Now it can be told: I went around the United States in 15 days by train

[jmowreader]

Don't it always seem to go, that you don't know what you've got 'til it's gone...
--Joni Mitchell, Big Yellow Taxi

If the Republican Party had a tenth of a chance in hell of getting away with it, they would abolish Amtrak tomorrow. With the knowledge nationwide passenger rail, the most efficient form of long-distance transport, could be gone with the stroke of a pen if America is stupid enough to ever allow the Republicans control of both Congress and the White House, I took what could possibly be my last chance to ride the rails and made a Lap of America in October.

I set four rules for this trip: see things most people usually miss, eat nothing I can get at home, visit at least two West Coast cities, two central US cities and two East Coast cities, and shoot all of the 100 rolls of film I brought with me.

This is going to be an eight-part message. Today I will discuss the route I took, the things I carried with me and prepare you for the journey ahead. Then we'll start seeing photos from December 26 until New Year's Day.

Shall we begin?

Amtrak offers the USA Rail Pass - lots of miles, not a lot of money. They come in three versions:
15 days and 8 segments (I took this option and paid $459; please refer to Amtrak's website for current prices)
30 days and 12 segments
45 days and 18 segments
I chose the 15-day pass.

A "segment" is a trip where you board a vehicle at one station, travel on that vehicle to a different station, and leave the vehicle. Segments are not mileage-limited or time-limited; Newark Liberty Airport to New York Penn Station and Chicago Union Station to Emeryville Station in California are both single segments. (Having said that, if you really do go from Newark to Penn Station via USA Rail Pass, with all the other ways you can get from Newark to NYC, you are dumber than you look.)

Here's the rules, and they're not hard:
You must purchase your pass and make your reservations not more than six months prior to travel.
You can't buy a pass at an Amtrak station.
Your travel has to end at midnight of the last day of your pass - if you have a 15-day pass and you start on January 1, January 15 is the last day you can go. They used to let you start your last segment on the fifteenth day, but no longer.
You don't have to end your trip at the same station you started it from. You can also request a trip where Segment 1 ends and Segment 2 begins at different stations - trains no longer go from New Orleans to Florida, so you can go to Florida by train, use Greyhound or the airlines to go to NOLA, then pick up the train again from that point. It's a really flexible way to travel.
You must pick up your pass at a staffed Amtrak ticket counter before your travel begins.
You must use the least-expensive seat on the least-expensive train between any two terminals - IOW you can't go from NYC to Washington on the Acela...but if you look at the timetable for trains between those two places, Acela isn't much faster than the Northeast Regional, which you can use.
And you may not travel over the same set of rails more than three times on the same pass. You can go from Washington to NYC, then to Philadelphia, then to Boston and be okay, but you can't then go back to NYC because that's a fourth trip. However, if you went Washington-Philadelphia-NYC-Boston it would count as one pass over the same rails and you could go back to NYC with no problems.

Now, here's how to do this.

Step One is to figure out where you want to go, and don't get your heart set on one exact trip if you don't want to pay extra. These passes are not huge moneymakers so only a certain amount of seats on each train (the "inventory&quot are available to the pass traveler. I wound up plotting five trips, and ended up with my second-choice journey. It was still a good choice, so no worries, eh?
Step Two is to go to www.amtrak.com on a computer with a printer, and purchase the USA Rail Pass you want. They will e-mail you a confirmation message. Print this out because you'll need it.
Step Three is the fun part: call the Amtrak national reservations desk - no, you can't set this up online because a reservations clerk needs to check each train's inventory level before selling you a seat - at 1-800-USA-Rail. You'll read off your confirmation number and request the trains you want to use. If there's no pass inventory on a particular train you want, you can pay an upgrade fee to use a better-grade seat. When all this is locked in, they'll e-mail you another confirmation message. Print that out too.
And finally: Take both printouts to any Amtrak ticket counter and receive your paper tickets. Wait until your trip begins, and you're off!

After about nine months of fiddling, I finally bought the pass, and this is the route I chose:
Spokane, WA, to Chicago. Stay one night.
Chicago to Washington, DC. Wait until the red-eye train arrives and go to the next point.
Washington to Boston. Stay two nights.
Boston to New York City. Stay one night.
New York City to Chicago. Transfer to a different train.
Chicago to Denver. Stay one night.
Denver to San Francisco. Stay two nights.
San Francisco to Seattle. Stay one night, then return to Idaho.

How I packed was very simple: as little as humanly possible. I intentionally bought a pack that was too small to encourage minimalism - and to make it even more minimalistic, I then proceeded to put eighteen five-roll packs of 120 film in it. (The other two went in my camera case.) So...I had, in addition to the clothes I had on:
four pair of socks
four pair of underwear
two long-sleeve t-shirts
personal care items
Mamiya 645 Pro TL camera with the AE Prism finder and two backs
45mm lens
105-210mm lens
Travel tripod
100 rolls of film
Pencil pouch with all my paperwork in it

I took a big coat that also served as a blanket.

For tomorrow: The journey begins!

[uppityperson]

1. Did you ride coach or buy a bed? I've wanted to do this, but can't sleep sitting up

I look forward to reading more.

