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Thanks! When we made road trips to Carbondale while our son was in law school, we usually stayed at the Super 8 in either Carbondale or Marion - great for car trips, but not so much for train travel. Our son's apartment was within a block or two of the Carbondale station on the other side of...

I think @IAlam meant that the Business Class Venture cars just aren't available yet. When they are available, there may not be enough of them initially to replace all of the older Business Class cars, so it might be a gamble which kind of Business Class car you'd end up with (same as with...

There was a duct tape mend on the ceiling of our Coach car on the Lincoln Service/Missouri River Runner last week. I can do duct tape mends at home, but would hope that Amtrak could do better-quality maintenance than that.

For the hubby and me, Business Class not having access to the Chicago Metropolitan Lounge wouldn't be that much of a hardship, as we'd probably only ride Business Class (in the old or new cars) on the Lincoln Service to Chicago to connect with sleeping car reservations on a LD train.

That's how both the White Castle cheeseburgers and the Angus cheeseburger were prepared (nuked in the packaging) in the Cafe car on the Missouri River Runner last week. The hubby's White Castle cheeseburgers were OK (similar to the frozen ones at the supermarket that we microwave at home), but...

To compare with Business Class in another region, the hubby and I recently rode Business Class on the Lincoln Service/Missouri River Runner, and there were no assigned seats there. There weren't even 2 seats together for us initially, until a passenger who had boarded in Chicago got off.

There are usually a fair number of the Venture coaches on the Lincoln Service -- but no guarantee that one's seat will be in one of those.

OK. You can tell it's been a VERY long time since I had last ridden on Amtrak!

Arrived in Dwight at roughly 6:25PM, a little late, but not bad. 1 other person was getting off at Dwight, and she knew a couple the hubby also knew. Our van was sitting right where we had parked it yesterday morning at the station. (Not something we'd do outside our hometown, or for longer...

We finally saw the Mississippi River today as we were leaving St Louis. (Too many buildings blocked the view yesterday.) Stopped at Alton at about 3:45pm (7 minutes late). Will try to make do with the bottled water and snacks at our seats until we get home. Assuming the hubby still wants pizza 🍕...

No, I'm not. I'm using my phone instead. Left the Fire tablet at home and brought a small e-reader instead (which is pretty useless at anything but e-books). 6 minutes late arriving at St Louis; leaving at 2:55. Used the cafe car restroom while we were stopped at St Louis. (That nuked...

The disabled passenger with the service dog is a Marine veteran. When a couple of bags fell out of the luggage rack in the front of the car, near his seat, he got up and put them back, despite his mobility issues. (I had wanted to do that myself, but the hubby talked me out of it.) About 15...

9 minutes late arriving at Warrensburg. The hubby wanted to bring the Funyuns we had picked up at the hotel front desk last night into the cafe car when we eat lunch, but that's against the rules. They're still good to eat at our seats, though! Waited on another freight train to pass us west of...

We were both very tired and cranky by the time we arrived in Kansas City last night. The hubby kept asking me to slow down on the skywalk into the station, but then wouldn't stop inside the station so I could ask directions to the free trolley! We had to reenter the station and ask directions at...

Stopped on the tracks just east of Sedalia; not quite sure why. Needed to rest my hands from the crocheting, so read a book on my e-reader for a while. Sounds like we're going to be a few minutes late arriving at Sedalia. Conductor just announced that "we're waiting on an Amtrak train." Maybe...

Just departed Jefferson City, on time or very nearly so. Crossed the Missouri River multiple times after Hermann, so it was sometimes on the north side of the tracks, sometimes on the south, and sometimes nowhere to be seen. Started crocheting a granny square at about 5pm; hope I can finish it...

Two tunnels between Kirkwood and Washington MO. We may be literally "running" alongside the Missouri River, which was clearly visible from the Washington station. About to go fetch supper from the cafe. Found out there are actually 3 people besides us, not just 1, when I went to the cafe to get...

Departure from St Louis at 3:11pm as previously announced. And on time! Will probably wait until 4pm or so to think about supper from the cafe - and learn how extensive the "free drinks in Business class" policy is on this train. Only one other person in Business class right now, other than the...

Feels like the train picked up speed South of Springfield; a lot more rocking felt. Finally put the footrest in the seat back to good use, and moved my backpack between our pair of seats. The hubby has been dozing since before we got to Springfield, although he does rouse when stops are...

The Tylenol finally kicked in by the time we arrived in Bloomington. Several people got out, including 1 from Chicago Public schools, and some from Illinois State University. Hubby joined me in our pair of seats, and I then fetched lunch from the cafe counter. No soup 🍲! :( Hubby had a turkey...