Part One: Empire Builder West to Portland, Dec. 3rd to Dec. 5th, 2003.
Part 2, Oakland to Portland | Part 3, Portland to St. Paul
The first leg of the trip went very well. It was my first overnight trip on Amtrak, and it was exactly as I had hoped. The Standard sleeper was very nice, although next time I will take a Deluxe sleeper, as they are huge, and have their own bathrooms. The sleeper car I rode in wasn't as clean and nice as the others, it looked as if it hadn't been upgraded since the 70's, but it was still in good shape. One bad thing, though, was that my electrical outlet didn't always work, making it tricky to charge my phone and laptop. On the plus side, the Empire Builder has a smoking car, unlike the Coast Starlight (fucking hypocritical Californians), although we lost that car when the train splits in Spokane.
On this leg of the trip, all of the cool stuff takes place at night (IE, the Rocky Mountains), but I took some photos anyway. Here is a map of the Empire Builder route, numbered to go along with the photographs:
1. First night, St. Paul, MN at Midnight. This was my room, a standard Superliner sleeper. Cozy, perfect for one person. Although next time, I'm going for the Deluxe sleeper, with its own bathroom. They be swank. |
2. I boarded the train at midnight, so my first photo is from the following day, Dec. 4th. This is Minot, ND, early morning. Not much to see here. As a matter of fact, the trip west wasn't much to look at. No mountains during the daylight. |
3. The sleeping car attendant took down my bed while I was trying to find coffee. As you can see, I still had plenty of opportunity to stretch out. |
4. This is our first stop in Montana, Wolf Point. No wolves, nor any dental floss to be found. Plenty of redneck bars, though. In this part of Montana, it's flat as hell. By the time we get to the mountains, it will be dark again. |
5. These are the "Little Rockies" of Montana. They look very cool, jutting up from the prairie like a miniature model of the real thing. They are pretty big for bluffs, though. |
6. Havre, Montana. This plaque explains the reason why people living in Montana cannot pronounce "Havre". |
7. The view of the train from Havre. Some dogs and their owners were mulling about. I guess you can take dogs on the train. Maybe I'll take a dog or two next time, in case we run out of food... |
8. Just past Joplin, MT. Nice sunset. No more photos until we reach Washington. The train went through the Rockies at night. It was beautiful, however, being lit by a nearly full moon. |
9. The next morning, Dec. 5th, in Washington. Our train split in two at Spokane in the middle of the night, with the smoking car heading to Seattle, and the rest of us heading to Portland. First stop is a small town called Wishram on the Columbia River Gorge. |
10. Caught a BSNF freight pulled over for us in Wishram. The Empire Builder runs over BNSF from Minneapolis to Portland. BNSF always gets out of our way, unlike the UP on the Coast Starlight. Another reason to hate the UP, and love BNSF. |
11. Since our smoking car was heading to Seattle, all of us addicts had to wait for stops long enough to suck down a cig. This is still Wishram. That's the smoke from my cigarette floating past the camera. Sigh... |
12. Finally made it to Portland, right on time. This is our train on the right, with a Cascades Talgo Train on the left. Now I have 4 hours to wait for the Coast Starlight to take me to Oakland. Little did I know of the major Amtrak Fuckup awaiting me on the Coast Starlight... |
Well, right about here, I would post photos of my trip on the Coast Starlight from Portland to Oakland, CA. But a funny thing happened while I was waiting for the CS in Portland. Amtrak "lost" my sleeper car. Something about bad wheels. They had to downgrade me to coach class, which really fucked up my trip. The whole point of going to Oakland was to ride in a sleeper. I was furious. Not to mention that there were at least 4 screaming children in my coach car. I didn't get any sleep. At least I wasn't riding all the way down to L.A., like another unfortunate woman was. Amtrak, when you guys fuck up, you do it big. Ever have the idea to hold extra cars at major terminals? Well, I suppose they do their best with the shitty funding they get. Thanks a lot, George Bush.
Anyway, I didn't take any photos of that leg of the trip, due to my grouchiness. So let us skip this unfortunate incident and move along to the Coast Starlight trip from Oakland back to Portland...
Next Page: Amtrak Trip Page Two, Coast Starlight Northbound
about john schilling...
d.o.b.: 12.3.1969
height: 6' 2"
weight: 160 lbs
location: E. Lansing
occupation: IT
height: 6' 2"
weight: 160 lbs
location: E. Lansing
occupation: IT