Trip rpt - Pt I

iVillage Member
Registered: 09-10-2008
Trip rpt - Pt I
3
Thu, 04-09-2009 - 5:36pm

I didn't want to turn this into a novelette, so will tell the story in parts. Part I is taking an overnight sleeper in an Amtrak car. Granted, on our line (City of New Orleans) which is considered the stepchild of the fleet. A friend who just retired from Amtrak admitted that worn out cars from trans-continental trips get moved to CoNO. Makes no difference - they are still the same size. Picture a small bathroom in your home. Put in 2 extra wide bench seats side-by-side, an upholstered small desk type chair in one corner and a 3x3 toilet/shower. Add a drop down slab of hard wood with a 2" hard mattress for the upper bunk, complete with metal ladder (a real killer on the feet). Oh, the mattress is 30" from the ceiling. On trip down I took upper bunk because DH has bad balance. One trip to potty in middle of the night down that ladder convinced me I wasn't going up again, so we switched. DH noted that the car wheels are so ancient that the swaying is from side to side and front to back - CONSTANTLY. The walls between compartments are flimsy and slide so they can be joined for a big family. This meant that the crying toddler next to us woke me up at 2 AM, not to get back to sleep until 4 AM. There was no way I'd consider taking a shower, as you must sit on top of the toilet and continually press the water button. Water is set at 100 degrees and comes out for 30 seconds with each press. Oh yes - when the toilet is flushed it sounds like a hurricane rushing through. Food was included and it was clearly not cooked from scratch. I pictured the kitchen with a lot of pre packaged foods and a small griddle for browning. At least the attendant (don't call them porters anymore) had coffee ready at 4:30 in the hallway. Of course when you are carrying a hot cup of coffee, only one person can walk through the hallway. Much bowing, excusing and backing up occurs - rather humorous. Intercom was intermittent, so we weren't sure what was being announced, almost missed breakfast. Decision is that coach seats on a train are great for getting people from place to place, just forget thinking you're getting a motel room on wheels. We would have actually slept better in the coach seats - each have arms and recline - but DH wanted a private bathroom.

But - we did get to see parts of areas only visible from the RR tracks. Most poignant was going into New Orleans through the older part of city with much flood damage still to be dealt with. I would find the task of rebuilding some of the homes just too daunting. We also saw many abandoned businesses in small towns with main streets boarded up. Made me wonder how many of these businesses had been closed when production was shipped overseas. The towns were in abject poverty, only maintaining a bar, 7/11 and gas station.

Jacquie

iVillage Member
Registered: 11-15-2005
In reply to: jaybee458
Thu, 04-09-2009 - 7:02pm
Hi Jacquie, it's too bad about the accommodations, but sounds like you still enjoyed the trip. My DH and i rode the train from LA to Mpls. in 1991, with a stop in Montana for a couple days. I didn't think we needed to have a room because back then i could sleep anywhere LOL I brought along my sweats to sleep in but I was so nosy I had to sit up and see who got off at every stop and who got on LOL But we met a lot of friendly people and the scenery was magnificent. I thought i would like to try a sleeper next time, but now you have me wondering :-)
Welcome home!
Carol
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-25-2003
In reply to: jaybee458
Fri, 04-10-2009 - 9:07am

Hmmm...I

Avatar for daggs170
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-25-2003
In reply to: jaybee458
Fri, 04-10-2009 - 10:07am

Well, that sounds like quite a trip.

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