Déjà vu all over again. A year ago this coming Thursday I snuggled into a comfortable Amtrak roomette and began a cross country rail trip from San Francisco to Chicago. I called it "A Train Trip to Nowhere," because I had no earthly reason to visit Chicago while it was caught up in the icy embrace of February.
And now, three weeks from tomorrow, I repeat that trip. But leaving from Los Angeles, not San Francisco. On the Southwest Chief, not the California Zephyr.
But the idea is the same. A long train trip, cozy in my roomette, watching the changing scenery whiz by outside my window. Occasionally -- never as much as I anticipate -- reading. Meals in the diner (two breakfasts, two lunches, two dinners, all included in the fare). Two restful nights sleeping, after my seats have been converted to a bed. (Not everyone agrees that sleep on a train is restful, but this is my trip, not theirs!)
I initially expected the trip from Los Angeles to be even longer than the trip from the Bay Area, but such is not the case. More miles, undoubtedly. But from San Francisco, the train passes slowly over first the Sierras and then the Rockies. Once past Denver, the miles speed by surprisingly quickly.
But from Los Angeles, the train does a southern end run around both mountain ranges, moving from California, across northern Arizona, through New Mexico, entering Colorado east of the Rockies, and speeding through Kansas, Missouri, Iowa, and into Illinois to Chicago.
Both the Chief and the Zephyr are scheduled to arrive at about the same time in Chicago. But the Zephyr leaves Emeryville (across the Bay from San Francisco) at 9:10 a.m. while the Chief doesn't leave L.A. until 5:55 p.m. That makes the latter approximately a nine hour shorter trip -- nine hours that I'll miss experiencing. But to compensate I'll be seeing parts of the country I've never seen before.
So I'll fly from Seattle to LAX at 9:10 a.m. on Monday, March 6. I'll take the "Fly Away" shuttle from the airport to Union Station in downtown Los Angeles, with about five hours to kill until my train leaves. Fortunately, Union Station has a lounge for sleeper passengers (although I gather far less impressive than Amtrak's lounge in Chicago, not to mention airport lounges provided by airlines for their qualifying passengers.) But I can check my small item of baggage in the lounge, and either kill time in the lounge or wander around downtown.
Although I'll have time to kill in Los Angeles, life may be a bit more hectic on arrival in Chicago. I'm scheduled to arrive at 2:50 p.m. on Wednesday, March 8, but trains are often a bit late. Sometimes a lot late. I was lucky last year when my Zephyr arrived about 45 minutes ahead of schedule, but one can't predict. My flight out of O'Hare, returning to Seattle, is scheduled to leave at 6:55 p.m. If Amtrak is within an hour (or hour and a half) of being on schedule, I'll have plenty of time to walk a couple of blocks south of the train station to the Clinton Street CTA station, and take the rapid transit to O'Hare -- about an hour's trip.
If the train appears seriously late, as we enter Illinois from Iowa, I'll reschedule my flight out of O'Hare by phone and, if necessary, also book a room at some conveniently located hotel. One way or the other, I expect to be flying home roughly on time, barring massive snowstorms or nuclear attack.
Some people say I spend too much time considering what might go wrong. It's a professional disability of anyone who has spent his career trying cases in court! The habit eventually becomes sort of fun.
And you can never anticipate every possibility of disaster. Who knows, some people have unpreditably slipped, just emerging from a shower, and dislocated their shoulder. But, we won't go there!
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Photo: Southwest Chief barrels through New Mexico
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