Circling the U.S. Chapter 28: Riding the Rails

Thursday, August 15 - Friday, August 16, 2019

When we were in Australia in 2003 for one of Rob's sabbaticals, we had the opportunity to take the overnight train from Melbourne to Adelaide. It was so much fun, sleeping in a little cabin with bunk beds and our own compact bathroom with a toilet and sink that folded up to leave room for a shower. The only disappointment with the trip was that it was too short. We arrived at our destination shortly after breakfast with no time to just sit and look out the window, watching the scenery pass by.

Ever since then I've yearned to take another overnight train ride. Traveling by train from St. Paul to East Glacier fulfilled that longing and was exactly the solution we were looking for to get us to the Rockies and the west coast before the changing seasons caught us off guard.

We booked a sleeper car, the cheapest one with two beds and a shared bath and toilet. I was stunned at how small it was. When we got on the train after 10:30 at night the beds were already set up. They took up the entire compartment.

Because Rob gets up several times during the night I had no choice but to sleep on the top bunk. I now have an idea of what it must be like to sleep in a submarine. The sheets were tucked so tightly that I struggled to loosen them enough to get covered. It may sound trivial, but with such limited space to work it was a challenge. 

In the end I did get a decent night's sleep. Early Friday morning Rob and I swapped places and I sat up in the lower bunk and watched the moon set on the prairie.

I was sorry that the beds were put away before I had a chance to take a picture, but you can see the top bunk in this photo. There was no room to sit up and no window up there. The seats folded down for the bottom bunk.

With the beds put away during the day, our little cabin was just two seats that could recline a little. It was cozy, just enough room for us. We could close the door when we wanted quiet or privacy. If we were to take the train again, I would definitely try for a larger compartment. I peeked into some of them. They had bigger beds that turned into a sofa-style seat and then had a second seat by the window. There was plenty of room to stretch out and also a private sink, toilet and shower.

Following are pictures I took from the window. I was a little sorry we skipped cycling this part of the country, but one day of it would have been enough. The train saved us over a thousand miles of boredom.

Sleeper car passengers had meals served in the dining car. All the food was prepared in a kitchen under the dining room. They were very good. For breakfast I had a cheese quesadilla with scrambled eggs; for lunch a veggie burger and salad. Rob and I shared our dinners. I ordered salmon with rice pilaf and green beans and Rob had steak with baked potato and green beans. Both were delicious.

We sat in booths that seated four so we had a couple across from us at every meal. We met a mother and son from Indiana going to stay at an all-inclusive lodge in West Glacier; a husband and wife from Rhode Island who were taking the train from Boston to Seattle. They were exploring Seattle and Portland for a week then taking the train home. Then an older couple from Washington, D.C. They flew to Chicago where they got on the train and planned to stay at a lodge in East Glacier. When I said that it was fortunate they were seeing the glaciers before they all melted, she said it was a shame that tourists were ruining them. I said, no, it was climate warming. She didn't respond.

The couple from Rhode Island told us that the train to Chicago did not have a dining car and that the meals were served airplane style - precooked and brought to your cabin.

We arrived for meals early and were seated right away. They filled up one table then the next and when all the tables were full they took names and sent you back to your seat. For a couple hours during each meal serving we had to listen to the loudspeaker calling passengers by name to the dining car.

For dinner they took reservations. Since we were scheduled to disembark around 6:30, we were assigned the first seating at 5:00.

We arrived late, in the rain. That was all okay as we had a reservation at a hostel just half a mile down the road, and we'd already had our dinner. We had to go to the baggage car to pick up our bikes. The rain reminded me of the last time I bicycled through the northern Rockies when it rained every day for ten days straight. I hoped this time would be different.

The East Glacier train station.

Throughout the rest of our journey, when we tell people we bicycled from New Hampshire, we have to qualify that by saying we took the train from St. Paul to East Glacier. Almost always the response  is, "Good idea."

From the Travel Log:

Day 71: Friday, August 16, 2019

Overnight Amtrak from St. Paul, MN, to E. Glacier, MT. We arrived in E. Glacier around 7:30 p.m., with a reservation for a private room at Brownies Youth Hostel. When we disembarked, it was cold and rainy and I remembered the last time I bicycled through Glacier. That time it was the beginning of ten days of rain.

