Not An Impulse Buyer

[aknaten]

Hello from Ponca City, Oklahoma, 90 miles south of you. If delivery can be made to my driveway or at least a large parking lot, say Walmart or some other, that would be the option I'd choose. I wouldn't mind traveling to the factory but we no longer have bus, train or air service locally. It would be hard to get the heck out of Dodge (used to live in Dodge City)

 

[airforceguy6]

Coss,
Eighteen hours and about $280 for a roomette, from Chicago to Longview, Texas. If you want to do a coach seat, it can be done for about $100 one way. From Longview, you can take an Amtrak bus to either the airport or the bus station in Shreveport. I did a round trip on the Eagle last November to visit friends in Texas. Weather and track work in Illinois played hob with the schedule, but I still enjoyed the trip. I tucked into the roomette with a good book, a small bottle of Makers Mark and a thermos of ice. Another nice thing about the roomette is your meals in the diner are included. My wife and I have seriously discussed the Empire Builder from Chicago going west, with a stay at Glacier National Park, and maybe then the Coast Starlight to LA and then fly home from there. My friend in Texas and his wife have done the Coast Starlight, and loved it. There's a lounge on there for the sleeper passengers that shows movies in the evening. (There's a 10% discount for over 62 as well.)

Love riding the train! Decent prices as long as you are trying to go along the main routes. Relaxing experience for the most part, plus a military discount. Wish America would update their train system though, I am getting spoiled over here in Europe with their trains.

 

[BilgeRat]

Where are you currently? My wife and I have done the Italian rail system regularly, and love it. Even rode the Thalys once, from Rotterdam to Paris... I had my handheld GPS sitting on my seatback tray, and it was steady on 185 -186 mph once we were outside the cities. I know we were going past WW 1 cemeteries, but at that speed they looked like a patch of shag rug. Excellent roadbed maintenance, too. We would hit a crossover at speed, and the wine in my glass would just shift side to side a little. Also, got talking with our conductor; he liked to travel to the US and ride the western Amtrak routes, said he'd done them all at one time or another.

 

[airforceguy6]

We're located near the KMC/Ramstein area in Germany. Short trip on the ICE Train to Paris, only about 2 hours. Wish Amtrak would update their trains to match modern competitors!

 

[BilgeRat]

Really spoils ya, doesn't it! We had the in laws with us in Venice a few years back, and decided on a day trip to Florence. In just the high speed service, there were six trains a day, each way; this doesn't count the two other (slower) service classes. We left at 0600, and came back to Venice at 2355. Sweet.

 

[DikiJ]

Bienvenue, Bill, from cajun country.
Iplan to hitch a ride up to Shreveport to pick up my Elio.
I 'll take a little trip to Monroe, La to show it off to my daughter and grandsons.