Well first let me say I wish it was easy to find a Job down around Austin, TX; Cause we would love to move down there; BEAUTIFUL Land.
Ok to the Train Ride.
Let's see, well we arrived at the Springfield Station about an hour early just in case. We were allowed to leaved our vehicle with no problem, just had to give them information about it.
Train arrived about 10 mins late. Our Car Attendant was a very nice guy, helped my wife with suitcase she had and explained everything about the room. He also had our Dinner reserved for us also.
So he received a $10 tip right off the bat.
Lucky for us (I guess), but we had the entire downstairs to ourselves pretty much. Only one room was occupied till Poplar Bluff (I think) they were gone when we got up.
The room was a bit small, but good enough, better than being in coach (we assume). I just lowered the 2 bunks right away and 2 of the boys just hung out up there most of the time.
The boys seemed to sleep good on the train, my youngest slept like a rock. I hardly was able to sleep at all, my wife kept having to get up and go to the bathroom. We figured that was cause of all the jostling around. If I did fall asleep it wasn't but for a half an hour or so.
It was pretty loud down there right by the wheels.
I used Google earth, pinned a Train symbol for all of our stops, and had the Railways showing, zoomed in to 10K feet on Google earth to get a good view (while still at the house before trip) and traced the tracks from Springfield to Austin to save it all to cache on Laptop for when we didn't have internet on the train.
So there were quite a few times we all used that to see what was ahead and to see exactly where we were. We all had alot of fun with that.
We honestly stayed in the room most the time. We did venture out and about and hung out in the Lounge car for awhile, but the
kids got bored with scenery pretty quick and went back to the room.
I'm glad we got a room, because the food was pretty damn expensive. The food was pretty good for being on a train I guess. I've definitely had better for less, but it was still pretty darn good.
For our room I made sure and took duct tape, an extension cord, a power strip, Windex and paper towels, some throw blankets, Clips for curtains; I think that's about it.
All of those came in very handy. I did end up having to tape up one vent and most of other. The Metal vents near floor got VERY hot I got a nice white spot (no blister though) after accidentally touching it with my arm.
During our lunch on the 2nd day we stopped at a neat Station (don't remember name, (while wife proof read this she said she remembers name, lmao, Temple)) so I told them I was going to go down real quick and take some pictures. So I got up went down and got our camera and went outside. Well it was kinda snowing so I figured it might not be a good idea (call me paranoid, it was a brand new camera). So I starting talking with our Car Attendant about his job and sights he's seen.
So he's telling me a story about a lady almost getting busted with 4 suitcases (bags) with marijuana in them. Well while he's doing this he brings in the step and closes the door. So we're just standing there talking, he starts telling me the routes West he thinks has the best views (BTW he's worked there for 22 years I think so he's seen them all he said).
Anyways we're just talking, all of a sudden my oldest comes running down the stairs, apparently looking for me. He said my wife was freaking out cause she thought I was still outside taking pictures when the train took off, lol. Ahhhh I couldn't help but laugh. When they came down from lunch she was a bit upset, she said she was worried I was left behind and started feeling sick to her stomach. So after that I wasn't allowed to go outside at stops to take pictures, lol.
We arrived in Austin pretty much right on time and that's pretty much the jist of our first trip.
I tried to get my boys to write about the trip, but that didn't interest the older boys at all and of course the youngest followed suit.
But I do know they loved riding on the train.
Ok so our Ride back;
Well this time we only arrived about a half an hour early to the Station, but unlucky for us the train was I think about an hour late. The weather was beautiful so we honestly didn't care. We didn't want to leave.
Well our train finally arrives. So we go to our sleeper car and get in and go to our room. I tip this Car Attendant right off the bat. Well after I did that I found out from my wife he didn't help her with the bag (which was probably about 50lbs if not alittle more, don't worry I had the heavier one). He wasn't as friendly as the first Attendant and didn't offer to help with the beds till it was like 10pm and my kids were already asleep. He only asked cause I was walking through dining car to the lounge car (or coming back from). Where as the first Attendant asked at about 7:30 while we were at dinner.
But honestly the 2nd attendant seemed like he was kind of new. It also wasn't really a big deal, I just didn't tip him at the end like I did the first Attendant.
Something I remember about the 2nd trip is we were 2 1/2 to 3 hours behind by the time we went to bed (or tried). I do remember the food was better coming back form Austin. The steaks tasted better and the burgers were ALOT better. On both trains one of the bathrooms downstairs were out of order.
Our Trip coming back we had the downstairs to ourselves the entire time. Not that it was all ours but all rooms downstairs were unoccupied.
I took the bunks down right away again this time taking their throw blankets and pinning them up to give them all little tents. So mom and I had the entire big seat/couch/bench/whatever/lol to ourselves.
Besides that the 2nd trip was uneventful it seemed. I think it's just we weren't very excited to come back home.
My wife said she liked the fact she was able to get unlimited coffee since we had our own room.
Overall it was an awesome experience and we would love to be able to do it again sometime. We would like to ride more west if we get a chance to travel like that again. We would love to see mountains.
Sorry for being late with this. Only thing that has been on our mind since we got back was Texas. We're just now coming back to reality.
Thanks again for all that gave us help and advice.
