Our trip continued on train 28 the Portland section of the Empire Builder. The next morning we were delayed in Havre, MT for 40 mins while the Border Patrol and local Police boarded our Sleeper to check for a suspected fugitive. The Dining Car A/C quit and we were served our meals in our room. We went to bed after Minot, ND about 1.5 hours down. After a good night's sleep we woke up about 4 hours down. After Breakfast the 2nd morning the Dining Car was shut down. Our Amtrak Engineer and Conductor went dead on hours of service, we waited quite a while for a new crew. Around lunch time the crew brought us some snacks to tide us over. Due to freight congestion/slow orders, etc. We were getting later and later. At the stop at Winona, Wisconsin we were given Subway Sandwiches for our evening meal. We arrived in Chicago about 8 hours late. We missed our connection (the City of New Orleans) by around 2 hours. We were put up for the night at the very nice Swiss Otel. Friday was a "Black Out Day" because of the Holiday. We arranged and paid for our own uneventful trip back to Carbondale. I forgot to mention that this trip was a guest rewards redemption. The Amtrak Crews were very good (with one exception) and tried very hard to do their jobs.
