Going to LA — The Really Long Way

I had a week off from work in early July, 2006. I wanted to do something besides sit at home, but didn't want a vacation that would be a lot of hassle either. I mainly wanted to just sit back, relax, and watch the world go by. So, I thought, "Why not take Amtrak?" I settled on buying a ticket on Amtrak's Sunset Limited from New Orleans to Los Angeles, a trip of nearly 2,000 miles and 48 hours on the train.

Along the way I encountered a number of interesting passengers riding the train with me from all over the US, and got to see just how low we've let this once grand method of long-distance travel in the US slip in quality. But despite several days of average dining car meals, sharing a single shower with a couple of dozen other sleeping car passengers, and delays that resulted in us arriving in Los Angeles hours late, it was an enjoyable journey.

This is the story of a single guy traveling over 48 hours across the Southwestern US, armed with a camera, laptop, iPod, novel, several DVDs, an open mind, and a desire to just sit back and watch the world roll by.

Quick Tips:

Traveling by Amtrak is an adventure in itself, and not always a good one. Here are some tips for surviving your journey on America's long-distance trains.

Be patient. Amtrak runs on tracks owned by the freight railroads on nearly all of its routes. This means that passenger trains are at the mercy of freight company dispatchers, who are often fare more interested in getting their customer's goods delivered to their destination on schedule than they are with Amtrak's passengers getting anywhere quickly. Expect for there to be a lot of delays. Don't plan on being anywhere at a specific time because you'll end up frustrated. Amtrak will get you there, but it may be as many as ten hours late.

Bring snacks and water. Amtrak has dining cars and snack bars on long-distance trains, but the snack bar selection can be unpredictable, and they may run out of items on a multi-day journey. It's better to pack non-perishable snacks like nuts and dried fruit. Also, plan on bringing along a few liters of bottled water. That way you won't have to keep buying it on board. Ice and disposable cups are often available if you're traveling in a sleeping car, but don't count on having it in coach.

Bring something to entertain yourself. Good suggestions are books, a music player with ear phones, and a portable DVD player and DVDs. Standard 120V AC outlets are available in each Roomette or Bedroom if you're in a sleeping car. They can also be found near some coach seats, but this varies by the type of equipment you're traveling on. If you bring electronic items, bring a surge protector, as power on the train can be subject to surges.

Bringe a camera. You'll see lots of great scenery on many routes that transverse the country. You'll want a camera. Keep in mind that your pictures won't be the greatest ever, since you'll be shooting through the windows on the train, which may be dirty.

Bring a package of disposable disinfectant wipes. With all of the budget cuts that Amtrak is forced to deal with, cleaning and maintenance gets deferred. I spent a few minutes with a small package of Clorox disinfecting wipes going over the surfaces in my Roomette when I arrived. The table and armrests were pretty dirty. I felt a lot better about spending two days in that space after I'd wiped it down well.

Try to meet other people. You may be spending a day or two in tight quarters with other people. At meals, unless you're a party of four, you will be seated with strangers. Enjoy meeting them, and use the opportunity to talk to other people. You might make a new friend or two!

Consider an upgrade to sleeper accommodations. If you're going to be on the train more than 24 hours, you'll probably want a decent bed and a shower. It costs more, but your meals will be included, and you'll be far more comfortable.

Best Way To Get Around:

If you're riding Amtrak, it will be your means of getting around, as well as your hotel, and restaurant. That's part of the fun of the experience. The downside is you can't easily get on and off the train when you want. But if you plan your trip in advance, you can schedule in stops along the way.

Because Amtrak trains can be very late, and some routes are notorious about this, it's wise to keep an eye on the Amtrak website for the current status of your train on the day before and day of your departure. Doing this may help you avoid waiting for hours in a train station for the train's arrival. If others are meeting you at your destination, they can track your progress online and be able to meet you at your current estimated arrival time, even if the train is running late.

