Riding on the Train

Rolling along through Wisconsin's sand counties and thinking of Aldo Leopold I surpass the 10,000 mile threshold for my summer tour of all the baseball stadiums. At this point of my trip the train has become a second home for me. As I move from city to city and from friendly couch to hotel bed, everything about my situation is constantly fluxing: the interesting people I meet; the strangers I rely on to not steal my laptop or food; the wonderful friends that take me in for a night or two (I wouldn't have made it halfway without you); the stadiums I see; the seats I choose to watch the game from; the teams that are playing; the transportation systems of the different cities... I realize that all lives are constantly changing, but usually there is a constant in those lives aside from the changing. For me it usually comes in the form of my place of residence and the people that I live, work, and play with. But now, for two months I've had only two constants and one of those is just a game. The other, of course, is the train. I thought I'd use this blog post to talk about the train and why I like it so much.

The sun is starting its descension into the western sky. Not quite dusk and no longer mid-afternoon, it's the time of day where the shadows begin to grow towards noticeable, just like the thoughts of scrumptious dinners. If the time was a month it'd be September: a time that's as full of the promise of the beauty ahead as it is full of reflections on the fun recently had. If it was a picture it'd be a polaroid out of the camera but not yet developed. If the time was a human it'd be trying to blow out all 50 candles, with gusto. And lucky me, I get to sit in the observation car of the Empire Builder at this time, to watch the beautiful Wisconsin countryside pass by.


The observation car is among the few different cars on every train, and not all trains are the same. Generally on the long, double decker, cross-country trains like I'm on right now there is a dining car where meals (breakfast, lunch, dinner) are served to those passengers that make reservations after boarding; an observation car that has chairs facing the large windows and where people come to hang out and socialize; a cafe car which is usually found below the observation car where riders can get drinks and snacks; sleeper cars where those with money spend nights in beds; and coach cars that seat the majority of ticketed passengers, two on each side of the aisle. Each of these cars provides an experience unique to train travel.

I like to spend most of my waking hours in the observation lounge. There are a number of different activites that I enjoy in this car based on how I'm feeling. Listening to music and staring out the window at the landscapes whizzing by is chief among them. The seats in the observation car are situated to provide easy viewing. I like to choose a music that fits both my mood and the scenery before kicking back and letting the senses take over. Some of the more memorable music/landscape combos have been: Yo la Tengo/NYC; Air/Sierra Nevadas; Neil Young/Canada; American Analog Set/Pacific Coast; Bob Seger/Iowa; Sonic Youth/NYC.

Other times I'll read or write. Although lately I've spent most of my time doing the latter. I started out excited to read books set in the different areas of the country that I was to pass through. For instance, I read Steinbeck's In Dubious Battle while I was in California traveling up and down the San Joaquin Valley. But as I journeyed on I found that I needed to devote more time to keeping up on my blog. Between writing about the different games and trains, the people that I've met, the bike rides I've taken, daily updates, ridiculous fiction, and the extent to which I enjoy listening to music and looking out the window I found that reading has slowly been getting squeezed out of the rotation. But, I still write frequently and the tables in the observation lounge act as excellent desks. Does that make my computer a desktop? A tabletop?

The other activity that I like to take part in is meeting new people. Although this can occur anywhere in the train, the lounge is where the talkers head off to and is really your best bet. There is usually no shortage of characters for the lone traveler to strike up a conversation with. In fact, since I've started typing this I have had two separate conversations. The last included two gentlemen on their way to Whitefish, MT from Buffalo, NY. They are meeting their wives, who decided to fly, for what sounds to be a fantastic vacation in the rockies of Montana. Just like that conversations pop up. Sometimes you can end up spending the whole rest of the trip meeting an interesting person and other times it's just a short Q & A then back to your business. I've met dozens of terrific folks that I'll have the pleasure of remembering for the rest of my life. And I hope that they remember me too.

When I'm not in the observation car I'm usually in the seat assigned to me in coach. The term coach has a negative association for most people because of airplanes. It is evident that comfort is not the number one priority for the airlines. Of course the speed and efficiency with which commercial jets transport people are the main attraction and they don't need to cater to their passengers' leg or elbow room. Trains, however, most certainly do and I'm a big fan. Amtrak puts two seats in the same amount of room an airplane has three. Often times the chair next to overnight passengers remains unoccupied thanks to the help of the conductors that assign the seats too. This is nice and can allow a rider that wants some shut-eye to spread out and doze undisturbed. But I've been on a few overnight trains with a person seated right next to me and it hasn't been too much of a problem because the seats are roomy and the leg room is more than adequate. Other nice features are that most chairs recline substantially, have leg rests to prop up your feet, and are equipped with foot rests on their backs totally tasked to take tired toes.

The feet do get weary from wandering around. But my mind seems to stay vital and curious. Maybe I was just born with a lively mind. Although I remember many times earlier in my life where I was bored. Not from a lack of things to do, but from a lack of personal interest. So maybe I've developed a thirsty brain. This seems to be a more accurate assessment, but I easily recall driving across country (or flying over it) and completely shutting off the curiosity engines and diverting all power to the biological drive center (eat/sleep/breathe). I say the difference is the train.

The train moves slowly from one geography to another. So does the automobile, but one doesn't have to drive the train. At all. Ever. Which, if one chooses, allows 100% of the passenger's energy to solely concentrate on the subtle changes from place to place. And you can forget about airplanes. What keeps my mind curious and sets trains apart from these other modes of transportation is the understanding, and full appreciation of, the journey as an experience rather than just a destination. It's as much about getting there as it is about where you are going. I think this can be said for a great many things and is true of life in general.

As I've traveled along I grew to know all these things individually and experience them multiple times. It's the comfort that comes with knowing what to expect (or what not to expect) that I've begun to crave. I look forward to every next train ride with all of the excitement and enthusiasm that I started my trip with, but now I've added a new dimension, that of reliable surroundings, to my pleasure. It's an interesting pursuit trying to balance the dynamism of the adventure - new, unknown and exciting - with the calm feelings of comfort that are provided by the familiar like a warm blanket. On my tour I've had no choice. I set the balance from the start: lots of adventure and a smidge of comfort. There is no doubt that returning to my own bed and a falling into a daily groove will feel nice. It's something I'm looking forward to immensely. But for three more weeks the train will continue to be my home away from home and I'm not sure if I'm quite ready for that to end.