The original plan was to take the Texas Eagle #22 leaving Stl at 8:30AM to Chi, arriving at 2:45. Being totally compulsive folks, we got the new modernized Stl Amshak at 6AM – OK maybe it was 6; 10. At the counter when I checked in, the ticket clerk, a sweet young lady (SYL), suggested that instead of the TE, which was running 2 hours late, we take the #302 Lincoln Service to Chi. Fine with us!
Getting to the station was interesting as our assumption that there would be good signage was totally incorrect – and my GPS was sort of buried. We forgot the rule – plan ahead, don’t assume your pal knows where you are going. L
A few minutes later the 302 arrived and the SYL pre-boarded my wife, her mobility scooter and myself. Except for the cranky gent who had to crank the lift with my wife and her scooter – he claimed that she “disemboweled it” when she hit one of the side – well she did gently tap it, but I thought that folks just couldn’t have been nicer.
We were seated in the front of a coach car with the scoot in the space in front of us. As we left Stl I plugged my GPS (Garmin c340) into the 120V outlet (2 outlets every 2-3 ft- lots of 120!) and held it to the window. Out first stop was Alton, Il and I made the mistake of telling the GPS that we were going to Alton – it kept telling me to make turns onto certain roads – I toyed with the idea of telling the conductor to relay the directions to the trains driver, but I thought better of THAT idea.
Finally, I cleared the Alton destination and the GPS became a fun toy to have – telling me where we were and how fast we were going.
Since we left our home in a flurry of confusion we forgot our food, so we purchased 2 coffees and 2 breakfast sandwiches (nice scrambled egg on a pseudo-bagel) for $11 – which I thought was a bit high, but we were a captive audience
.
In Alton, a gaggle of middle school students(?) boarded the train on a field trip to Springfield IL, the state capitol. We then had a constant stream of kids going to and from the snack bar. They were kind of cute actually. Wifey’s scooter became buried under a pile of luggage as the train had no luggage service and the conductor would not allow bags to be placed in the space in the front of the other side of the baggage car as that space was being held for a fellow in a wheelchair who was going to board later. I thought that (except for Mr. Cranky) everyone was just as nice as they could be.
At about 1PM (I really didn’t notice) we arrived in Chi – a rather pleasant trip. I walked, wifey scootered to the Metropolitan Lounge, were we checked in a collapsed, we had not slept well due to our excitement and we got up at a totally obscene hour, so we were tired. Taking advice gleaned here, I walked to Giordano’s and ordered a 12” stuffed pizza for the two of us. I quickly came to my senses (a rare event) and changed that to a 10”. I waited the expected 30 minutes and there it was, in all its melted cheese gloryosity – I took it back to wifey at CUS. We feasted. Wifey is not big on pizza, but for this pizza, she made an exception!
Then I discussed “what to do with the mobility scooter in a bedroom on the City of New Orleans” with the staff at the desk in the Metro Lounge. They told me to CHECK IT – but it weighs more than 50 lbs, I said. They said something about the ADA and I scooted to the ticket counter where the charming lady there took me & scoot into the bowels of CUS and the baggage guys there decided to put it on a pallet. NO PROBLEM.
As we were lounging in the Metro, I noticed that our original train, the TE was scheduled to arrive at 6:45PM. Sure glad we didn’t wait for that loser!
About 6:50, the redcaps put folks on a people mover and charged over to the #59 train – the City of New Orleans with our carryon luggage. After a good bit of confusion, we got to our BF – with our luggage from the rack below and awaited dinner. We met a nice young fellow who we assumed was our sleeping car attendant. We stayed in our little room until we heard a woman announce that dinner was being served. So we made our way to the dining car.
We were seated with another couple, who were returning to NOLA after a sightseeing trip to Duluth. I ordered a martini (gin, up, twist) only to be told that they were out of “Martini Mix”. Ah Yes!! – Wifey ordered the half game hen (which they referred to as chicken) I got the steak. We were both very pleased with our food. J
We got back to our room and it was not yet converted to beds. We had expected that chore to be done while we were at dinner. We hunted up what’s his name and requested that he take care of that – which he cheerily did, but he couldn’t figure our how to attach the ladder to the upper bunk. Wifey looked at the situation and said that the lower was wide enough for both of us (I weigh about 270 and she is similarly petite) so the upper got folded away.
We went to bed in Illinois and woke up in Mississippi. The wonders of modern travelJ I got us some coffee & juice, and then we went to breakfast. We thought that we had been told that breakfast was served from 6:30 to 10:30, but while we were eating, they announced that the cross-country café was closed for Crew Break.
We sat down for breakfast and were told that they were out of French Toast (Wifey’s choice) and grits. Wifey ordered the daily special – Belgian Waffle (asking me “what is a Belgian waffle?) I had the Breakfast sandwich – a fried egg, cheese & sausage patty on a pseudo-bagel. My unassuming choice was just fine, but her waffle …. The side of bacon was good.
We returned to our room – the bed was still a bed so wifey lay down and napped. She had not slept well the preceding two nights. I went to the observation car lounge (one car, half cross country café, half lounge) only to find it full of teenagers playing cards. Back to the room to write this.