The Hilton Garden Inn LAX/El Segundo is quite convenient to Los Angeles International Airport, and provides very comfortable accommodations with a moderate array of services and amenities. Like most Hilton Garden Inns, rooms feature one king or two queen beds, satellite TV with pay-per-view movies, large work areas with well-placed outlets, complimentary high-speed Internet, mini-refrigerators, and microwaves. Other amenities in the hotel include a complimentary business center with computers, printers, office supplies, and a copier, a fitness center, a pantry with snacks and sundries, a pool, and a restaurant providing full breakfasts and evening dinner service, with room service in the evenings only.

I've always enjoyed my stays at Hilton Garden Inns, and it is a brand I chose often for my work travel. Hilton has positioned the Garden Inn concept in between its full service Hilton, Embassy Suites, and Doubletree hotels and its limited service Hampton Inn hotels. As a result, the Garden Inns provide a variety of services not usually found at more limited service properties. For example, instead of just a continental breakfast, a full breakfast buffet with made-to-order omelets, eggs, and items like waffles and French toast is available. However, unlike limited service hotels, breakfast is not complimentary; the full buffet usually runs around $10, while a continental breakfast buffet only, consisting of pastries, fruit, yogurt, and other cold items, is available for around $5. However, unlike full service hotels, prices at Garden Inns are generally more affordable.

The LAX/El Segundo Hilton Garden Inn is really two hotels in one. The majority of the hotel resembles any other Hilton Garden Inn. However, one wing of the building is called the "university wing." Here the rooms are all different. Hilton uses this hotel as a testing ground for new furnishings and amenities, and as a training center for its staff. As a result, the university wing has rooms configured for all of the different Hilton family brands. In the university wing a room may look just like a Hampton Inn, Doubletree, Embassy Suites, or Homewood Suites room, even though it is technically still part of a Hilton Garden Inn. There are also some special technology rooms, with high-tech features such as lighting controlled by a central remote control, and advanced audio/video entertainment systems. The university wing has a more private feel to it, as it is accessed through a set of double doors that separate it from the rest of the hotel. The wing also features its own stairs and elevators, and a separate exterior entrance to the parking lot. This helps make the wing quieter than the rest of the hotel.

As a result of my Hilton HHonors Diamond status, I was upgraded to the university wing. My room was a test room for Homewood Suites, another Hilton family brand I've stayed in many times. Instead of a standard room, I had a two room suite with a full kitchen. The extra space was a nice treat, as I had just spent over 50 hours riding on Amtrak in a small Superliner Roomette. I also appreciated having the fully stocked kitchen, with dishes and utensils I could use to eat the dinner I had picked up at PF Chang's and taken back to the hotel.

While the location of this hotel is not the most convenient for much of the LA area, it's quite close to LAX and some of the beach areas. I also recommend it for its unique features in the university wing. Although these rooms cannot be reserved in advance, requests entered on the reservation for an upgrade to the university wing are often honored by the staff, especially for guests who have membership in the Hilton HHonors frequent stay program.

The first day of my trip started very early. I awoke around 5:00 AM to get ready and head for Houston's Intercontinental Airport, to catch my flight to New Orleans. Houston has very regular service to New Orleans, but I didn't want to chance getting to New Orleans late and missing the train's 11:55 AM departure. So I was scheduled on a flight that would get me to New Orleans about three hours before the train's departure. That way, if there was any delay at all in the flight, I'd still have a nice safety buffer that should allow me to get to the Amtrak station in New Orleans on time.

It turned out to be a good thing that I had scheduled myself on an early flight. As I was driving to the airport, thunderstorms hit Houston. Traffic slowed, and while I knew I'd make my flight just fine, I was confident there would probably be some delays at the airport. Sure enough, while the flight boarded on time, we were delayed in taking off. No worries though, as I had plenty of time to get to New Orleans. Around 8:30 AM my flight lifted off the runway, and I settled back in my first class seat for the short flight to New Orleans, and drifted off to sleep.

