trains

All my life I have lived near transportation: airports, highways and train tracks. Because I was born on an air force base on the day before King Mohammed V of Morocco died, my father had to find alternate transportation for the trip back to our home base. Mom and I arrived on the same small airplane that brought the mail.

So travel is in my dna. And this Christmas I chose to ride Amtrak from Texas to Pennsylvania. This was a two train trip. Train one was the Texas Eagle; I rode from Temple, Texas to Chicago, Illinois. Because of cold weather the trip took 30 hours. The temperature was 70 when I left Temple and about 8 when I arrived in Chicago. After a two hour delay, train two- the Capitol Limited, left. It arrived about 11 hours later.

As much as I like travel, this was more than a wee bit too long.

I brought a book, WICKED, and my laptop with dvds. This kept me occupied for a while. Most of the people on the train are friendly and respectful. And I have nothing but praise for the staff on the train. They are kind, efficient, and professional.

I recommend train travel IF you are taking a short trip. Sitting in the coach seats becomes a test for one's behind. One does have MUCH more leg room on a train as opposed to an airplane. One gentleman, who was 6ft 3, said he had plenty of legroom.

And the dinning car is worth a visit. The Texas Eagle has 'Tex-Mex' food and I had a very good salmon dinner.

However, what I saved by purchasing train over plane travel, I spent on meals. ;-)