Off we go...

We haven't even left Connecticut yet and there has been a bit of a setback.  It seems the trackwork that was supposed to be finished this past week on the line between Boston and Albany is not complete.  This means a bustitute* to Albany.  That's annoying.  It's about a 3 hour drive, so it looks like we'll have a lot of free time in Albany waiting for the NY portion of the train to show up.  At least it isn't one of the more visually stunning parts of the trip.  Let's hope that's it for changes...

In other sort-of-related news, the timing of this trip couldn't be better.  The idiots who recently moved in above me are crazy noisy and tonight are giving the abusive couple from a few years ago a run for their money.  It sounds like some sort of drunken orgy going on or something.  Counting down the days until no more upstairs neighbors at all.

Of course, that is the only reason the timing of this trip is good.  In virtually every other category, this time is less than ideal.  Trying to buy a house (and deal with a less than helpful bank) and get ready for a new school year while traipsing around the country certainly makes things more interesting...  Ah well, all will work out in the end, one way or another.

*Said in my best Inigo Montoya voice:
Steve, I do not think that word means what you think it means.

One week to go...

We head to Sarah & Steve's a week from today.  I think Sarah is having regrets that she volunteered to drive us into Boston.  Too late to back out now ;)

What I'm looking forward to:

• The scenery - especially on the Empire Builder (though Glacier National Park) and the Coast Starlight (right along the Pacific Ocean)
• The sounds and motions of the train
• Seeing lots of family
• Visiting Seattle
• Cheese and wine tastings on 2 of the trains - how sophisticated!
• Father-daughter bonding time
• Adding lots of new states to my list - I believe I will be up to 42 states visited at the conclusion of this trip (I will only be missing Arkansas, Hawaii, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, South Dakota, West Virginia, and Wyoming)

What I'm not-so-much looking forward to:

• Probable lengthy delays
• The same meals over and over again on the train
• Train bathrooms
• Dad snoring
• New Orleans humidity
• Too much father-daughter bonding time
• My stress level rising due to the timing of the trip (new house, new school year, oh my!) - but I will do my very best to contain it, I promise!

What I hope we do not experience:

• Any train-related accidents - been there, done that, can still hear and smell the last crash vividly - not something I need to experience again
• Bustitutes (when there is a train issue and you are bussed to the next destination)
• Crazy weather
• Crazy train companions like last time (the General and his wife) - they were, um, interesting

We're getting there...

We leave 2 weeks from today...

Thanks to the well-timed move north by Sarah and Steve, we have changed the starting point for our trip so that now all legs of our journey are end-to-end runs on each train.  So here it goes:

• Lake Shore Limited - Boston-Chicago
• Empire Builder - Chicago-Seattle
• Coastal Starlight - Seattle-Los Angeles
• Sunset Limited - Los Angeles-New Orleans
• Crescent - New Orleans-New York
• (Northeast Regional - New York-Hartford)

 Some other news and notes:

• The Empire Builder resumed its complete run in the last day or so for the first time since early June, so that's good.   
• We still don't have much in the way planned for Seattle and New Orleans.  I had hoped the Mariners were going to be in town since our hotel is just a few blocks from the stadium, but nope.  And the Red Sox will be in Seattle the weekend we are there, doh!  We do plan on taking the ferry, going to Pike Place Market, the Underground Tour, and the Space Needle.  New Orleans is a lot more dependent on how hot it is...
• Don't expect any updates from the trains.  We are postponing the cell phone upgrade since the contract isn't up yet, apparently.  The Coastal Starlight has free WiFi on their train, but none of the others do.  I promise good updates from each city, though.
• If anyone wants to surprise me and pack my apartment while I'm gone, I wouldn't be mad ;)  The timing of this trip complicates my upcoming move.  Oops!  
• I got no takers on my comment last time about the total number of minutes late are trains will be...  I bought a big wall map of the US where I'll keep track of when we reach various cities.

Random pre-trip observations

Ok, so we are three and a half weeks away from the trip.  A few thoughts:

• Here's hoping the Empire Builder is actually running by the time we go through there.  One line has just been opened by BNSF after the flooding in North Dakota, hopefully the others follow soon.
• Cell phone contract expires this weekend - time to upgrade!!  I want a fancy one for the trip.  Or an iPad.
• We still don't have much in the way of firm plans for what to do in Seattle and New Orleans.  But the hotels are booked, so that's good.
• The one thing I want to do in Seattle is the Underground Tour.  That looks neat.  We might do a meal at the Space Needle, but it's crazy expensive.
• I propose afternoon naps in New Orleans.  I have pretty much no desire to wander around in the August humidity in that city.  Evenings in the French Quarter sound nice, though.
• I still need to do some more ancestry stuff before the trip - complete Rosenberg family trees for that side of the family and some cool lineage stuff for Kathy - back to our super famous ancestors (how come people refuse to recognize my claims to the thrones of various European nations?!?!)
• Maybe find a new place to live? 
• Are there any bizarre things I need to remember to pack that I'm likely to forget?
• How many books should I pack?  I'm having a lot of trouble with this...
• Actually, I'm kinda stressed about the entire packing process.  
• I think we should place bets on the combined number of hours late we will be between all the trips...