An hour later I woke up as we approached the airport in New Orleans. This was my first trip to the city since much it was destroyed in Hurricane Katrina and the floods that followed that storm. As we approached for landing, my eyes were glued to the window for signs of the storm's destruction. Most noticeable were the blue tarps on roofs, which were too numerous to count. It was very much like what I'd seen in Southeast Texas nine months earlier after Hurricane Rita. However, while most of those blue tarps were gone, here in New Orleans they were still everywhere.

We landed, and after collecting my things, I headed to the taxi cab stand, and from there, to Amtrak's station. Rail stations in major US cities used to be a symbol of the city's wealth and prosperity. However, since rail travel went into a steep decline after World War II, most rail stations in the US are now more functional than anything else. Yes, there are still some examples of the previous glory days of rail travel that are preserved and actively in use; New York's Grand Central and Washington's Union Station come to mind. New Orleans' Amtrak station is not one of these. The taxi dropped me off outside a very plain, institutional looking government building. I walked inside to find fading linoleum floors that badly needed buffing, hard plastic benches, florescent lights with yellowing plastic covers, and a ticket counter. I approached the ticket counter to pick up my tickets, and was told that since I had reserved sleeping accommodations (my "Roomette"), I was entitled to wait in the station's first class lounge, the Magnolia Room. The lady behind the desk pointed the way, and I headed for the lounge.

Unlike airline lounges, which are often quiet, comfortable, and offer amenities like a fully stocked bar, complimentary snacks, and business services centers, Amtrak's Magnolia Room was basically a small room with a couple of worn sofas, table with four chairs, a water cooler, an old TV, and a Mr. Coffee with a can of store-brand coffee and some Styrofoam cups next to it. It was only marginally more comfortable than the main waiting room outside. Still, the TV tuned to CNN provided some entertainment while I waited. I was soon joined by several other first class passengers, and we waited the Sunset Limited's departure together.

Finally, it was showtime. Boarding was called for that day's run of the Sunset Limited. I was in the single sleeper car, assigned to Roomette number 11, an upper level space on the train's right side, just in front of the dining car. The train was rather short; two engines, a crew accommodation car, my first class sleeper car, the dining car, and two coach class cars, one with a snack bar on the lower level. Amtrak advertises a lounge sightseer car on nearly all of its long-haul routes west of the Mississippi River, but the Sunset Limited is an exception. Due to declining ridership, Amtrak had removed the sightseer lounge from the Sunset to save money.

I boarded the train, and got settled into the small space I would be calling home for the next two days. On Amtrak's Superliner fleet, a Roomette is approximately 6.5 feet long by about 3.5 feet wide. It's a rather small space, designed for one or two people, with two reclining seats that face each other, a table between the seats than can be collapsed, a large picture window that provides a view outside, a sliding door to the hallway, several windows into the hallway, and a very small storage shelf and hanging rod for clothing. The two recliner seats are folded down at night to form the lower bunk, and an upper berth can be folded down from the ceiling, to provide sleeping space for two adults.

For my journey I had brought along several things to entertain myself — a novel I was reading, my iPod, my laptop computer to play DVDs, and four or five DVDs to watch. All of Amtrak's sleeper accommodations have a standard 120 volt AC outlet in them, so I'd be able to plug in the computer and use it to play movies while I was traveling. The small table in the room was just right for setting up the computer for this purpose. I had also heard stories about Amtrak's food, and that sometimes the snack bar had a very limited selection, so I brought along some nuts and dried fruit, as well as a six pack of bottled water. And, just in case the pillow provided with the bed wasn't comfortable, a pillow from home.

Soon after departure from New Orleans, the dining room opened for lunch. Meals for first class passengers are included in the price of the accommodation; for coach passengers they can be purchased at reasonable prices. I headed for the dining car for my first of seven meals on board the train. For lunch I chose the cheeseburger, which was served with potato chips. It was an average burger; better than what you'd get at a fast food place, but far from gourmet. It was still quite satisfying, and I enjoyed a nice conversation with a couple from Beaumont, Texas, as we ate, and the train crossed the Huey Long Bridge over the Mississippi River on its westward journey out of New Orleans.