 STATS so far: 

Most miles in one day: 78 (7/28/19 to New Franken, WI)                       

Miles traveled by motorized vehicle (approximate):
Blind River to Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario - 90
 

Lodging:
Campgrounds                         30
Warm Showers                       17
Friends/Acqaintances             10
Hotel/Motel                             11
Random Kind Strangers         2         

 Most expensive campground - $84 (Canadian) 

Number of Great Lakes We've Swum In:  4 (Ontario, Erie, Huron,  Michigan)

Number of Ferry Rides:   4
Chi-Cheemaun Ferry from Tobermory to Manitoulin Island in Ontario
Ferry from St. Ignace to Mackinaw Island
Ferry from Mackinaw Island to Mackinaw City
S.S Badger from Luddington, MI, to Manitowoc, WI (across Lake Michigan)

Number of Times We've Been Rescued by a Pickup Truck Driver: 3
When Connie's brake failed in Ryerse, Ontario
When we hit road consruction on Manitoulin Island, Ontario
Hitched a ride from Blind River to "The Soo" (Sault Ste. Marie), Ontario

Flat Tires - 4
Connie - 2 rear 
Rob - 2 (1 front, 1 rear) 

New Tires - 4
Connie - 1 front
Connie - 1 rear (7/18/19)
Rob - front & rear (7/18/19)
New Chains
7/18/19 - Harbor Springs, MI
Lost or Left Behind:
Rob’s drivers license
Rob's cycling hat
Connie's flip-flops

Lost & Found:
Rob’s cell phone
Connie's watch 

Broken:
Connie’s mirror
Inflatable pillow
Replaced:
Rob's cycling gloves
Connie's cycling gloves
Rob's lost hat
Connie's left-behind flip-flops

July 4: When I cycled solo through the American and Canadian Rockies and down the west coast in 1980, I averaged 55 miles per day over 8 weeks. That felt about right for taking time to sight see and be spontaneous when meeting fun and interesting people along the way. However, I skipped a number of sights because sometimes it's just more fun to share experiences with someone else. I decided then that if I had a traveling companion 50 miles per day would be about right. A few years later I married my lifetime traveling companion and we've done just that, until recently when we've had to respect Rob's pulmonary hypertension and slow it down a bit. This trip, we're aiming for an average of 45 miles per day, but who knows? We're both starting to feel pretty strong and we're riding together most of the time.

July 25: Here it is almost the end of July and we're still wandering around the midwest. You're probably wondering how we'll get to the northwest before the snow flies. Rest assured, we're wondering the same thing. Long riding days are coming. Or a car rental. Or hitch-hiking...

This week we finished our time in Michigan, took the ferry across the big lake to Wisconsin, and headed to Door County which was recommended by at least two people as a must-go-to destination. We were unable to find any Warm Showers people willing to put up with our company for the night, so we stayed in campgrounds every night but one, when a random kind bicyclist offered to put us up.

August 1: Mileage for Week 8: 354 miles for an average of 50.5 miles/day

Total Mileage: 2209 miles for an average of 39.5 miles/day

In 1980 I bicycled for eight weeks so I am now officially on my longest bike trip. It makes a huge difference having a companion to share the adventure with. On that trip, loneliness was my biggest challenge. Not so this trip, which I am sharing with my best friend.

We are now past the farms and into the trees. This is the land of lakes and logging country, with long distances between towns. We're riding through the alphabet. County roads in Wisconsin are all given letter names - K, J, S, CC, DDD. Easy for map and sign printing.

As a tea drinker, I could never live in Michigan or Wisconsin. I've been to three convenience stores that don't sell hot tea. And our hotel room in Crandon had a coffee maker but no tea bags. How hard is it to get a box of tea bags?

August 8: It's been an up-and-down week. I've been waking up in the morning thinking, "I want to go home." But once I'm up and have had breakfast, I'm happy to get on my bike and cover some more miles. Rob's saddle sore has slowed us down, but we landed in a pleasant town for two days. Ending the week with a Warm Showers stay helped me realize that part of my gloominess was because we haven't really connected much with the people in this part of the world. Too, I think I've been concerned about the miles we have yet to cover in Minnesota and North Dakota, but we may have solved that problem. Our Warm Showers hosts gave us the idea of taking the train to Montana. 

Week 1 (6/7-6/13/19): We rode 218 miles averaging 31 miles/day with 0 rest days.

Week 2 (6/14-6/20/19): We rode 192 miles averaging 27 miles/day with 2 rest days.

Week 3 (6/21-6/27/19): We rode 284 miles averaging 41miles/day with 1 rest day. 

Week 4 (6/28-7/4/19): We rode 336 miles averaging 48 miles/day with 0 rest days. 

Week 5 (7/5-7/11/19): We rode 323 miles averaging 46 miles/day with 1 rest day. 

Week 6 (7/12-7/18/19): We rode 193 miles averaging  28 miles/day with 2 rest days. 

Week 7 (7/19-7/25/19): We rode 339 miles averaging 48 miles/day with  0 rest days.

Week 8 (7/26-8/1/19): We rode 354 miles averaging 50.5  miles/day with 0 rest days.

Week 9 (8/2-8/8/19): We rode 244 miles averaging 35  miles/day with 2 rest days.

Week 10 (8/9-8/15/19): We rode 143 miles averaging  20  miles/day with 3 rest days. 