Facilities in Bedroom on City of New Orleans. There are 3 3prong AC outlets – into one I plugged a 3 for one for my cell phone charger, GPS unit and laptop. The cell phone and the GPS worked fine, occasionally losing signal but what the heck. I while on the train, I was NOT able to get on the net. I would see an open Verizon Wi-Fi network but it did me no good. So this will be written and edited offline and uploaded later.
Getting to the station was interesting as our assumption that there would be good signage was totally incorrect – and my GPS was sort of buried. We forgot the rule – plan ahead, don’t assume your pal knows where you are going. L
A few minutes later the 302 arrived and the SYL pre-boarded my wife, her mobility scooter and myself. Except for the cranky gent who had to crank the lift with my wife and her scooter – he claimed that she “disemboweled it” when she hit one of the side – well she did gently tap it, but I thought that folks just couldn’t have been nicer.
We were seated in the front of a coach car with the scoot in the space in front of us. As we left Stl I plugged my GPS (Garmin c340) into the 120V outlet (2 outlets every 2-3 ft- lots of 120!) and held it to the window. Out first stop was Alton, Il and I made the mistake of telling the GPS that we were going to Alton – it kept telling me to make turns onto certain roads – I toyed with the idea of telling the conductor to relay the directions to the trains driver, but I thought better of THAT idea.
Finally, I cleared the Alton destination and the GPS became a fun toy to have – telling me where we were and how fast we were going.
Since we left our home in a flurry of confusion we forgot our food, so we purchased 2 coffees and 2 breakfast sandwiches (nice scrambled egg on a pseudo-bagel) for $11 – which I thought was a bit high, but we were a captive audience
.In Alton, a gaggle of middle school students(?) boarded the train on a field trip to Springfield IL, the state capitol. We then had a constant stream of kids going to and from the snack bar. They were kind of cute actually. Wifey’s scooter became buried under a pile of luggage as the train had no luggage service and the conductor would not allow bags to be placed in the space in the front of the other side of the baggage car as that space was being held for a fellow in a wheelchair who was going to board later. I thought that (except for Mr. Cranky) everyone was just as nice as they could be.
At about 1PM (I really didn’t notice) we arrived in Chi – a rather pleasant trip. I walked, wifey scootered to the Metropolitan Lounge, were we checked in a collapsed, we had not slept well due to our excitement and we got up at a totally obscene hour, so we were tired. Taking advice gleaned here, I walked to Giordano’s and ordered a 12” stuffed pizza for the two of us. I quickly came to my senses (a rare event) and changed that to a 10”. I waited the expected 30 minutes and there it was, in all its melted cheese gloryosity – I took it back to wifey at CUS. We feasted. Wifey is not big on pizza, but for this pizza, she made an exception!
Then I discussed “what to do with the mobility scooter in a bedroom on the City of New Orleans” with the staff at the desk in the Metro Lounge. They told me to CHECK IT – but it weighs more than 50 lbs, I said. They said something about the ADA and I scooted to the ticket counter where the charming lady there took me & scoot into the bowels of CUS and the baggage guys there decided to put it on a pallet. NO PROBLEM.
As we were lounging in the Metro, I noticed that our original train, the TE was scheduled to arrive at 6:45PM. Sure glad we didn’t wait for that loser!
About 6:50, the redcaps put folks on a people mover and charged over to the #59 train – the City of New Orleans with our carryon luggage. After a good bit of confusion, we got to our BF – with our luggage from the rack below and awaited dinner. We met a nice young fellow who we assumed was our sleeping car attendant. We stayed in our little room until we heard a woman announce that dinner was being served. So we made our way to the dining car.
We were seated with another couple, who were returning to NOLA after a sightseeing trip to Duluth. I ordered a martini (gin, up, twist) only to be told that they were out of “Martini Mix”. Ah Yes!! – Wifey ordered the half game hen (which they referred to as chicken) I got the steak. We were both very pleased with our food. J
We got back to our room and it was not yet converted to beds. We had expected that chore to be done while we were at dinner. We hunted up what’s his name and requested that he take care of that – which he cheerily did, but he couldn’t figure our how to attach the ladder to the upper bunk. Wifey looked at the situation and said that the lower was wide enough for both of us (I weigh about 270 and she is similarly petite) so the upper got folded away.
We went to bed in Illinois and woke up in Mississippi. The wonders of modern travelJ I got us some coffee & juice, and then we went to breakfast. We thought that we had been told that breakfast was served from 6:30 to 10:30, but while we were eating, they announced that the cross-country café was closed for Crew Break.
We sat down for breakfast and were told that they were out of French Toast (Wifey’s choice) and grits. Wifey ordered the daily special – Belgian Waffle (asking me “what is a Belgian waffle?) I had the Breakfast sandwich – a fried egg, cheese & sausage patty on a pseudo-bagel. My unassuming choice was just fine, but her waffle …. The side of bacon was good.
We returned to our room – the bed was still a bed so wifey lay down and napped. She had not slept well the preceding two nights. I went to the observation car lounge (one car, half cross country café, half lounge) only to find it full of teenagers playing cards. Back to the room to write this.
Facilities in Bedroom on City of New Orleans. There are 3 3prong AC outlets – into one I plugged a 3 for one for my cell phone charger, GPS unit and laptop. The cell phone and the GPS worked fine, occasionally losing signal but what the heck. I while on the train, I was NOT able to get on the net. I would see an open Verizon Wi-Fi network but it did me no good. So this will be written and edited offline and uploaded later.