From New Orleans we headed west, with short station stops at towns like Schriever, New Iberia, and Lafayette. Somewhere around New Iberia, a car crossed the tracks as we were approaching them and the train barely clipped the back end of the car as it raced in front of our engine. This resulted in about an hour's delay while the accident was investigated. Fortunately no one was injured, and the car was actually drivable, as the train had just barely clipped it. Had the car been a split second faster, it wouldn't have been hit, a split second slower, and the results could have been tragic for the driver and his passenger. After that mishap, we headed on.

As the afternoon wore on, I enjoyed reading, listening to music, and enjoying the scenery of southern Louisiana. Hours after leaving New Orleans, we crossed the Sabine River, and into Texas. I had dinner as we approached our stop in Beaumont, Texas. I chose the evening special, which was country fried steak, mashed potatoes, salad, a roll, and a slice of cheesecake for dessert. The food was good, and I was informed by one of my tablemates, who was a frequent Amtrak rider, that the "special" was always country fried steak, and that it was one of the dining car's more reliable menu items.

After dinner, I watched the sun slowly set as we continued west toward Houston. Somewhere along the way I realized just how slow long-distance train travel in the US can be. My flight that morning from Houston to New Orleans had taken less than an hour. A drive from Houston to New Orleans down Interstate 10 can be done in less than six hours. My train was taking approximately 10 hours to make the journey, and shortly after 10:00 PM, we entered downtown Houston, and made our stop there. Many passengers got off at Houston, and were replaced by others. I took a few minutes to get off the train and walk around, picking up an ice cream snack at the station's Blue Bell vending machine.

We then pulled out to continue our journey. The sleeping car attendant made up my bed, and I settled in to watch a DVD before drifting to sleep.

Day two on the Sunset Limited began with a jolt. While I had slept, the train slowly made the 210 mile trip between the Houston and San Antonio stations. In San Antonio, the Sunset Limited meets up with the southbound Texas Eagle at the end of its Chicago to San Antonio run in the middle of the night. At that time, several cars from the Texas Eagle are coupled to the back of the Sunset Limited, providing passengers from Chicago and points south along the Eagle’s route to have through, same-car service all the way to Los Angeles. On our run, this meant two cars a first class sleeper and a coach passenger car were attached to the back of our train. The conductor had warned us the night before that we might feel some bumps when the cars were coupled together in the early morning hours. At some point I woke up and was aware that we were no longer moving, and then fell back asleep. Some time later, I awoke again as my car lurched forward several feet as the two cars from the Texas Eagle were added to our train. After that I was awake.

Shortly after daybreak, the Sunset Limited slowly pulled out of San Antonio. Today’s itinerary would take us across the state of Texas, with a scheduled stop in El Paso in the late afternoon, before continuing on into New Mexico. After about an hour of watching the city of San Antonio disappear, and be replaced with the rural South Texas desert, I gathered my things and headed downstairs to the shower room. Amtrak’s bi-level first class Superliner cars feature a private shower room on the lower level. This small room has a private changing area that’s just barely big enough to maneuver in, and a standard-sized shower stall. Showers on the train are an interesting experience. First, there is a limited amount of water on the train to run the shower, so the water pressure is not all that great. Second, the train is always in motion, and sometimes the tracks are not very smooth. The shower does have a grab handle to use to help steady yourself should the train hit a back section of track, or an uneven grade crossing over a road, but it still can be a bit of a challenge to avoid falling out of the shower, wet and naked, into the small changing area. Still, it was more than 24 hours since I had left home, and access to a shower was greatly appreciated. I quickly showered, doing my part to use as little water as possible, got dressed, and headed back up to my Roomette, where I found that the attendant had kindly put away the bedding and converted the space’s configuration back to daytime use.

