Tracks and Tales Too

As much as I miss the good ol' days of sitting next to my favorite travel agent as her fingers flew across the keyboard in search of a good deal, I now find the hours float away as I search the ether in hopes of achieving the same goal.  

The thrill of finding the best deal can become an opiate - I often find my self grateful for those courses in market research.  As I planned for our train trip across the country it began to feel destined.  I learned years ago that if coincidences are not happening in my life than I am not on the right track.  This time when I landed on an Amtrak/AAA deal that seemed remarkable my finger clicked "I accept"

As you learned in the first segment, my wife and I stayed the night in Chicago, had a wonderful day there and now it was time to begin our train adventure.  When we arrived outside the Amtrak depot I had no idea what to expect.  I have been to the Boston and New York stations and I knew because we were going to be in a sleeper car we were entitled to wait in the club room in Chicago.

The lounge was great, plenty to eat and drink, and a good place to begin to imagine the next couple of days.  About ten minutes before we were going to board we decided to ask the folks at the front desk if they thought we should check luggage - we packed fairly light but had two roller bags and carry ons.  The cheerful woman at the counter suggested we check the large bags.  In retrospect I feel it would have been okay to bring them on board and put them in the common rack of the sleeper car.  Of course, if we had valuables in the suitcases I would probably check them  - even though after this trip I feel there would be no problem.

After we re-arranged some clothes I took both of our rolling bags to the main counter to be checked.  Once again, the attendant there was kind and helpful.

 Right as I walked back into the lounge, they called our train.  They had us line up and then walked us towards the depot.  The sound emanating from the garage was invigorating - it was the sound of adventure.  This was the first hint of one of the many ideas I learned on this trip.  The sound of progress is stunning.  I can now understand how this foreign sound might have scared the bedazzle out of horses and farmers but, I also realize how some sounds simply get us excited and push us to move on . . .

As we walked up to the podium the attendant reviewed our tickets and told us which car we would be on.  When we got to our train, George, a true gentleman who took care of his car and his guests with class and grace, greeted us.  (We learned later that George exemplified the qualities of practically all of the crewmembers we met.)  George directed us to our quarters for the next two days.  I climbed the stairs, took a left, slid the door open, we walked in, I looked at my wife and best friend and thought how lucky are we?

Both of us were as we should be, like little kids off to see life from a different perspective.  A few minutes after we settled in we stared out the second story window with our camera's in hand. When we heard the conductor down the platform bellow those fateful words - - "All Aboard!" it was like a dream, we were off.  Chug a chug achugachugachug  - - ya gotta love that sound.

Next time we'll post more of the sites here on this site; Amtrak Presents All Aboard.