Thanks for following our journeys!!! Mike and I are in the Met Lounge at Portland... with about a 90 minute layover... We got off #27 which was 5 minutes early... and are waiting on #506 to Kelso-Longview... where we'll have about an hour and catch the S/B Coast Starlight down to LAX.
Where should I pick up?? I guess where I left off in Red Wing!!!
Anyway, I called "Ispolkom" just after Red Wing and we arranged for a "meet and greet" with Mike and I at the MSP station. I wasn't sure he and Mrs. Ispolkom would still want to meet us since we were an hour late... but he was more than happy to come at 11PM on a Friday night. VERY COOL!! As a side note, I met "Ispolkom" through the forum about a year ago. He saw one of my trip plans and we found out we'd be riding #3 and #14 together... so we met up when he got on in ABQ... and we had almost every meal together. He's a very nice guy... funny... and knowledgeable about trains and esp the Great Northern. Since then, I visited him while volunteering in Oct 2010 for the Friends of the 261... and he was also (totally randomly) on the same Cardinal Dome trip we were on back on October 30-31.
"Ispolkom" came up to the #27 sleeper almost after we got on... We gave him and his wife a quick tour of the Bedroom Suite. As I mentioned, up until this trip... I never did that before... and I dont think they saw the partion opened. I am convinced (and I think "Ispolkom" too... that the Bedroom Suite is THE WAY to go if you have the cash or AGR points for it. A lot of space during the day and privacy at night.
Unfortuneatly with the fact we were running late -- the stop at MSP was not very long at all -- maybe 20 minutes. So we went down and chatted for a bit in the vestiubule... so they wouldnt get trapped on the train.
Thanks for the "goodies" BTW "Ispolkom" you "donated" to our trip... VERY THOUGHTFUL and ABOVE AND BEYOND... your Felipe's mustard will be in the mail as soon as I get back to pay you back for everything.
After they left, we ended up calling it a night... I fell alseep by St. Cloud.
I slept okay on the train the first night -- but was wide awake for whatever reason by 5:30AM the next morning... sorta sat in bed until around 6AM before drawing open the drapes.
We were about 25 miles east of Devils Lake, ND -- and yes -- there was a raging blizzard going on out there. NOT what you want to see when you open the blinds... right?? But it was kinda cool -- the road were snowcovered and we didnt see a soul out on US 2 which parallels the tracks.
We had breakfast that morning with a woman who was from ND, but lived in Florida now... what a shock to the body I'm sure. She was mentiniong more about the fact that Devils Lake is expected to flood over the tracks this spring and summer. AND, there was a newspaper article about the same thing in the Minot paper which we got later in the morning. I guess Amtrak is already planning the bus bridge to Grand Forks.
We got off in Minot... the stop again was shortended because of the delay... but I still had time to hike it up to the engine and grab a picture.
All through ND and MT... the ground was very snow covered and it was on and off snow showers.
I did get off in Williston, but we were allowed on the ground for 2 minutes with conductors being dilligent about making up time.
For breakfast on Day #2 I had the pancakes... Mike had the omlet. For lunch on Day #2 it was grilled cheese for me...
After a little nap, we got off in Havre, MT... at this point we were an hour late and again, shortened time. Just enough time to get a shot of the steam engine and the little park behind the station with the US and Canadian Border patrol shaking hands. Speaking of the Border Patrol, there were 2 agents walking the platform at Havre. Again, not really sure what the point was -- they were friendly, smiled, and walked past us.
Kinda weird about the wine and cheese tasting... no one seemed to know when it was going on. The dining car stewart said 3PM, but the sleeping car attendant said not until AFTER Havre. Well, it ended up being after Havre... and because of a lot of frieght traffic near Harlem, MT... they didnt start the wine and cheese until 4:30PM... and it was sorta rushed because there was 5PM dinner. Mike and I did make out with 2 of the 4 bottles of wine they have away at the trivia game. The attendant saw my Amtrak t-shirt and declared NO Amtrak trivia because "this guy will win it all"... Hahahaha.
On the train at Havre, I ran into 2 friends of mine from Montana... Larry and Art. A very random meeting since I didnt know they'd be on the train. The 3 of us met on #421 either back in 2007 or 2008. We got to chatting because I knew they were railfans taking #421 from CHI-LAX instead of #3. Hahaha... NO ONE except rail fans would do #421 from CHI to LAX because of the extra day on the train. That was really the "trip from hell"... so we had on a bonding experience on tha train. "Trip from hell" because the boarding was delayed in CHI when they found a dead body in the restroom of CUS... they hauled off a guy with a loaded gun in the next roomette to me at SPI... there were a hooker working the train from DAL to AUS... and we got bussed from Tucson to LAX due to a derailment. So we spent the evening re-counting our crazy trip. I guess Art & Larry were heading to Winter Rail in Seattle.
Mike and I called it a night after Whitefish. I was awake at Spokane when I had to use the bathroom -- but decided not to go outside and take pictures... it just seemed WAY too cold.
We woke up this morning just west of Pasco, WA. Had the "continental breakfast" in the lounge car... watching the Columbia River Gorge. There was a railfan on board from PDX who sat next to us and pointed out some of the sites along the way in the Gorge like Multnomah Falls and Bridge of the Gods, etc.
We arrived into PDX 5 minutes early.
I am writing this while Mike is going for a stroll. At 12:15PM PT we are catching #506 upto Kelso, WA and then will have an hour layover there and will catch the Coast Starlight SOUTH. We're doing that to ride the Cascades -- and normally without the extra 2 hour delay on #11, you couldnt ride #506 to Kelso.
Should be fun... I have only been on the Cascades once before... and that was for like 10 minutes. We'll only have 50 minutes this trip, but better than nothing... right???
Until we meet again...