Soon after I returned to my Roomette, an announcement was made that the dining car was now open for breakfast. I made my way back to the dining car for my third on-board meal. Several hot breakfast options were available, including an omelet, southwestern quiche, and cereal. I chose the quiche, which according to the menu, was filled with a combination of cheeses, peppers, and pinto beans. The quiche was served with hashbrown potatoes and a biscuit or croissant. I found the meal to be just fine, but nothing special, although the quiche had very few of the supposed Southwestern ingredients discernable in the filling. Still, the flavor was good, and I left quite satisfied.

That morning we made the 170 mile trip from San Antonio to Del Rio, nonstop. At Del Rio the train picked up several dozen additional passengers, as well as dropping a few. We then continued on toward El Paso, still 435 miles away. Despite having lived all of my life in Texas at the time, this part of the trip excited me, because we were heading through parts of the state I’d never visited. From Del Rio we headed west through the desert, across a portion of the Amistad Reservoir, and into the Trans-Pecos Region. The Trans-Pecos is characterized by mostly unremarkable scenery that seems to stretch on forever; there are very few hills, trees, or bodies of water. Mile after mile of scrubby bushes, cactus, and barbed wire fence went by outside my window, as I spent the morning reading and listening to the iPod. The main break from this monotony was the conductor announcing our approach to the Pecos High Bridge, a 1,390 foot long span that carries the railroad 322 feet above the Pecos River. The train slowed as we approached the bridge, so that passengers could get a good view of the structure, and the canyon that the Pecos runs through here.

Eventually the scenery began to become more interesting, as mountains appeared on the horizon to our west. We were approaching the mountains of West Texas, and our mid-day station stop in Alpine, TX. I had a particular interest in seeing what Alpine looked like, as I knew my work was scheduled to bring me to this remote corner of the state in a few months. Alpine derives its name from the surrounding mountains and high elevation; there are few towns in Texas that are higher than Alpine’s 4,475 feet. Alpine is the largest town for many miles around, and the closest town of any real size to the Big Bend National Park. We were scheduled for a longer stop in Alpine, to change crews. We reached Alpine shortly after I sat down in the dining car for lunch. I dined on a grilled chicken Caesar salad while we were stopped in Alpine. Many passengers took advantage of the longer stop here to get off the train and stretch their legs. Alpine’s Amtrak station is right in the middle of the town, convenient for tourists getting on or off here, as many of the town’s hotels, shops, and restaurants are a very short walk from the station.

After Alpine, we continued our journey toward El Paso. It was now early afternoon, and the good time with minimal delays due to freight traffic we had made throughout the morning hours reached an end. Several times our train was delayed due to freight train traffic, and we were held on a siding for nearly an hour without moving at one point. The train’s conductor made regular announcements to inform passengers bound for El Paso of our new estimated arrival time, which was now expected to happen sometime after the dinner hour. I killed time by watching a movie on the laptop’s DVD player, and chatting with Karen, another passenger who had boarded in San Antonio that I had met over breakfast that morning.

Finally the delays came to an end, and the dispatchers cleared us to head for El Paso. We sped up after merging onto a more heavily used track parallel to Interstate 10, west of Van Horn, Texas. This allowed the train to make up some of the time lost during the afternoon. Karen and I decided to meet for dinner, ensuring that we’d both have someone interesting to chat with at the table. The second night’s dinner menu was the same as the first night’s, although supplies of several entrées were starting to run low. As with the previous night, the "special" was the same country fried steak. I opted to order the trout, which sounded good on the menu. However, the waitress leaned over and whispered "I’d get something else instead." I took that as a good clue to order a different option, and instead chose the roasted chicken. "Good choice" replied our waitress. Apparently several diners had complained that earlier in the meal service the fish was very salty. The roasted chicken turned out to be an excellent choice. It was a well seasoned rotisserie-style half chicken (yes, half a chicken!), served with rice, vegetables, salad, and a dinner roll. The chicken was quite tasty, and perfectly roasted, without being the least bit dry. I could not begin to finish the large serving of chicken, and was stuffed after eating about half of it. When our waitress asked for our dessert orders, I was way too full to even consider ordering anything. So, a few minutes later she returned with a piece of cheesecake on a disposable plate covered in plastic wrap, and a plastic fork. "Take this back to your room for a midnight snack," she said.