Ok to the Train Ride.
Let's see, well we arrived at the Springfield Station about an hour early just in case. We were allowed to leaved our vehicle with no problem, just had to give them information about it.
Train arrived about 10 mins late. Our Car Attendant was a very nice guy, helped my wife with suitcase she had and explained everything about the room. He also had our Dinner reserved for us also.
So he received a $10 tip right off the bat.
Lucky for us (I guess), but we had the entire downstairs to ourselves pretty much. Only one room was occupied till Poplar Bluff (I think) they were gone when we got up.
The room was a bit small, but good enough, better than being in coach (we assume). I just lowered the 2 bunks right away and 2 of the boys just hung out up there most of the time.
The boys seemed to sleep good on the train, my youngest slept like a rock. I hardly was able to sleep at all, my wife kept having to get up and go to the bathroom. We figured that was cause of all the jostling around. If I did fall asleep it wasn't but for a half an hour or so.
It was pretty loud down there right by the wheels.
I used Google earth, pinned a Train symbol for all of our stops, and had the Railways showing, zoomed in to 10K feet on Google earth to get a good view (while still at the house before trip) and traced the tracks from Springfield to Austin to save it all to cache on Laptop for when we didn't have internet on the train.
So there were quite a few times we all used that to see what was ahead and to see exactly where we were. We all had alot of fun with that.
We honestly stayed in the room most the time. We did venture out and about and hung out in the Lounge car for awhile, but the
kids got bored with scenery pretty quick and went back to the room.
I'm glad we got a room, because the food was pretty damn expensive. The food was pretty good for being on a train I guess. I've definitely had better for less, but it was still pretty darn good.
For our room I made sure and took duct tape, an extension cord, a power strip, Windex and paper towels, some throw blankets, Clips for curtains; I think that's about it.
All of those came in very handy. I did end up having to tape up one vent and most of other. The Metal vents near floor got VERY hot I got a nice white spot (no blister though) after accidentally touching it with my arm.
During our lunch on the 2nd day we stopped at a neat Station (don't remember name, (while wife proof read this she said she remembers name, lmao, Temple)) so I told them I was going to go down real quick and take some pictures. So I got up went down and got our camera and went outside. Well it was kinda snowing so I figured it might not be a good idea (call me paranoid, it was a brand new camera). So I starting talking with our Car Attendant about his job and sights he's seen.
So he's telling me a story about a lady almost getting busted with 4 suitcases (bags) with marijuana in them. Well while he's doing this he brings in the step and closes the door. So we're just standing there talking, he starts telling me the routes West he thinks has the best views (BTW he's worked there for 22 years I think so he's seen them all he said).
Anyways we're just talking, all of a sudden my oldest comes running down the stairs, apparently looking for me. He said my wife was freaking out cause she thought I was still outside taking pictures when the train took off, lol. Ahhhh I couldn't help but laugh. When they came down from lunch she was a bit upset, she said she was worried I was left behind and started feeling sick to her stomach. So after that I wasn't allowed to go outside at stops to take pictures, lol.
We arrived in Austin pretty much right on time and that's pretty much the jist of our first trip.
I tried to get my boys to write about the trip, but that didn't interest the older boys at all and of course the youngest followed suit.
But I do know they loved riding on the train.
Ok so our Ride back;
Well this time we only arrived about a half an hour early to the Station, but unlucky for us the train was I think about an hour late. The weather was beautiful so we honestly didn't care. We didn't want to leave.
Well our train finally arrives. So we go to our sleeper car and get in and go to our room. I tip this Car Attendant right off the bat. Well after I did that I found out from my wife he didn't help her with the bag (which was probably about 50lbs if not alittle more, don't worry I had the heavier one). He wasn't as friendly as the first Attendant and didn't offer to help with the beds till it was like 10pm and my kids were already asleep. He only asked cause I was walking through dining car to the lounge car (or coming back from). Where as the first Attendant asked at about 7:30 while we were at dinner.
But honestly the 2nd attendant seemed like he was kind of new. It also wasn't really a big deal, I just didn't tip him at the end like I did the first Attendant.
Something I remember about the 2nd trip is we were 2 1/2 to 3 hours behind by the time we went to bed (or tried). I do remember the food was better coming back form Austin. The steaks tasted better and the burgers were ALOT better. On both trains one of the bathrooms downstairs were out of order.
Our Trip coming back we had the downstairs to ourselves the entire time. Not that it was all ours but all rooms downstairs were unoccupied.
I took the bunks down right away again this time taking their throw blankets and pinning them up to give them all little tents. So mom and I had the entire big seat/couch/bench/whatever/lol to ourselves.
Besides that the 2nd trip was uneventful it seemed. I think it's just we weren't very excited to come back home.
My wife said she liked the fact she was able to get unlimited coffee since we had our own room.
Overall it was an awesome experience and we would love to be able to do it again sometime. We would like to ride more west if we get a chance to travel like that again. We would love to see mountains.
Sorry for being late with this. Only thing that has been on our mind since we got back was Texas. We're just now coming back to reality.
Thanks again for all that gave us help and advice.
Dont know what kind of work you do but Hi-Tech is a disaster here right now, usually the University and Govt. are hiring but currently all Govt jobs except Federal are frozen! 
