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Well, we're finally off. I wasn't sure I'd make it through the last week of preparation. I don't know how many times I packed and repacked my backpack over the last few days, trying to find the best organization. (I have a lot of crew equipment in there now, as we travel.) Of course, I'll have to figure it all out again when we get to Philmont.
We met bright and early at 5:45 am to be sure we were ready for our 6:30 train. Everyone made it by the designated time. There was some last minute repacking at the train station, putting boots inside the packs, for example, so they wouldn't be lost in transit.
I had called Amtrak before leaving home to see if the City of New Orleans train was on schedule, but they didn't have any information. As it turned out, the train was over two hours late. We were supposed to have an eight hour layover in Chicago, so there will be no problem making our connection to the Southwest Chief. But the guys were going to have to curtail their sightseeing.
We checked our packs to Chicago rather than carry them onto the train. The guy at the station was a bit grumpy about having to deal with all of the backpacks, but it was a good thing we did. We wouldn't have been able to find places to stash them in the train.
Two days before we left, I noticed that my camera was acting up. Something was obstructing the little leaf shutters that cover the lens when the camera is off. I popped the cover to try to clean it out, and ended up dropping a tiny (about 1/16 inch long) pivot pin onto the kitchen floor. It took me over an hour to find it, but I did, and managed to reassemble the camera. It seemed to be working fine, but while we were waiting for the train I found that the cover had come loose, and the little leaves were coming out. I did a quick field strip of the mechanism there beside the tracks without dropping anything, and it seems to be working. I'll be very disappointed if my camera, which served me so well on the 1994 Philmont trek, dies before we even get started. [As it turned out, the camera worked fine.] Don says he's amazed that I got it back together.
When the train finally arrived, we were told that there was standing room only. The train personnel didn't know there was a big group getting on, so they weren't prepared. We managed to find seats, though.
There was only one functioning bathroom for the whole train.
Train travel is much more comfortable than flying, per unit time. The seats are very nice, much better than coach airplane seats, and we can explore the whole train and the lounge car. I propose a new Amtrak slogan: "You'll have plenty of time to be more comfortable."
We didn't have a whole lot of time to play around in Chicago. The management let us store our packs in a locked lounge while we explored the downtown. We hiked up Wacker Dr. and then up Michigan Ave., had a late lunch at McDonalds at Water Tower Place, then hiked back, leaving not a lot of time to spare. I don't understand why anyone would want to live in a big city.
The Southwest Chief left at 5:10 pm, right on time.
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