Eventually we arrived in El Paso. At this point we had been traveling across Texas for well over 24 hours, and it was nearly 36 hours since we’d departed New Orleans. Our train had traveled 1,177 miles, but we still had 818 miles to go before our arrival in Los Angeles the next day. I walked around for a few minutes at the stop in El Paso, then retired to my bed with another movie, a Diet Coke, and my cheesecake as we rolled into New Mexico.

After two days of travel, I was ready to get to Los Angeles when I awoke on Friday morning. When I had gone to bed the night before, the train was running a couple of hours behind schedule, but given the Sunset Limited’s dismal on-time performance, and the nearly 2,000 miles the train had to travel along its run, a two hour delay was hardly worth complaining about. After all, the conductor had told us the night before that the train’s crew anticipated we’d make up some of that time during the night on our run through New Mexico and Arizona.

So when I woke up Friday morning, I assumed we were somewhere in Arizona, west of Maricopa, the train’s stop for the Phoenix area, and that we’d be arriving in Yuma in the next couple of hours. How wrong this assumption was. Instead, we were hours from arriving in Maricopa, and thanks to several additional hours of delays caused by Union Pacific’s freight dispatchers during the night, we were now scheduled to arrive at our final stop in downtown Los Angeles four to five hours behind schedule. Announcements were made that passengers with northbound connections out of LA would be accommodated on later trains or by bus and that announcements would be made later in the morning for those passengers with connections. This made me quite glad I was only going to Los Angeles, and that I had no real agenda once I got there, other than catching a bus to LAX, where I’d pick up a rental car for the evening to get me to my hotel and dinner. As long as I was at LAX for my return flight to Houston by 9:00 AM Saturday morning, I was a happy camper. But I was somewhat unique in this proposition, as many passengers had plans in California that would have to be changed due to the train’s tardiness.

I decided to head for the shower, only to find out that the sleeping car was out of fresh towels. The attendant did manage to find me a small hand towel that was unused. Lesson learned – I should have kept my towels from the previous morning in my Roomette, rather an assuming Amtrak’s sleeping car was like a hotel, where fresh towels were provided daily. But, given the option of no shower for hours, or a shower followed by doing my best to dry off with only a hand towel, I opted for the shower and hand towel. It was better than nothing.

A shower and change of clothes later, I headed for my last breakfast on the train. This morning I chose the ham and cheese omelet. It reminded me of the countless omelets I’ve had over the years served for breakfast in the first class cabin of the airlines I frequently fly for work; it was fine, but I could certainly do better at just about any 24 hour roadside diner. Still, I have had much worse meals in my life; I think at this point I was just growing weary of Amtrak’s diner car, which had provided all of my meals since lunch two days before. Along with the omelet I had the same hash browns and croissant with butter and jelly I had been served as sides the previous morning with quiche. At this point it was apparent the train was nearing the end of its run as several beverage options and one breakfast entrée were no longer available. As a result I could not have orange juice with my breakfast, but there was plenty of coffee and water, so I was happy.

I returned to my Roomette and was joined a few minutes later by Karen, who was bored and wanted to chat. We had a nice conversation for the next hour as the train sped along toward Maricopa. We made a very fast stop in Maricopa, where I admired the train station that was created by converting an old streamliner sightseer rail car. It was by far one of the nicest Amtrak stations we passed along our route, at least from the outside, and a reminder of the glory days of rail travel in the US. I was reminded of the stories I’d heard of my great-grandparents and grandparents traveling by train in the years before the airlines replaced trains as the preferred method of long distance domestic travel. In 1944 my grandmother had taken my then infant mother and two-year-old uncle from Houston to San Diego by herself to see my grandfather, who was in the Navy and stationed in San Diego during the War. I wondered how many miles of my route to Los Angeles had been shared by my grandmother, mother, and uncle on that trip 62 years earlier, when the world was an entirely different place.

