The third and final leg of the trip begins

Written on Wednesday, December 18

Day three began early (again) with another mostly sleepless night. I watched

Pittsburgh roll past, lightly snowing as the lights twinkled. Then I dozed for a bit and woke up as Cleveland's red-lit skyline passed. The next time I came to consciousness, the sun was rising and we were a couple of hours away from Chicago. We arrived late, but that was no big deal, just less time to wait around in the lounge for the final leg of our trek to Montana. We boarded and found our roomette, this time on the first floor, so we did not have to schlep our bags up the narrow winding stairs to the upper rooms.

Chicago as seen from the train.

Overall, train travel is WAY more civilized than airlines. You can take more stuff with you, you are not subjected to the dubious "security" provided by the TSA's invasive searching of your bags and your person. You don't even go through a metal detector, nor did we have to show eight forms of ID and promise our first-born child to get on board. There is more space to move about and more personal space, even in coach. Oh, and they still feed you! Pretty darn good meals too...and there are snacks and drinks and alcohol for purchase (reasonably priced). The drawback, of course is the time. We will arrive in Williston, ND tomorrow morning after two and a half days of travel, when the plane, even with multiple stops, would have been there within a half a day. But hey, it's the experience that matters. If you are open to it, there are all sorts of people to engage with.

Now, I am off to experience the on-board shower because I can no longer tolerate my icky hair and we shall see how that goes.

Sunset I

Sunset II

Flight of birds