The Train Experience, Part 2- Conclusional

Or maybe delusional. It's hard to tell, at least on the train because I was by myself and had no way to know if anything I was seeing or doing was real. That isn't unique to train travel; anytime you're alone for an extended period you start to lose context for your life and you can become doubtful or confused. That's also part of the pleasure, for me at least. You have a lot of "wait, what?" moments. I'm always so moored in all the stuff of life that it's refreshing to be completely free of it. What strikes me is that being able to do this kind of trip requires one to be pretty comfortable with one's self. You spend the major portion of your time inside your own head, so you'd better be able to stand being there.

Before I go further, here are the routes I took:

Southwest Chief (Los Angeles to Chicago- you can click for more information if you want. I boarded in Flagstaff, AZ)

Capitol Limited (Chicago to Washington)

When I last took a long train trip, around 1980, it was much more solitary than it is now. In 1980, scientists were just demonstrating that cellular phone service could possibly work- the idea of being able to seamlessly move from one transmission tower to another was radical at the time. They weren't really available for several years and weren't useful outside of big cities until well into the 90's, so the only time you could talk to people not on the train was when they would stop to change crews or gas up (long distance trains run on diesel, they're only electric around a few big cities) and stay in a station for 20 minutes or so. So the time a flood washed out a bridge in North Dakota and my train from Seattle to Chicago had to back up 50 miles and reroute 100 miles south, it wasn't until we were in Minneapolis almost 24 hours later that I could call my friend and tell her not to bother trying to pick me up at 6 PM because we would be arriving around 7 the next morning. Now, of course, I could call home at most, though not all, times and update my progress.

The relative lack of solitude, though not ideal when the point was to get some quiet, didn't really bother me. What kept running through my head the entire trip was how everyone needs to get out and take a look around. There's lots of discussion about how technology and the flood of information makes us less able to concentrate, interferes with this and that, is ruining our children, blah, blah blah. I think the real danger is if it draws us inward and stops us from exploring outside of our personal bubbles. I like to stay in my comfort zone as much as anyone, but going outside that zone has provided many of the best experiences of my life, and if you're resourceful can expand it as you go. I used to be able to do that and I was glad to see that I still could.

This country is vast. Traveling even through fewer than a quarter of the states gives you a perspective that's impossible otherwise. Every place I passed through had intrinsic beauty. Clearly, the Southwest and Cumberland areas are especially scenic, but I don't accept that the flatlands of Kansas are not beautiful in their own right. A grassy hillside looks like nothing among soaring peaks, but if it's the only hill for a mile, it can be graceful and attractive and welcoming. I spent nearly every waking minute on a 55 hour trip just looking out the window, and feeling guilty for every moment I didn't. There is always something to see.

So should you do this? It depends. Going by yourself is not for everyone. It doesn't seem odd to me, but I seem to have a much higher tolerance for solitude than most. Going with a friend or child or grandchild? Could work. Don't get a Roomette for more than one person, they're too small; the bedrooms are much roomier, but someone's still gotta sleep on the upper bunk, which scarily drops down from the wall like the changing table in an airplane bathroom. Don't do it if you're fidgety, or perhaps more important don't do it if your companion is fidgety. There no escaping that or anything else that's on the train, though of course you do escape everything that isn't on the train.

Finally, I guess the question is did the trip serve its purpose, did it help clear my head? I'd have to say that it did. I was able to renew my sense of myself a bit and get back to the day-to-day. I got some quiet and didn't have to drive 2000 miles to get it. And I hope I have another chance to take another trip like this before too long.