After departing Maricopa our next stop was Yuma, on the Arizona/California state line. We continued to Yuma without further delay. Along the way more announcements were made related to our delays. Had we been on schedule, the last meal served in the dining car would have been breakfast. However, due to our anticipated arrival in Los Angeles well after lunch time, the dining car chef had prepared a big pot of beef stew using leftover ingredients from the previous two evening’s dinners. This would be made available as a lunch entrée, to be served with salad and a roll. I imagined the chef slaving away in the kitchen using the uneaten braised beef entrées and every vegetable he could get his hands on to make this stew. Still, it would be our only option for lunch. Other announcements were made that the passengers headed for the train to Bakersfield out of Los Angeles would be reaccommodated by a charter bus that would meet the train in Palm Springs. This bus would then take those passengers directly from Palm Springs to Bakersfield, getting them to their final destination only an hour late. These passengers, along with those bound for Palm Springs, were advised not to take advantage of the lunch in the dining car, as they would not be able to be served and have time to complete their meals before making the Palm Springs stop. After these announcements, I killed time by reading, and watching my last DVD as we sped along through the deserts of Arizona and California.

As we neared Palm Springs, I debated whether I wanted lunch on the train or not. After several calls for lunch had been made, I decided that I was getting a little too hungry to hold off until our arrival in LA for lunch, so I made my way to the dining car one final time. I was told that the only remaining beverages on board were water and iced tea, so I ordered a tea. My cheerful waitress, who I had enjoyed the service of for the previous few days returned with a tea and bowl of salad, which was mainly iceberg lettuce with one slice of tomato. "I’m sorry we’re out of rolls at this point," she said. I stated that was fine and began to pick at my salad. A few minutes later she returned with a bowl of beef stew served over rice. Yes, it looked very much like the braised beef I’d seen several diners eating the previous two nights, and the veggies were the same ones that had been available throughout the trip as side items. However, despite the stew being created that morning from the dining car’s leftovers, it turned out to be one of the tastiest meals we were served on board. The chef was to be commended from turning leftovers of braised beef, carrots, potatoes, and green beans into something quite delicious with very limited resources. I left most of my salad behind, but finished the stew completely.

After Palm Springs, we continued westward toward our last two en-route stops at Ontario and Pomona. I watched as the desert slowly became more urbanized as we approached Ontario. Finally, the end of our journey was almost in sight. Ultimately the conductor made the announcement that we were approximately 30 minutes from our terminal stop in downtown Los Angeles. We were hours late, but we were almost there. The end of the journey in my 3.5’ × 6.5’ Superliner Roomette was in sight. I began to gather my belongings and repack them.

Once we arrived at the downtown LA Amtrak station, I left the train, and went to find the express bus to LAX, where I had a rental car reserved. Due to our late arrival, the bus was heading to the airport in rush hour traffic. Eventually we made it, and after another wait for the rental car shuttle and a short ride, I was behind the wheel of my own transportation for the first time since dropping my own car off at the airport in Houston nearly 60 hours before, and headed for my hotel.

The last evening of my trip was quite relaxing and enjoyable. I picked up my rental car, pulled out my directions printed off the Internet a few days earlier while at home in Houston, and headed for my hotel, the Hilton Garden Inn LAX/El Segundo. I had chosen this hotel due to its close proximity to Los Angeles International Airport, where I would be flying home to Houston the next morning. At check-in I was informed I had been upgraded to the hotel’s "university" wing. This meant I would be staying in one of the rooms that the Hilton Corporation uses at this location for testing new room décor and amenities, and for training its employees. My room ended up being a test room for Hilton’s Homewood Suites concept. So, instead of having the standard Hilton Garden Inn room, the room was a classic two-room suite with full kitchen, just like what’s usually found in a Homewood Suites location.

