My Grand COVID Cross-Country Adventure (GC3A) Part V
Train time
Ariel dropped me off at the West Glacier Amtrak station early Thursday morning. I boarded the Empire Builder at 8AM for a 30-hour haul to Chicago by way of Montana, North Dakota, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. I had a roomette, which is basically a glorified closet with a big window to enjoy the view.
When I boarded the train in Montana it was virtually empty, but the conductor announced that by the time we hit Chicago the train would be sold out. I couldn’t tell the difference from my closet. The first few hours we rode along the southern border of Glacier. After a few hours, the granite peaks gave way to plains.
I designed my train trip to maximize COVID safety. I brought enough food to basically stay in my little closet. I thought I reserved a roomette with its own bathroom, but alas my closet only had two seats that folded into a bed. After two nights of camping and a long dusty hike, I wasn’t exactly a model of cleanliness. When the views flattened out, I decided it was time to brave the Amtrak shower.
The little shower was roughly the size of a toothpick. I know COVID is not spread through surfaces, but COVID or not, I wasn’t really excited about this shared shower. Towels were stacked on a bench and there was a laundry bag tied to the door knob. I grabbed a towel from the middle of stack and prayed no one had sneezed on it. I was determined not to touch anything. Really, you haven’t lived until you’ve tried to shower in a moving train without touching the walls or any surfaces. It was kind of like surfing meets that old board game Operation. I can’t say it was graceful, but I was clean enough to tolerate spending 26 more hours with myself in the closet.
I had lots of plans for what I was going to do on the train. I had lectures to stream, and a couple zooms planned. I thought I might post a blog or two and watch some Netflix. But, surprise! Long-distance Amtrak trains do not have WiFi. Mind blown. The good news is a big window crossing five states is quite entertaining. I can’t say I did much for 30 hours, but I did enjoy the view.
The lack of WiFi isn’t the only head-shaking aspect of riding Amtrak. I learned that Amtrak doesn’t own the tracks. Instead it uses other companies’ tracks who give priority to their own freight trains. This meant we spent a shocking amount of time in Montana, which has single tracks, sitting and waiting for freight trains to pass.
By the time we hit North Dakota, we were two hours behind schedule. This seemed to be a particularly unlucky run — the conductor sounded exceedingly irritated by his fifth or sixth pause announcement. He offered to give up his post to any passenger who wanted to try their luck. I imagine he was probably hoping for so much more when he got assigned to a train called the Empire Builder.
One thing I was particularly looking forward to was sleeping on the train. I had taken a few overnight trains when traveling Europe and loved the gentle rocking of the train and waking up somewhere new. What I didn’t remember was the train’s horn blasting every 20 minutes throughout the night. Earplugs helped only moderately. I had less of a sleep, and more a series of naps.
I didn’t really mind the delay or the lack of sleep. I enjoyed sitting back and spying on all the small towns across America. As in Benton City, I had this overwhelming desire to knock on doors and get to know the people who lived there. But I just sat in my closet and took time lapse videos instead.
Once we hit North Dakota, the train made good time. We pulled into Chicago’s Union Station at 5PM on Friday, only one hour behind schedule. I was one night away from my final GC3A destination.
This story is Part V in My Grand COVID Cross Country Adventure. For Part VI, click here. To start from the beginning, click here.
