small community the people there see the train station as a central part of their existence, harking back to the birth of the town or village. So, they’ll put some effort (and money) into making it look nice or into restoring the historical structures that were the beginnings of their settlement. 

New friends from the dining car. Actually they were our next door neighbors - Room C. Mary and her son, Dylan were traveling to Chicago. They started in Phoenix. Dylan has been a train enthusiast since he was seven - always looking at maps of train routes and places that can be visited by train. He was given a choice of vacations this summer - Hawaii or a train ride to Chicago. His dad and toddler sister flew to Chicago so he and his mom could travel in the non-toddler environs of Amtrak. [Hello, Mary and Dylan, if you’re reading this. It was a joy to meet you, share our stories and even meet your dad via FaceTime. Happy traveling!!]

I think one advantage to train travel is there is scenery. When flying there can be clouds to watch, but mostly the view out the window is looking at nothing.  I know I long ago lost my preference for a window seat. As you can see, here, Marilyn is real excited about the scenery. It may look likes she’s ignoring it, but in actuality she’s sharing a relaxing moment with a friend known as America the Beautiful.

I think it must have been COVID that spoiled the quality of food served in the dining car. Well, actually the food wasn’t bad, but there’s something about being served on plastic that makes it seem degraded. The server - a friendly boisterous guy - was the one-man crew for the dining car. He lives in St. Louis, but works out of Chicago. He’d been on the train for four days when he was serving us. I guess we found his table-side manner easier to take because Tony, our room attendant, had warned us. “He seems like he’s mean, but he’s really a nice guy. So, just be patient.” 

Leaving Fort Worth on Sunday afternoon, we arrived in Springfield by mid-morning Monday. We toured the State Capital building while waiting for our Airbnb to be ready. Tuesday we really enjoyed the Lincoln Museum.  Rode the city bus around. Wednesday we left.