Benale, you summed it up
PERFECTLY! If I can spend 4 days on the train getting somewhere, spend a few days at the somehwere and then 4 more good train days getting home from the somehwere, then it is for me! And if I just had 8 days, I would cut out the middle part
Of course most my friends think I'm nuts and won't even consider taking a train somewhere, maybe other then down to Ft. Worth on the
Heartland Flyer but while they get strip searched at the airport and enjoy 30 inches of pitch crammed in with 200 other galley slaves who all have empty billfolds once the airlines pilfered them dry, I'll be sitting back and relaxing in comfort.
I like your idea of bringing along a small radio, especially now that it is harder to get a local newspaper along the way.