Train Across the Plains

Hard to believe, but almost a year ago we (Connor was still an intrahuman) hopped a train and headed out East. What a surreal experience that was - boarding a sleeping train in the middle of the night to leave everything we knew behind. Took a few days to sink in. The train system in this country, ahem, sucks. It was cramped, dirty and took too long - many of the Europeans I work with verify that the US is way behind when it comes to rail transit. But there were some nice things to see from the 'ol Amtrak. We saw rivers, mountains, antelope, turkeys, vultures, and more than one interesting small town. I even saw my first drive through liquor store right next to one of the train yards. Here's some pictures:


I believe I took this picture on one side or another of Whitefish, Montana.


Starting into the plains - I believe that's the Tetons in the background?

Once we were over the great divide and hit Eastern Montana, there wasn't much to see for a while...


This is Eastern Montana or maybe somewhere in the Dakotas. The view from the train, whilst in the plains, made me insane.

The train had a meal car - expensive, terrible food. The train had an observation car - crowded, smelled funny. The train had a lounge car - mostly empty. We spent a lot of time in the lounge car. Card games, books, and a little guitar pickin' were all we had for fun. Here's some more pictures!


My lovely wife, 7-8 mo's prego, with me in the background, on the train, not in Spain or in the rain.

Cindy's a brave woman, eh?


Ethan looks out the window onto Montana, after an expensive and crappy breakfast.

He's sure grown a lot in the last year...

So, we rode the train to Chicago. We had enough time, between our switch, to meet up with Cindy's cousins Carol and Georgia for a very delicious lunch, and a cab accident. Excitement! Adventure!

We rushed back on the train in Chicago - more crowded, smellier. I fell asleep in Toledo, with no one in the seat next to me. This is how I awoke the following morning, just outside of Rochester.



The, erm, "gentleman" you can almost see next to me there, had fallen asleep watching pirated DVD's. For shame. I must have seen "Hellboy" 13 times as he would fall asleep, wake up, restart, repeat. He finally came to about 7-ish, and proceeded to knock back cognac, frappucino's, Budweisers, and Popeye's chicken. Needless to say, we had an interesting conversation. We got off the train in Albany, had a small to-do with luggage, and then drove on up to the Adirondacks, phew!