AAPRCO Trip 2014 - Day 1: Friday, September 19

We are excited to be going to the American Association of Private Railroad Car Owners annual convention in Portland, Maine. I worked late last night and had a lot to get done at home before leaving. Since we were meeting our friends Mark and Debbie Wolff at 4:30 am I decided to just forget about going to sleep.  I finished cleaning the house for the cat sitter and watched the reruns of the Roosevelt's Ken Burns episode from earlier that night. Got Rick up at 3:30 am. Omaha to Chicago on the California Zypher went by lots and lots of wind farms through Iowa and Illinois. Was a beautiful day. It did turn sunny. We sat in the observation car or in our coach seats throughout the day.

Ate an early breakfast in the dining car and had a 2 hour nap in coach. Got 3 extra pieces of bacon as a side for $4. They weren't as big as I thought they'd be but still a good breakfast. Here we are at Breakfast on the California Zephyr.  Each Amtrak train features it's own special meals --but Railroad French Toast is pretty standard on all.

A lot of the restrooms were out of order and one of the car attendants said they were short on staff. Arrived in Chicago about 4 pm about 1 hour late. Walked to Miller's Pub on Wabash St for supper. Yummy food. It was right by the L. 

Walked back by the Harold Washington Library which was closed. They have a You Media digital space for teens with lots of great programs that were advertised in the window. 

Got windy! Sat outside for awhile and I got scammed by a guy selling me a freebie newspaper for $2. I was thinking it was to support the homeless like the Heartland voice does in Omaha so wanted a paper to take back to the publisher. This always happens-they see me coming. Returned to Chicago Union Station to sit in Metropolitan Sleeper Car Lounge for free drinks and chips and worked on posting some pics to Blaine County Pinterest board since I had free wifi. Boarded Lake Shore Limited for Boston. When Rick and I took this to Buffalo for our honeymoon in 2007 they has a wine and cheese party for the sleeping car riders. That has been eliminated. We sat on track waiting for Empire Builder from Seattle which was late to arrive with their connecting passengers. The Empire Builder was almost 6 hours late. We left about 10:15 pm, stopped, and by 11 pm finally pulling out. Debbie and Mark had brought their own wine and cheese to share with us so we should sleep well! Here is Rick in our roommette, drop down sink on the left with toilet underneath. The upper berth will slide down to just above his head.   There is a communal shower down the hall as well as juice, ice and coffee in the morning. We have been going down to the coaches to use their restrooms.

This is how our sleeping car attendant, David, turned our roommette from sitting room to sleeping room.  You can still sit on the upper and lower berths with no problem. 

Rick will be looking out the window & listening to the railroad scanner radio so he will know what they are discussing and keep us apprised on why the delays!