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I haven't done an LD circle trip by myself for about 10 years, but will be doing one in August! Mrs. RR Rich is not going with me this year. I will be driving to East Lansing (2 1/2 hours south!) on Aug. 29, and taking the following trains:
8/29 LNS-CHI 8/29 CHI-WAS (via #30) 8/30 WAS-WPK (via #97) 8/31-9/2 visiting friends in Fla 9/2 WPK-NYP(via #98) 9/3 NYP-NOL 9/4 ovrnight in New Orleans 9/5 NOL-LAX 9/7 LAX-BFD-SKN-SAC (#715 & thruway buses) 9/7 overnight in SAC, hopefully at Vagabond Inn 9/8 SAC-CHI 9/10 visiting sister in Chicago suburbs 9/11 CHI-BTL-LNS (#350 and connecting bus, since I don't want to drive from E Lansing back to Grayling at 9:30 at night with my poor night vision (I'm getting older......)!
So there you have it -- of course there will be a trip report on my web site when I return! This will be my (hopefully first, not last!)"retirement train trip."
And yes, of course I will be in a roomette for ALL overnight parts of this trip!!
Posts: 2428 | From: Grayling, MI | Registered: Mar 2002
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Sounds like a great trip! My last visit to Lansing was in May, 1953 when we picked up a new Olds at the factory. We stayed at the Hotel Olds and were treated to a 3-D movie ("Fort Ti"?) Travel from Chicago after the El Capitan from Pasadena was on the Grand Trunk. I only recently found out that my grandfather briefly worked for the GT after emigrating from Scotland to Montreal.
Frank in sunny and warm SBA
Posts: 2160 | From: Santa Barbara, CA, USA | Registered: Oct 2003
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Have a great trip, Rich! I was in E Lansing too; I liked that old train station turned into a restaurant (in Lansing) (though I wish it were a train station of course).
Posts: 2642 | From: upstate New York | Registered: Mar 2004
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Sojourner -- the old station in downtown Lansing was the Grand Trunk Station -- back in 1976, when I lived in Michigan the first time, they had a big to-do there one day when President Ford made a campaign whistle stop trip across the state -- I still have several pictures of that event. The East Lansing station is a few miles east, and is actually located on property owned by Michigan State University. I was down there yesterday to make my trip reservation, and it has changed a lot in 30 years!! It is now also a Greyhound Station, and is much busier because of that, with a LOT more parking spaces now.
Posts: 2428 | From: Grayling, MI | Registered: Mar 2002
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A friend, a history teacher with degrees from Alabama and Michigan State, keeps a photograph of the President Ford Lansing Whistle Stop which he took framed and hanging on his classroom wall.
Sounds like a great trip.
-------------------- David Pressley
Advocating for passenger trains since 1973!
Climbing toward 5,000 posts like the Southwest Chief ascending Raton Pass. Cautiously, not nearly as fast as in the old days, and hoping to avoid premature reroutes. Posts: 4203 | From: Western North Carolina | Registered: Feb 2004
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Rich, sounds like a fantastic trip. I'll Look forward to your reports - always an enjoyable read.
Posts: 406 | From: La Grange, CA | Registered: Sep 2007
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Well, it's now only a week and a half until my 2012 trip!! I'm getting all my route maps together now, and will be checking my camcorder batteries and gettting other things in order over the next few days. I'm probably going to buy a laptop and put my RR route maps on DVD's and take them and the laptop with me on the trip, rather than carry my HEAVY suitcase which is full of RR map books.
Hopefully the fires out west and any other bad weather (flooding, etc.) will steer clear of my route!!
Yes I'll have a trip report posted to my web site after I return!
Posts: 2428 | From: Grayling, MI | Registered: Mar 2002
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