# Los Angeles to Chicago Jaunt on Texas Eagle part 2



## Davids (Jan 1, 2015)

We arrived in Alpine, TX as we were having our dinner. I ordered the healthy option, eye of round beef. The meat was tough and the portion was really small althought I loved their sauce though. Wife ordered vegetarian pasta, it was so so. We should have ordered steak instead.  




My wife had vanilla ice cream for dessert and I had chocolate mousse. Can't go wrong with those desserts. 



As turned to my right side I saw this mexican restaurant and wish I had dinner there instead. 


We went to sleep not long after dinner. I told my wife that I want to step outside in San Antonio to witness train decoupling process. My wife woke me up around 4:45 am and we arrived in San Antonio on 4:48 Sunday, Dec 7, 2014. I stepped outside to take pictures. The station is next to the Alomodome. The station is very small with some hard benches in it. There was a locomotive decorated with Christmas light very nice. 


I was debating whether or not to walk to riverwalk, but decided to stay. There were quite many people around the station in that early hour, and some cops too. I found out that they had the marathon on that day. I decided to go back to my roomette to sleep, however, they did not let me in. I was told to wait until departure time to Chicago. Arrggh.... I had to wait in the station in the wee hour. It was not fun. Lesson learnt, had I known this, I would have stayed in my cozy room and sleep. I finally was allowed to board around 5:45 am and the train left San Antonio on 6:39 am. Anthony, our SCA from LA continued on the same train to Dallas to visit his mom for 3 days before we went back to LA. The train went backwards then forward towards Chicago. Not long after that we went to dining car for breakfast. Our seatmate was 1 gentleman on the way back from business trip in Phoenix and 1 college student travelling back to Austin from visiting his girlfriend. The dining car had been replaced with the cross country cafe, we kindda like it, especially the light on the table. 




Our train was delayed due to freight train in front of us hit a trespasser. I chatted with a recent college graduate woman who was travelling alone with 15 days pass on her last leg of the trip from Tucson to Dallas. She mentioned that by the she will not buy the pass again, it was too much for her. We were 2 hours and 37 minutes late by the time we left Austin on 12:08 pm 




For lunch I had the turkey meat ball, wife had angus burger. 



We arrived in Fort Worth, TX, on 4:22 pm, 2 hour and 36 minutes late. My wife and our baby stepped outside, it has been so many years since my wife left the city. 

. The train left Fort Worth on 4:56 pm then on 5:56 pm we arrived in Dallas where my wife was born. For dinner we had medium cooked steak, it was very yummy 


That night we did not sleep well. It was the worst night on the train so far. The ride was very bumpy, I am not sure what caused the bumpy ride. Perhaps the track or the train speed? I remember we went very fast, maybe to make up some lost time. Our baby kept crying, we had to bring her to the cross country cafe car to calm her down because we did not want to wake the whole car up in the middle of the night. I do not remember when we finally were able to sleep.

We arrived in St. Louis on 7:57 am and left on 8:22 am where they refuel the train. The downtown St. Louis can be seen better from the left side of the train. 



There was no more delay going into Chicago. The train had made up lost time. We arrived in Chicago on 2:06 pm, only 14 minutes late. Unfortunately the weather was not cooperating. It was steadily raining and foggy. We could not see the high rise buildings going into Chicago due to low visibility.

The Chicago Union Station was decorated with Christmas decoration. We went to the metropolitan lounge then took bus # 151 right outside the station to our hotel for 1 night, MileNorth hotel.






We walked to McCormick and Schmick for early happy hour and we could not finish our food. Around 11 pm I was hungry again, but our left over food were already cold and there was no microwave in the room. We decided to use a hairdryer to heat our food and viola... it works....


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## Bob Dylan (Jan 1, 2015)

Thanks for sharing your trip and pics!

The tracks between Little Rock and Chicago are rough, the freights beat them up and maintence isn't high on the priority list since there are only 2 Amtrak Trains a day ( 1 in each direction) between Little Rock and Chicago!

That's good field engineering using a hair dryer to heat your leftovers!


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## OlympianHiawatha (Jan 1, 2015)

Great report! Based on your pics and descriptions the Meals are as good as ever and not living down to the horror stories we have been hearing. I like the Scalloped Salad Plates-are those new or just an anomaly?


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## Madzoo (Jan 1, 2015)

Thanks for posting. I love that picture of the Arch. I hope you enjoyed your time in Chicago.


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## gaspeamtrak (Jan 1, 2015)

Thanks for sharing the pictures and story of your trip!  Really enjoyed them! It was almost like being there!  Again, thanks for sharing...


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## Everydaymatters (Jan 1, 2015)

This was an interesting report. Thanks for sharing.


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## Bob Dylan (Jan 1, 2015)

OlympianHiawatha said:


> Great report! Based on your pics and descriptions the Meals are as good as ever and not living down to the horror stories we have been hearing. I like the Scalloped Salad Plates-are those new or just an anomaly?


I agree, and that salad looks good!! Nice pics of Austin too! If you don't know, that Rail Trestle across the Lake into Austin is the oldest one still in use in Texas, built in 1881!!


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## seat38a (Jan 4, 2015)

Which hotel did you stay at?


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## Davids (Jan 4, 2015)

Thank you everyone for the kind words. @seat38a, we stayed at the milenorth hotel in the Magnificent mile area.


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## SarahZ (Jan 4, 2015)

I like your food pictures. I had considered ordering the Healthy Option on our last trip, but the servers kept saying the meat portion was tiny. I might order it anyway. It looks pretty good, and I hate stuffing myself when all I'm doing is sitting on the train.  I usually have the burger for lunch, so I'm not very hungry when we sit down to dinner.

Those turkey meatballs look good too. I'd considered those, as well. Maybe I'll try the meatballs and the healthy option on my next trip.

The hair dryer idea is genius! I'm going to do that the next time I'm in a hotel room without a microwave.


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## Bob Dylan (Jan 4, 2015)

Good plan Sarah! The Healthy Option is delicious ( I like the Pork Loin version better than the beef one, depends in the route) but the Spinach and Lentils are good! As you said, the portions are small, comprable to a Lean Cuisine Dinner. But you can eat the new, larger, tastier salad and have one of the good deserts! ( Chocolate Bundt Cake is my fave) The Turkey Meatballs are not bad (although I'm not a fan of red sauce), its filling and tasty!


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## benale (Feb 7, 2015)

Great travelogue. I love the Eagle. We will be taking that trip in reverse Chicago to LA in June. I've done it a few times and brings back memories and at the same time makes me look forward to my trip even more. Going westbound from San Antonio you get a full day of West Texas,which you miss going East. The Texas Eagle's scenery is not spectacular, but is very interesting, rustic and almost eerie. Texas is a huge state.


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