I Traveled 9,102 miles on Amtrak During the Pandemic. This is What I Learned About Slow Travel.
On a rickety and rocky ride, Amtrak’s Cardinal blew its whistle as it passed rolling hills, cows, rivers and rolls of hay in western Virginia, with not a soul in sight. My ears popped as we climbed the Allegheny Highlands through one tunnel after the next.
At Clifton Forge, we were so far ahead of schedule — a rarity on Amtrak — that we had an unexpected fresh-air stop to step off the train. With a population of roughly 3,500 people, this town was once home to a steam locomotive maintenance facility for the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad. From my perspective, the town was deserted.
Just five hours earlier, I was in the shadow of the U.S. Capitol building. And now here I was, pacing around an abandoned railyard gazing at hills in the late afternoon sun, feeling so remote from anything familiar.
I adore train travel, but my decision to make this late-summer trip was not an easy one.
Living in New York City in the spring of 2020 meant weeks of quarantine, taking my temperature multiple times a day, and treating groceries with a dwindling amount of…