I settled in, unpacked a few things, and decided I wanted a real shower; at this point two and a half days had elapsed since my last shower with really good water pressure in a roomy space that was stationary. I took advantage of the suite’s spacious bathroom for a nice, long, hot shower, followed by a change of clothes. As much as I had appreciated having a shower available on the train, it just could not compare to the real thing. I decided that I was too tired from all of my travel to really go out that evening, so I checked out the room’s pay-per-view movie listings. I settled on Transamerica, which several friends had seen and enjoyed. The entertainment portion of the evening was now decided, so I got online and looked for dinner options. The hotel’s room service menu was the standard Hilton Garden Inn dinner fare, which is fine, but I wanted something better, and something totally unlike the Sunset Limited dining car’s fare. A quick scan of the hotel’s guest services guide indicated there were several nearby restaurants that had takeout available. I opted for PF Chang’s, and pulled up their menu online to make my selections before calling in an order.

After returning from PF Chang’s with my takeout Americanized Chinese food, I ordered my movie, and fixed a nice plate for myself using the dishes and utensils found in my suite’s fully stocked kitchen. While the food on Amtrak had not been bad at all, it was so good to have something completely different from what I’d been served on the train.

The next morning it was time to head home. I got up, returned the rental car, and made it to LAX with plenty of time for my flight back to Houston. Shortly after 10:00 AM I settled back in my BusinessFirst sleeper seat on a Continental Airlines 757 for the 1,300 mile trip back to Houston. While the trip from Houston to Los Angeles had taken nearly 60 hours from start to finish, the flight attendant announced that our flight to Houston would be a very quick three hours that morning. That alone was a shining example of why air travel had replaced the passenger trains of decades long past in the US as the primary method for long-distance travel. And then there was the cost; my Amtrak Roomette had cost more than a full-fare one-way economy airline ticket that came with an instant upgrade to first class had.

In retrospect, I am quite glad I opted to take this trip. It fulfilled a longtime desire for taking a train across the US. I saw many parts of the US I had never been through before; despite previous trips to West Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California, the train took me through areas of those states I had yet to visit. I also enjoyed my conversations with other passengers over meals in the dining car. Train travel brings together a very diverse crowd of people. There was Karen, from Austin, whom I’d shared several meals with, who was on her way to California to visit a friend. There was the elderly African American couple from California who was returning home from a visit to family on the East Coast; they did not like to fly, and were frequent Amtrak travelers. There was the couple from Southeast Texas I shared lunch with on the first day that had just taken the train for the thrill of it as part of their vacation, but had been less than impressed by Amtrak’s delays and the service cutbacks. They had said they were unlikely to take Amtrak again.

A few months later I would experience a different extreme of long-distance rail travel on my trip to France. I knew Europe had much better passenger rail infrastructure than the US. Unlike the Sunset Limited’s laboring 40 MPH average speed during my journey, the TGV I took in France whisked me from Paris to Narbonne, a track distance of about 530 miles, with speeds approaching 200 MPH in about four hours. While I enjoyed my trip on Amtrak, I had a hard time seeing myself taking it again for travel outside of the Northeast Corridor, where service was much faster and more reliable between Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington. Yet, the experience left me disappointed that our government had let passenger rail decline so much in the US.

Despite Amtrak’s aging equipment, late arrivals, and service cutbacks, the trip was quite an enjoyable one. I would consider taking a similar trip again at some point in the future on Amtrak; routes like the Empire Builder from Chicago to the Pacific Northwest I find tempting. It’s definitely not a method of travel anyone would consider efficient, but it’s quite comfortable, and a good way to sit back and watch the world go by outside your window as you cross the US over a period of a few days.