Ridin on the City of New Orleans to Seattle

Switch trains in Chicago. What a big place as viewed from the Sears Tower.
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Oh my gosh.  My N.O. friends have tried to tell me the condition of New Orleans but you have to see it to understand it.  Miles of malls, apartment buildings, shops, stores, offices, all empty.  It is like some futuristic movie about the demise of humankind.  The Downtown and French Quarter area seem to being doing OK.  IT is the drive in and around this area that is so very startling at the deserted neighborhoods and streets.

Whew...3,250 miles on the rails.  Wish I could speak more highly of this trip, but it was pretty rough and most disappointing thing is that the best scenery is passed through at night.  The countless hours of staring out at wheat fields will forever be etched upon my mind that was numbed by the experience.  One pitiful buffalo was spotted in a pin!  Where's the vistas promised by the brochures?

finally will take a trip

There just not much to photograph from the train. Best places were passed through at night.
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The train travels top speed at around 80mph.  As trains go the overall ride was smooth but the train was so crowded it made getting around difficult.  The train is long and getting from a front roomette to the club car is quite a hike though an ever moving floor and sliding by other passengers which is very difficult in the tiny hallways.  I smiled and said excuse me a few hundred times.

The staff works very hard but they are very over worked, under staffed, under equipped and very very commanding.  Schedules mean nothing as the train pulls out of a station when they feel they want to go.

Here's my transportation in Washington.
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Train travel in northern Europe was a much better experience and once again Amtrak has convinced me not to use them again.  I have traveled the rails in the U.S. since 1955.  Each trip I think "never again" then find myself back on a train to give it another chance. It is expensive, uncomfortable, and unnerving to see so many people so frustrated trying to get service.  So many of the passengers made the statement,"this is my first train trip."  It probably will be their last too. The state of rail travel in the U.S. is in big trouble.  It is quite sad to see what could be such a nice way to go, go down the tubes. Once near Seattle I jumped off at Edmunds to prevent having to wait in the city for hours for the Sounder to take me to my final destination.  Mistake!  The Sounder has quit running through from Everette to Tacoma!  It now goes from Everette to Seattle only in the morning then back again in the evening.  It also only goes from Tacoma to Seattle in the morning then returns in the evening.  If you live in say Sumner or Auburn and want a train commute to Everette (where the big Boeing plant is) you are officially out of luck due to track use issues, lack of personnel, and lack of storage for the trains as they wait to make their return trips.  All this is per Pierce Co. transit. This area is in desperate need of mass transit, not less yet it is fading away.  The Interstates and Freeways are clogged like a backed up sink drain.  People seem to be driving ever more crazy too.  It is like they are taking out their frustration on the gas peddle by darting in and out of the traffic thinking this will get them to their destination just a few seconds sooner. Off to Leaven worth soon.  Will write again to cover that little German like town.  Getting there is the problem.  It is a dangerous drive into the mountains so I'm trying to line up train/bus/taxis travel to get there for a couple days.  Once again, the lack of a train stop there makes this a hassle. Also will bike the Daffodil Valley again and this time with a camera.  The pics will be posted as soon as I doctor them up on my computer then post.  I just hope the farmers who live in the beautiful old farm houses on this new bike highway don't mind cameras.  The bike road is still being expanded with plans to be able to bike from Tacoma to Mt. Ranier some day!  Hope I still can peddle by then!