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Breakdowns, Blues & Rabbit Released - Days 11 - 14

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  Wednesday, October 22, 2025 Let’s backtrack to yesterday, 10/21 —- we had just boarded the ‘City of New Orleans’ Amtrak in Hammond, LA which was supposed to be (there it is again) bound for Memphis, TN. Right away we met an interesting guy in the observation car who traveled the country as a meat inspector! He used to fly, but after years of at least 10 flights a month (!), he retired, became a contractor and insisted on getting around via train or car only. He ended up giving us some great advice on recovering funds with Amtrak if an issue occurs on their end. Within 1 hr, it did.  We pulled into Jackson, MS for a 30 min stop. Our new friend got off for a smoke break and Tom gets a text saying our train has irreparable engine issues and we will all have to disembark! The most bizarre part is that the conductor said they were going to have buses come, in a couple of hours, and take everyone BACK to the original place of embarkation? Huh? Why not continue forward?  Hard...
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A Bayou State of Mind - Days 6 - 10

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I’m writing this segment of our blog from the passenger seat of a rental car driving from Jackson, MS to Memphis, TN…NOT, as planned, on the ‘City of New Orleans’ Amtrak. But we’ll come back to that in the next installment— Friday, October 17, 2025 It was an early morning wake-up for what was supposed to  be (keep track of these ‘supposed to’s’) a 6:25am boarding of the Sunset Limited from San Antonio to New Orleans. Pro Tip #3: check your train status as often as possible for delays which can be almost comforting in their reliability! We did finally board and got underway around 8:40am to find to our happy surprise, our buddies from the first leg of our trip! What a fun group these guys are — they had done some rafting on the Rio Grand (!), hiking and remote B&Bing and were now headed to Lafayette, LA for some music followed by a drive to New Orleans for a final hurrah to the trip. We enjoyed a fun game of UNO and got to know them even better. They’re a musical bunch too, and ...
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Everything Is Bigger in Texas - Days 3, 4, 5

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Old San Antonio Train Station, circa 1902 OCTOBER 14, 2025 Woke up at 4am to shower on the train and prep for a 5am arrival in San Antonio, TX. When you’re in a rooomette with Amtrak, you have access to 1 communal shower and 4 separate bathrooms shared between 12 rooms. I would say from experience that maybe half the occupants of the those rooms use the onboard shower, so that cuts down the numbers somewhat, but there can be some strategy and waiting involved.  Showering on the train requires preparation and often, some athletic effort!  The shower room has about 2 ft of standing space, towels, soap & shampoo. Being organized before you get in there is a must. Additionally, depending on the evenness of the segment of rail the train is on at the time and in this case, the fact that our shower door was missing its magnetic closure device, an uninitiated traveler might open their eyes post-hair wash to find the door swinging wide and the floor sloshing with mini tidal waves o...
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Trains, Trains, Trains - Days 1 & 2

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                                                                      OCTOBER 12-13, 2025 (EXPAND ANY PICS BY CLICKING ON THEM)— Well, our rail trip that will take us 3/4 of the way across the U.S. has begun without a hitch (so far)! We began in Martinez and boarded the San Joaquins commuter train—straight backed, nonreclining chairs… gotta work on that Amtrak—-traveling 6 hrs to Bakersfield where we seamlessly switched to an Amtrak Bus for the last 2 hrs to Union Station.   **Exclusive Fashion Tip** Perhaps you’ve had hopes of visiting L.A.’s iconic Union Station? Built in 1939, it’s an important symbol of downtown, connecting the fabric of Los Angeles’ past to the present.     A visit like that might have you contemplating what to wear on such an occasion as you walk through the largest railroad pa...
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