# Cross Country Trip (ORL-DEN-SEA-WGL-ORL)



## pennyk (Aug 29, 2010)

ORL-WAS-CHI-DEN

Train 98 Silver Meteor was a bit late out of Orlando, but not too bad. The station was pretty crowded because the 97 southbound Silver Meteor was running very late. I was the first to board in car 9810 and Billy my SCA made a joke about how heavy my suitcase was. It was pretty heavy – among the contents was a six pack of soda. After I settled in by cleaning my roomette with Clorox wipes, I went to the dining car for lunch. I sat with a couple from New Jersey who were on their way home from visiting relatives in Tarpon Springs. After lunch, I met up with Jeff (OTownDog) in the lounge. We chatted for a while and even though I am old enough to be his mother, we had a few things in common. Unfortunately for Jeff, due to a reservation problem, he was in coach during this part of his trip. He was able to secure a 6:30 dinner reservation (the same as mine) and we agreed to have dinner together.

At dinner, we sat with an elderly couple from Rhode Island that was on their way home from visiting relatives in the Orlando area. Our LSA was very efficient and accommodating. At lunch, I had learned that all of the dinner entrees contained garlic (to which I am allergic). The LSA suggested that I have the chicken fingers from the children’s menu, which I did. Dinner was fine. I slept as well as I ever sleep on the train. We were running early, so I got to breakfast just before 6:30am and was seated with a woman who works for the federal government working on the prevention of Medicare fraud. She was returning from a conference in Charleston and we had a very interesting and enlightening conversation.

I spent part of my WAS layover in the Acela Lounge (with no a/c, but the wifi was working). Four of us were boarded on the Cardinal on time. I had splurged (and made my reservation 11 months in advance) and was in Bedroom B – my favorite on a Viewliner. It was a little shabby, but there was a chair and everything seemed to work.

I had a very pleasant, albeit fattening, lunch in the diner/lounge. I ate at noon and all but 2 of the tables were taken. By 1:00pm, the other 2 tables were occupied. The service was ok. The server told us what the lunch special was “Chicken -------,” but when asked what that was, she said she did not know. I am sure it was not anything I would have ordered, so her lack of knowledge did not bother me, but might have annoyed other passengers. I had a hamburger and peanut butter chocolate pie for dessert. I later learned that our server was a trainee.

The scenery was fabulous. This was my first time on the Cardinal and I am so happy that I arranged my trip so I could travel on this train. The ride was a little rough, but worth it.

My SCA was Jeremy, who was very nice. I did not see a lot of him since I was all the way at the front of the one sleeper and he was in the back, but he tried to answer most of my questions. He had not been on the Cardinal for a year and did not remember exactly where the New River Gorge was located. He has been on the CONO most recently.

I had dinner with the same women with whom I ate lunch. We learned each other’s names and a lot more about each other. I sat with Joan, an elderly woman whose husband recently died, and who had not traveled by train since the war (WWII) and Judy who is in her 60’s and is a former high school counselor. We had been told that in order to get a good seat for dinner, you should go at 5pm, which we did. We stayed until after 7pm. I was unable to eat any of the entrees again, so I had salad, roll, vegetables and beer. Joan and Judy each had the salmon, which they said was excellent – they also commented that they could taste the garlic in the sauce. I found out that Judy will be returning from CHI to WAS on the Capitol Limited the same day I will be returning.

During our dinner, an incident occurred in the lounge half of the diner. A man, who was drinking, was coming on and getting abusive towards a young woman. She became afraid and sat and the table next to ours. Judy talked to her and tried to calm her down. The conductor phoned the police and the police met the train at the next stop, Hinton, West Virginia, which, in my opinion, is in the middle of nowhere. Prior to the incident, we were about 40 minutes late. After the incident, we were about an hour late. I was able to see New River Gorge in daylight (sort of), but it was a little too dark for a good photo.

While I was at dinner, part of the back rest in my bedroom fell down (probably during a rough section of track). I showed it to Jeremy and he attached it again, but suggested that I should sleep with my head under the other section of the couch. I like to sleep facing the window, but I slept with my head next to the window – just in case. Fortunately, nothing fell on me during the night.

Around 9pm, I decided to go for a walk on the train. I passed through the one sleeper, the diner/lounge, then 3 coaches. When I returned to go back to my sleeper, I was unable to get into the diner/lounge. The door was locked because the attendant was taking a break (until 10pm). I had a bit of a panic attack, but found a coach attendant who let me into the lounge. The next morning when I went for a walk, I checked to make sure that the door would not be locked.

Joan and I were ready for breakfast at 6:30am, the time that we were told that the diner would open. They were running late, so we waited in the lounge until we were seated at 6:50am. Breakfast was good. We arrived in CHI a little late. I walked with Joan to the Metropolitan Lounge and there was no line (one of the advantages of arriving on a small train with only one sleeper). We checked our luggage in the lounge and I showed Joan around the station and then we went outside so she could see Willis Tower. I later left Joan in the lounge and I went for a walk in search of grocery store. As a result of 2 sets of bad directions, I did a lot of walking before I found a store. I bought Greek yogurt and some fresh fruit and ate it in the lounge. Jeff, who had traveled from WAS to CHI on the Capitol Limited (and then did a lot of walking around Chicago), met up with me and Joan in the lounge.