TOTAL for first 8 weeks is 2596 miles averaging 37 miles/day (44 w/o rest days) with 11 rest days.

 

  

Circling the U.S. Chapter 27: Twin Cities

Sunday, August 11 - Thursday, August 15, 2019

Tonya, Ian and Anise, friends who used to live in Boulder, let us stay in their beautiful home in St. Paul for five nights. We had great fun reconnecting with them after six years. Although they are of an adolescent age, Ian and Anise did not act the part. We enjoyed many "adult" conversations with them and they seemed to enjoy having us around as well. Their dog, Nova, liked having us around, too.

Sunday we wandered around the Minneapolis Scultpture Garden outside the Walker Art Center.

Tonya also took us to the Amtrak station where we booked tickets for the train to Montana. We were a little limited as to where we could get off because not every stop has a luggage service and we had to get our bikes off the train. We settled on East Glacier. We were able to get the cheapest sleeper and both bikes on the train leaving Thursday night for $679, including three meals, much cheaper than renting a car and much safer than hitchhiking. And we'd get to Glacier and the West Coast before winter.

That left us with four days to explore the Twin Cities on our own and take care of a few errands. Using our bikes for transportation worked out great as Minneapolis and St. Paul are very bike friendly, with many bike trails and bike lanes, letting cars know that, yes, bikes belong on the roads.

This bike trail took us from St. Paul to Minneapolis.

Tonya, Anise, Ian, and Nova didn't join us after Sunday as they had their own schedules.

Monday we visited the conservatory in St. Paul's Como Park. 

Tuesday we biked to Minneapolis and wandered around the Mill Ruins Park where Gold Medal Flour had its mill. We also walked through the skyways that link all the buildings to one another. Tonya told us that it sometimes gets so cold that schools close and everyone stays inside. So the skyways work to keep people safe but I can't imagine they are good for street level shops and restaurants.

We also explored the Guthrie Theatre where we enjoyed views of the Mississippi River from the Endless Bridge, seen in this photo. 

The Stone Arch Bridge across the Mississippi, was built for the railroad and is now a pedestrian and bicycle bridge. It overlooks St. Anthony Falls which I didn't think was any big deal. But then, we'd just seen Niagara Falls, so anything pales in comparison.

Wednesday we toured downtown St. Paul. 

We visited the Landmark Center, completed in 1902, which originally served as the United States Post Office, Courthouse, and Custom House for the state of Minnesota. That's it in the background. And those sculptures in front? Peanuts creator Charles Schulz was born in Minneapolis and grew up in St. Paul. 

Inside the Landmark Center we viewed several of the original courtrooms. But I was especially intrigued with the Gallery of Wood Art containing many beautiful and unique creations made of wood.

When he was in middle school, our son, Tim, made a baseball bat rack just like this and screwed it into his bedroom wall. But his bats looked nothing like these.

After leaving the Landmark Center, we had fun finding the rest of the Peanuts characters.

Then it was time to get something for dinner. We found a restaurant that served "shared" plates. Fortunately we had no trouble coming to a decision on what we wanted to share. The dishes came out as works of art. They tasted as good as they looked.

It was a pleasant change from our usual campground dinner.

Three days of sightseeing was plenty for both of us. Our train didn't leave until late Thursday night. Ian and Anise were with their dad, so we had a quiet day hanging out and packing up. I worked on my blog and we went out for a Mexican dinner with Tonya. Rob and I thought we'd ride our bikes to the Amtak station before it got dark but Tonya offered to drive us. It was a good thing. After eating dinner outside it began to rain. By the time we drove to the station it was pouring.

I am not a dog person, but I really enjoyed Nova. Whenever she wants you to play with her she takes something and brings it outside. You have to be careful with what you leave lying around. Tonya says she never chews on anything she takes but I proved her wrong. Nova took my pen and chewed the end so that it no longer worked.  

From the Travel Log:

Day 66: Sunday, August 11, 2019   

We're staying a couple days with friends from Colorado - Tonya and her daughter, Anise, and son, Ian. We haven't seen them since they left Boulder in 2013 when Ian and Anise were young enough that I babysat them and read picture books with them. It's fun to see how they've grown and that they don't mind visiting with us old people.

We'll be spending the day doing some sightseeing and a reset on our trip plans. Looks like we'll skip Minnesota, North Dakota, and eastern Montana, which will give us more time to enjoy the mountains and Pacific Northwest. No one has ever said that they enjoyed riding across the prairies, and we've seen enough trees for a while. It's time to get to the grander scenery. We think we're ready to climb those mountains.

 

Days 67-70: Monday-Thursday, August 12-15, 2019

We booked the train for Thursday night so Rob and I had three days to explore St. Paul and Minneapolis on our own. Tonya and her kids were generous in their offer to let us continue staying with them.