[jmowreader]

7. Rode coach. I can sleep in any position.

[Tobin S.]

2. Good deal, hoss.

I'm looking forward to your posts over the next week.

[Suich]

3. Bookmarked so I can follow you!

Sounds like a blast!

[tazkcmo]

4. Cool! A serial!

Can't wait!

[Ptah]

5. Did you pass Glacier National Park in the daylight?

[jmowreader]

8. It was pretty early in the morning, but yes

I also passed through the Rocky Mountains west of Denver and the Sierra Nevadas in the daylight. That was better than Glacier, but Glacier is REAL fine.

[Ptah]

12. Sounds wonderful.

I'm looking forward to more about your magnificent trip.

[mnhtnbb]

6. Looking forward to following your journey.

[joanbarnes]

9. Very awesome.

[cantbeserious]

10. A Dawning Adventure To Read

eom

[randr]

11. This is going to be interesting

[HeiressofBickworth]

13. Envy is such a nasty thing

but I am ENVIOUS of you and your trip. This is just the thing I've long wanted to do. I took the train in September from Seattle to Sacramento (which I've done many times) but I took a sleeper. I suppose I could take coach, I used to when I was younger with no problems. I'm going to study your itinerary closely and see how you did it. I think the one issue for me would be to find something to do in 1 day in any given city. It's not a lot of time. Maybe the 30-day pass would give me more flexibility.

So, I'm very much looking forward to your next installment!

Thanks for sharing this will us.

[KoKo]

14. K&R...

[csziggy]

15. K&R

Marked so I can follow the journey!

[Hassin Bin Sober]

16. Kand R

[Squinch]

17. Yay! I love this! Can't wait.

[Phentex]

18. Neat!

I look forward to reading more.

[ghostsinthemachine]

19. I've rode AMTRAK many times

Across the country. Love it and never get a sleeper. You can pretty much bring whatever you want aboard. I pack minimally clothes wise but take a couple of carry-on bags, all rolling along with bungees to tie them together for easy rolling.
There are tricks to sleeping. Having a tall rolling ice chest, full of food, beers etc is crucial. Because it is tall you can prop the legs of the seats up. They are saggy otherwise.
Also telling the porter that you are alone and want to see that you have no seatmates is a good idea, so you can have both seats to sleep on, which, if you prop the legs, is a very comfy spot. I seldom had seatmates this way.

Also two blankets, one dark and thick. In the viewing cars there are couches with one seat turned at an angle. Use the thick blanket to fill in that spot and it becomes a very comfy bed. The other blanket is good cuz the blankets and pillows they have suck. I use the dark blanket to shield the glare when taking photos from the viewing car.

The food aboard is good, but not cheap. The steaks have great flavor and I usually allow one paid for meal a day and otherwise eat food I brought.
As a pot smoker, DONOT smoke in any stations, federal offense. I take some edibles and am good that way and usually have enough to share.

[awoke_in_2003]

20. I envy you

Have a lot of fun

[2naSalit]

21. I did kind of the same thing back in the late 80s...

It's a trip~

[niyad]

22. looking forward to reading all of your adventures.

[snot]

23. Hope you talked with lots of people in all locations & en route?

[DFW]

24. Good mornin' America, how are ya?

[bvar22]

25. Sounds like a great trip.

You still use film?

Next trip...The Siberian Express. You WILL eat many things you never ate before.

[jmowreader]

26. I use film. I do not "still" use film.

The word "still" implies some sort of implicit shame over the medium you use in your art.

[bvar22]

27. It wasn't meant that way.

Last edited Sat Dec 26, 2015, 06:07 PM - Edit history (1)

I seldom see film cameras anymore,
and went digital myself after they got the bugs worked out, and enough pixels to have fun with.

I actually admire you for sticking with film. I used to do my own darkroom work....and am glad I don't have to do that anymore. The Darkroom can suck up a whole day easily on just a couple of photos.

[jmowreader]

28. I don't do darkroom work either

I shoot all color film. I used to develop it by hand, but it comes out SO much better when you process it on a machine it's not even funny...and the big disadvantage of machine process (it's more expensive) has gone away - it's more expensive to buy a C-41 or E-6 kit and run six rolls through than it is to mail it to Kansas and get dust-free negs in the mail a week later.

[jmowreader]

29. The next trip is NOT the Siberian Express

The next trip is in 2017, and I'm going to Western Europe. I want to do Paris, Berlin and a small town in Poland I can't mention for reasons we won't get into here.

[Dont call me Shirley]

30. An adventurous soul you are. Excited to follow the rest of your journey.

[hopemountain]

31. a train trip i hope to take

in a couple of years. the 30 day pass will have to do - and with a sleeper....crickety bones and chronic nerve pain. thank you for sharing your exciting trip with us.

[ghostsinthemachine]

32. Another point of view

Here's What That Post About Taking A Train Across The USA For $213 Doesn't Tell You - http://huff.to/1PQsjw4

[jmowreader]

33. Taking the train is not for everyone, and it's definitely not for him

[ghostsinthemachine]

34. Yeah, a couple of hacks and it is a great time

I love it myself. Can't wait to hop on again.