Boarding the California Zephyr went smoothly and efficiently. I found my car 530 and my bedroom E. The SCA, OC, had placed a tablecloth on the little table in the room, together with a flower. I was a little disappointed that my room was facing “backwards,” (the chair was facing forward). I was also surprised that I was in the last car on the train. I learned that I was in the Denver car, which stays in Denver, and it is always at the rear so it can be easily detached. My car was not full and OC offered to move me to bedroom D, which had the couch facing forward. I took him up on the offer. Only three of the 5 bedrooms were occupied. Two couples of Swedish tourists were in the other 2 bedrooms. I think about ½ of the roomettes were full and none of the downstairs rooms were occupied. I thought OC did a fabulous job (and let him know with my tip). He has been with Amtrak for 27 years and his usual route is the Empire Builder to/from Portland. He said he was used to being in the last car of the train. The ride was a little rough, but not too bad. Although I was told that our sleeper, Superliner 2, is older than the viewliner sleeper that I was in the night before, the bedroom in the Superliner 2 was in much better condition. It was much cleaner and not at all shabby looking. I do not know if OC seemed so much better because there were not a lot of passengers or he is good all the time. (I am a tea drinker, and OC brought me hot water at least 3 times during the trip).

One benefit of being in the last car is to be able to look out the back of the train. It was especially great to look out while we were backing into Denver. The Assistant Conductor was in the back doing his conductor stuff. I was standing not too far behind him, watching and listening. It was great fun.

We arrived in Denver about 1-1/2 hours late at Union Station (not a temporary station). My hotel is virtually across the street from the station which was very easy. I hope I am able to hear the whistle on the eastbound CZ when it comes through later today. I plan to take the CZ westbound Monday morning and anticipate writing part 2 of my trip report in the near future.


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## Guest (Aug 29, 2010)

Nice report Penny, thanks! Look forward to the next leg of your trip, get your camera ready,the really nice mountain scenery is coming up in the Rockies and Sierras! :wub:


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## hello (Aug 29, 2010)

Thank you, Pennyk, now I know what to look for and expect on the CZ.


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## wyomingtrainlover (Aug 30, 2010)

If your hotel is across the street from the Denver Union Station, it sounds like you stayed at The Oxford Hotel, a very classy and great hotel!


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## Guest (Aug 30, 2010)

Can remember about 20 years ago when this area was in decline and this hotel was a dump!

Gentrification is definitely underway in Denver! The same thing happened in San Diego, the old hotels that were flop houses and hotbed joints are now upscale botique hotels!


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## pennyk (Aug 30, 2010)

It was the Oxford Hotel and it was lovely. I am on the CZ near Grand Junction, CO. I cannot believe how beautiful the scenery is - I loved the "moons" we got from rafters on the Colorado River.


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## caravanman (Sep 5, 2010)

Hi,

Excellent trip report, I have been following your contributions on the main board too. I was a bit surprised to hear that the last car on the train was your sleeper.. I have been on the Zephyr from Chicago to Sacramento, in coach, a couple of years back, and that was the rearmost car at that time.. nice to look out the rear window as we dipped into the Moffat Tunnel.

Bon Voyage,

Eddie


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## OlympianHiawatha (Sep 5, 2010)

A great well detailed report that makes me want to start planning my next big journey!


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## pennyk (Sep 6, 2010)

caravanman said:


> Hi,
> 
> Excellent trip report, I have been following your contributions on the main board too. I was a bit surprised to hear that the last car on the train was your sleeper.. I have been on the Zephyr from Chicago to Sacramento, in coach, a couple of years back, and that was the rearmost car at that time.. nice to look out the rear window as we dipped into the Moffat Tunnel.
> 
> ...


Thanks Eddie,

I was on the CZ twice. The first time from CHI to DEN and I was in the last car. I spent a day in Denver, then got back on the next day and I was in the car just in front of the dining car. At Denver, the last sleeper is removed and a coach is at the end of the train. Sorry if my report was confusing. I have been on so many trains in the last week and a half that I am getting them mixed up. Right now I am on my 7th train (out of 9).

FYI, I am in Wisconsin now heading toward CHI, then WAS, then home.

Penny


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## caravanman (Sep 7, 2010)

Hi,

No worries, I tend to get confused as to even which direction the dinner is on a multi train trip.. especially after an afternoon nap.

I hope you will post a bit more about your trip.. was there anything you wish you had done differently, for example?

I know you booked well ahead, I am considering a trip to America in a week or two's time.. might drop in to "the gathering" if I do. It is still pretty uncertain, I notice train fares are quite high bucket over the next 2 or 3 weeks anyway, so that is not encouraging. Getting a good deal is important, but I just can't imagine being sure of my plans 11 months ahead!

Have a great train ride homewards!

Eddie


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## pennyk (Sep 7, 2010)

caravanman said:


> Hi,
> 
> No worries, I tend to get confused as to even which direction the dinner is on a multi train trip.. especially after an afternoon nap.
> 
> ...



I am on my last night on the train for this trip (Silver Meteor - my home train). I have started writing my trip report for the remainder of the trip, but I have not completed it because I have been either too busy or too tired. I was hoping to write some of it while in the Acela Lounge in WAS, but I got distracted. If I do not write it soon, I will forget a bunch of stuff. I do not know if I would do anything different - I might have forwent the stop in Denver, because it was very expensive and by the time my body got used to the altitude, it was time to leave - however, I met a really cute guy in the Denver train station, who I would not have met if I had not stopped.

I am really happy I made my reservations far in advance. My accomodations were fine for the most part - had a 2 hour toilet issue on the CZ and a shower that would not turn off on the CS (I think). I just read Darien's post about trifectas - and I can honestly say that I am REALLY lucky. I was on the same trains - days apart. The a/c in my roomette in 97 is not blowing very cold, but that is minor compared to Darien's experiences. I hope I get to meet you at the gathering. I hope to post part 2 very soon.


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