Tue 2pm:
Our bus arrived in PDX to pick us up about 4:15 yesterday (aiming at an on-time 4:45 departure). As we funneled through the baggage area into the bus bay, they handed out the boxed meals. Hubby and I both got the salmon salad with roasted vegetables, which was not bountiful, but it was delicious!! I was pleased to see that all the coach pax received boxed lunches with sandwiches. There wouldn't be any people on our bus grumbling because they were couldn't get dinner!
Once we got on the bus, Hubby found that my backpack with the netbook and personal gear would barely fit into the overhead bin with some squeezing (which was probably what broke my cheap sunglasses). Our bodies were similarly squeezed, and though the seats seemed comfy enough, they did not have any lumbar support. There was so little legroom that I could see Hubby's knees were pushed right against the seat back in front of him. Of course, there were no tray tables. As we rocked and rolled over the winding mountain road between Vancouver and Bingen, my lower back began to complain and my neck hurt every time I snoozed for a minute. After I adjusted the seat by using fleece clothing for padding, I was more comfortable and began to feel like the 8-hour bus ride was survivable. Whenever I could see the tracks gleaming to the side of the road, I looked longingly at them, wishing I was on a train.
The bus driver was very skilled, and the Conductor was firm, but also helpful and friendly, so the crowd was as well-behaved and pleasant to be with as possible under the conditions. I heard a little grumbling in the rows behind me about “never traveling Amtrak again” but it was minimal. There was a woman across the aisle from us that was texting non-stop, and every minute or two her phone would announce a return text with an annoying ding-a-ling-a-ling. At the Biggs Jct rest stop, where we got to use a rest room and stretch for 10 minutes, I asked her bluntly if “that dingaling phone had a mute button.” She didn't reply, but I guess she figured it out because the phone was quiet the rest of the way as she continued to text. I mostly looked out the window at the dark landscape, and tried to make out where we were.
After Pasco, when it was obvious I would live till Spokane, I even managed to doze a little. It was bliss to get to the Spokane station, board the train, and go to sleep as we pulled out only about 10 minutes late. Hubby and I both woke up at first light, and got up because we didn't want to miss any of Glacier Park. We saw lots of snow, plus icy blue-water rivers, elk, and avalanche chutes on the steep slopes. We were only about an hour late, more-or-less, and lost a little more near Whitefish where we had to go in the hole and wait for a freight, and then for EB #7(8) to do their station stop (almost 12 hours late, oh my!) and pass us before going in. Conductor assured me we'd get later as we got into eastern Montana and North Dakota. He says Amtrak will cancel a few trains (one at a time) later this week to see if it helps bring trainsets back to on-time. We are just pulling in to Havre right now, still a little more than an hour late. Since just before Browning, every single freight we've passed has been “in the hole” and we have not slowed down. BNSF is doing their best!
