43 Hours on the Amtrak Southwest Chief

I highly recommend taking a long distance Amtrak route, when you can. You get to see a beautiful part of America.

I toured the US via Amtrak twice; once in 2007, and again in 2010. Both trips originated at New York Penn.

The first time I did it was on the Lake Shore Limited from NYP to Chicago, then the California Zephyr to Emeryville with a shuttle to San Francisco. Did the same route back.

During this trip, I stayed a night in Chicago, Omaha, Denver, Salt Lake City, and San Francisco.

Chicago was great. I would live here in a heartbeat if it weren't for the weather. I tried walking up a pier since I was curious about why there was a huge mound of ice there but not on the street. Bad fucking idea. Windy City is no joke. Had African food nearby; delicious.

Discovered Intelligentsia Coffee while there. Incredible. I still always stop at Intelligentsia whenever I go to Chicago.

I had a can thrown at me in Omaha while I walked eight miles to a film festival that someone advertised at a coffee shop. I saw The Joneses there. Good movie.

I was reminded during the walk that I packed LIKE SHIT for this trip. Stuffed everything (including a shit Canon 300D) into a cheap bag that my first job at Macquarie gave us. The handles broke from the bag mid-walk, so I had to get creative. Fortunately I took public transit back. Terrifying.

At Denver, a lady told me to delete a photo I took of a bus stop I took that had a bullet hole through it. (Jokes on her; I lost ALL of the photos I took of this trip!) Also walked through downtown Denver, which was very small back then. I'm sure it's insane now.

Salt Lake City was interesting. Found out here that my ex-girlfriend was pregnant with her first with someone else she was dating. Devastated me since I still had feelings for her. (This was a blessing in disguise, as it turned out that I didn't want kids. Married an amazing woman a few years later who was more aggressive about childfree than I was. We still don't have kids, and our life is amazing ten years in.)

I toured the Mormon Temple, which was fascinating. Later, I went to a rock show somewhere in the outskirts. EVERYONE there was white except me (I'm black) and EVERYONE stopped to stare at me. It was almost like one of those scenes where the music stops and everyone stares at the subject. In retrospect, it might have been the SLR on my neck. Anyway, didn't stay there long. Fuck that place still.

San Francisco was fun. Still have some photos from this part of the trip thanks to PhotoRec. I stayed at the Travelodge at Fisherman's Wharf. It was $79/night then. I walked to Sausalito and was awe-struck by how quaint the houses were.

The second time was a "coastal" tour. I took the Crescent to New Orleans, then the Sunset Limited to LAX, then Amtrak Coast Sunlight from LAX to Seattle, the Empire Builder to Chicago, then Lake Short Limited back to NYP.

On this trip, I stopped at Charlotte, Atlanta, NOLA, Houston, Tucson, LAX, Portland, Seattle, and Chicago.

Now that I had some more money from my job, I upgraded my equipment a bit. Bought a Gregory 75L pack (hugely overpacked) that I still have today and took photos on my Samsung Galaxy Vibrant (because I sure as fuck wasn't losing these photos).

I had Waffle House for the first time ever in Atlanta. As stupid as this is, this (and the weather) was the thing that made me fall in love with the South. Waffle House is incredible. Better than 99% of the diners I grew up with in NYC. Was astounded by how NYC didn't have any of these. I SWEAR the waffles were bigger then.

(Didn't know anything about its politics or propensity for Christianity and still mostly don't care. I was locked in and this was happening. Almost moved to Dallas in 2010. Almost moved to Houston in 2012, but stayed for my now-wife. Finally moved to Dallas in 2016 and then to Houston in 2020.)

Stayed at my first fancy-feast hotel in New Orleans. I thought the stay was $130 total; haha, it was actually $130/nt...and I was there for two nights! That was a lot of money for me back then. (I'm now typing this from a Ritz Carlton...that I paid with points because I'm still cheap LOL. Thanks, tech industry!) Missed mardi gras, but Bourbon St was still insane. Loved Old French Quarter; saw an awesome hillbilly river punk band there.

Houston was fun. Took the bus everywhere. Was quickly introduced to the shittitude that was Houston METRO in 2010. Walked the underground tunnel system. Really sad, as it was clear that it was bustling in the 80s and maybe the 90s. Saw black cowboys trot their horses on some main street. Didn't know black cowboys existed.

Tucson was my shortest stay followed by LAX. I didn't book a hotel there so I only had whatever time I had for the train to switch crews. Very cute city. Back then they only had a single main strip. Not sure now.

The only thing I remember about LAX is dining at Dinah's. Food was good.

So remember how I said I took the Coast Starlight? Well, lol, I actually didn't. The tracks were being renovated, so we had to take a bus from LA to Portland, riding I think the PCH along the way. Absolutely stunning...but not as much from a bus LOL.

Portland was really interesting. Very very VERY quirky town. Not the REI model city it is now. (Still love Portland; I do my solo vacations there.) Had voodoo doughnuts and Stumptown before they blew up. (This was something I planned to do, as I was massively into coffee back then, like I still am now.) Holy shit, those donuts were incredible. Spent a few hours with his attractive older woman who I went dancing with. I was into older women, so I was particularly invested in this moment, Nothing happened, but it was a good time. Stayed across the river where the Portland sign is. 0/10; would not recommend.

Seattle was fun. It rained, of course. Had Starbucks at Pike Place. It was...Starbucks. Had a lot of other great coffee while I was there. Hung out at a meetup at a bar. Met some great people there. I remember a doctor telling me that hand sanitizer was mostly worthless. This was interesting to think about during COVID. Went up the space needle.

Didn't see ANYTHING from Seattle to Chicago because of snow. Didn't even know there were cities up there. (We stopped at Minot for a bit, which surprised me.)

TLDR: As for the train trip itself: OP is spot on. DO IT. There is no better way to see how incredible the US is. You will meet (very) interesting people, the dinner is surprisingly delicious, and you are forced to do nothing for large segments of the trip since cell service is unreliable (though definitely not as unreliable as it was back when I did it; back then, most of the trip didn't have cell coverage at all, and I sure as shit couldn't afford roaming!).

I booked mine with a USA Rail pass; $500 to ride 10 segments, which is just enough to see the entire US. Slept on the seats instead of getting a fancy sleeper like OP did.

You will need to spend time planning how to do it, as the trains arrive and depart at weird times. You'll also need to account for delays, since most of the rail segments are owned by the freighting companies. Interestingly, this is a holdover from the time when these rail lines were owned by those same companies! The route names are actually what those trains were called before Amtrak (AMRC) consolidated them in the 80s.

I would absolutely recommend making a vacation out of it by staying at a few cities along your route. Lots of travelers dunk on how boring the US is and seek adventure overseas to compensate. Couldn't be farther from the truth. Every big city is different, and every state is different. If you can, avoid renting a car and use public transit or walk. Every city is the same if you drive point to point everywhere.

Thanks for reading.