A good reason to take the train!

A life long interest in trains has made me want to ride Amtrak's Empire Builder which originates in
Chicago and ends in either Seattle or Portland Oregon after splitting into two trains in Spokane. A few years ago there was some talk about Congress reducing funding for Amtrak to the point that the Builder might be phased out so I decided to take a day trip from St. Paul MN to the Wisconsin Dells. That journey started well but a Chicago Metro accident at Union Station forced Amtrak to reroute the Empire Builder through Wisconsin in order to approach Chicago's station from another direction. This meant that all the scheduled intermediate stops, including the Dells, would be
by-passed. All passengers not going all the way to Chicago had to get off the train at LaCrosse, WI and take a bus the rest of the way. Grrrrr! Not exactly the journey I was hoping for!

Fortunately the Empire Builder continues to run and I hoped to ride it for a longer distance sometime. My opportunity arrived when my wife planned to attend a conference in Portland Oregon this summer. It occurred to me that I could take the train a couple of days in advance of the start of her conference and meet her there and then fly back later. Susan has little interest in train travel, prefers the speed of airplanes, and told people that her gift to me was to NOT accompany me on the train! :)

So, this blog will relate my experience riding the Empire Builder from St. Paul, MN to Portland July 10th to 12th, 2008.