1/17 Chicago --> Los Angeles 2256 miles
Southwest Chief
Sleeper Room #13, attendant Joan
dep. 2 hrs 49 min late; arr. 1 hr 14 min lateThe Three Rivers arrived in Chicago a bit earlier than scheduled so I quickly made my way to an empty Metro lounge. The metro lounge really is a great great benefit for sleeper car passengers if you have a long connection. I loved it. Especially after passing through the coach waiting areas (giant flat screen TVs vs old crappy TVs etc). After checking in, I had my bags stored and left the station for breakfast and sightseeing. Funny thing about Chicago, though, is that it is cold. Really cold. I found a diner and had a great breakfast and then attempted to do some more walking in the financial district. I was numb. The friendly folks at ETrade had a temperature sign that informed me that it was 10 degrees out. Brr. I didn't get to far before I rushed back to the metro lounge for couches, heat and lots of free tea (plus the bathroom is a great benefit as well). After a few hours I braved the elements again and walked down to the Borders Books on State St, though this would prove to be my last destination on this leg, as I had a 315 train to catch! I found a couch right near the train status monitors and began to get excited. I noticed with some alarm that the Empire Builder due to arrive that afternoon was very late and split into a bus as well (i later found out this was because of cold weather and the train horn freezing). Eventually, with the clock ticking, came the announcement I was dreading "ladies and gentlemen, we regret...". The SWC was running late, though we were assured that the train would only be 15-20min late. Half jokingly I muttered out loud "or two hours". The 20 minutes came and with that came another announcment. By now the status board had officially been changed to Delayed. This new announcement threatened an additional 2 hours. I smiled to myself and got some more tea. From what I could learn from the Metro attendant is that they were having a problem with the headers(??) and getting power to the rest of the train. This would require a change of locomotive. Eventually the status board was changed to "waiting for locomotive". Which i must say is one of the most encouraging phrases for atrain already a few hours late.
We began to board at around 545pm and once again I was reminded of the benefits of having a sleeper room: early boarding. I had to trudge through teh train station to get my bags thtat were stored and was almost trampled by the people waiting, in line, for hours now, to board the SWC as well as the other 2 trains that were running late that evening. I was wuite thankful to learn that not only would I get to board early but the metro had a special entrance so we could avoid the mass of humanity outside of the rather tranquil metro lounge (note: it was at this point that the "first class" status began to goto my head and I became rather elitist! 
).
Upon being shown my room I immediately fell in love with it. It was perfect and so much more than I expected. I found it to be quite spacious and roomy (I am a lone traveller, of small girth). The room was on the lower level which I would eventually come to prefer. There are numerous reasons for this: fewer neighbors, more bathrooms, immediate access to the shower, quick access to windows facing both sides of the train (when we got to the red rock country I spent about 2 hours running back and forth between windows!). As the train began to depart the dining steward came around for reservations. I got a 645 reservation.
For the first night, and everynight thereafter, I had the "twin medallions" which is basically two 4 oz of beef filets. They were delicious! It came with potatoes and a veggie. For desert I had, again I had this just about every night thereafter, a very decadent "chocolate pyramid". One of the people I sat with this night was to be on the same trains as me all the way up to Portland. After dinner I did some exploring and then settled into my room. As I was pretty tired from the first day of travel I had Joan set the bed up for me around 10pm. It was quite an impressive sight to watch my spacious sitting room be converted to a sleeping room! The bed was more comfortable than I expected and all in all was quite cozy. The best and most memorable parts of the trip would come when I was lying in the bed with the lights off and watching the scenary and stars pass by me. It was a very beautiful sight, that I miss already!
I awoke fairly early and made my way to the dining car, that was quite empty. I only had one table mate and I decided that I would try the french toast. It was a good decision, as it quickly became my favorite breakfast! I learned that over the night we had managed to make up about 90 minutes in time, so I was ahppy about this and the prospect of arriving in LA on time. Sadly at around 10am the train began to crawl and then stopped, in the middle of nowhere. There was a problem that required lots of train people to run around outside the train. After about 20 minutes or so we were moving again, albeit at a crawling rate. We finally limped into a station and were told it would be at least an hour wait. I later found out that there was a broken brake line. Thankfully they were able to fix this and we were back on track again, though by now, of course, we had given back all the regained time and were running late again. As there was nothing I could do about this, I settled into the day and to a routine that would soon become pattern. I found I enjoyed walking the train and hanging out in the loungecar. I had my books, though I have to admit I didn't do nearly as much reading as I planned, and would spend a few hours in the lounge car and then walk back to my room. My day quickly was segmented into small moments: lunch, reading, napping etc. I was amazed at how enjoyable this aspect of train travel was. To be forced, if only on occasion, to slow down is wonderful! On this first full day on the train I was so relaxed that I didn't hear (I am convinced the speaker in the lounge car was broken) the dinner reservation announcement and ended up getting a 5pm reservation. This actually turned into a blessing as we were running late, so I finished eating just as we arrived into Albourque. Had I gotten my desired time I would have missed this station stop (though I don't smoke, I made it a point to exit the train at every smoke stop, if only to poke around the train station and get a feel of what that particular town/city values). During the afternoon we passed through redrock country which was my favorite -- i have always wanted to see this type of terra firma, and was not let down! I took a shower also, and was very surprised with how "good" it was! Water was smoking hot and the pressure was wonderful! This quickly was added to my leisurely, daily routine! Besides these highlights, the days were pretty carefree and moved along at their own pace. I began to realize what a blessing it is to travel for the sake of travel, and not having to be concered about getting somewhere etc. The release of this pressure is wonderful! My last morning on the SWC I had breakfast with a couple from CA who were coming home from skiing. They were on the east bound Zephyr that got stranded in the snow. Their train came in 30 hours late. They didn't seem to bothered by this. Along the way we managed to make up some time, and the train pulled into LA only about an hour late. I said goodbye to the people in my sleeper and to Joan. I had a weird sensation that I was saying goodbye to more than just fellow travellers: I began, and would continue, to develop a sense of "community" with the fellow longhaul travellers. Since we were late, it would leave my time available for sightseeing at only 3 hours.
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