As I said in a previous post I have made reservations for the first leg of my Amtrak trip from Roanoke to Arizona. The rest of the plan to continue my trip to the west coast and return on Amtrak's California Zephyr have hit a snag. As I said traveling Amtrak will be a new experience for me and make reservations and plans are more challenging that just buying a ticket and going.
Early on it became very obvious that my plans would not always conform to Amtrak's Schedule. Case in point. In order to continue my trip to the west coast on Amtrak, I would have to either depart Arizona on Thursday or Sunday. If I chose Thursday it would give me only three full days to spend with my friends. If I chose Sunday I would either have to take a cab or Uber from a Hotel to the Train Station as my friends would be flying back to Virginia on Saturday leaving me with only public transportation. The Maricopa Train Stations which serves the Phoenix area is some distance from Phoenix and doesn't open until 8 p.m. The westbound train is scheduled to depart at 8:52 p.m. which again limits my public transportation option.
I look at renting a car and driving from Phoenix to Los Angeles but that was cost prohibited. Renting the car, driving to Los Angeles and keeping it for a few days was over $600. Not an option.
Also since planning this trip I have been reading about other peoples tips for traveling Amtrak. One of the people that I have been talking to is a veteran Amtrak Traveler. He has written books and several articles dealing with traveling by trains. When I told him that I was planning on traveling from west to east on the California Zephyr his first reply was that he always enjoyed travel from East to West on the Zephyr as opposed to travel west to east. The reason being that Amtrak is often late. The eastbound Zephry is scheduled to arrive in Denver about 7:30 a.m. and depart about 8:00 a.m. Even if it is running late you will still be climbing and traveling through the Rockies during the daylight. The leg from Denver to the Utah border is some of the most magnificent scenery anywhere in America.
Traveling from the west if the Zephyr is running late you take a chance on traveling through this area after sunset and will miss the beautiful scenery.
Another tip that I have gotten over and over is Pack Light. If possible limit thing to ONE Bag. The last thing you want to be doing is lugging around 3-4 heavy bags while getting on an off trains and moving around the station in search of public transportation. Another reason is that many of the Amtrak Stations do not offer the option of checking bags and you are limited to two carry on bags.
One other tip that I really hadn't thought of is it may be a good idea to break down you trip in legs. Amtrak is notoriously late some times and if you break down you trip in legs you more than likely take missing a connection out of play. An example arriving in Chicago on the Texas Eagle I have a scheduled 4-hour layover there before I board the Capitol Limited for a return trip to Washington. If the Texas Eagle is more than 4-hours late then I miss my connections and will either have to sleep in the Station or head to a hotel.
One the way back I am looking at breaking the trip into a couple of legs. One option may be to take the train from Tucson to San Antonio. In San Antonio I can either continue on to Chicago or switch to the Sunset Limited over to New Orleans. Then catch the Crescent to Washington and return to Roanoke of the Northeast Regional. Lots to consider but I have a few weeks to finalize my plans.
Another tip is I have three nights in a Superliner Roomette. Everyone I talked too has advised to get an upper level roomette. There are a number of reasons behind this tip. The most common is there is less track noise upstairs. Another common reason is that being upstairs afford you better views.
So while my trip out to Phoenix is planned and paid for, the return trip is up in the air.
Rather than continuing on west it is looking like that after my friends head back to Virginia, I will just rent a car and explore Arizona for a week or so. I can rent a car for a week and stay in Arizona for under $200 with unlimited miles. This will give me plenty of options including traveling up to the Grand Canyon (weather permitting) exploring Sedona and the area between Phoenix and Flagstaff.
My plans are every changing an no doubt these plans will change and become more refined as the weeks go by.
Finally, I am working on Texas Videos and have a couple of the Dallas Videos almost finished but first here is a short Video of my visit to the George H. W. Bush Presidential Museum in College Station.
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