Author: Peg

Yes, I went on a little (6.82 miles according to the nano) hike up the Mt. Henry trail. There was a sign telling me that I would most likely be eaten by a bear. Sign said to shoot the bear as a “last resort”. OK.

Didn’t see a bear, black or brown. No sign of a bear either. Most dangerous thing I encountered was horse shit and a muddy pawed beagle.

Washed out my duds in the sink and artfully arranged them around the room to dry – which they did.

Had big breakfast. Skipped lunch. Veggie burger for dinner.

I am seriously impressed with the capabilities of the iPod Touch as a computer/phone replacement where there is wifi.

Continuation of iPod Empire Builder Notes. Tuesday July 24.

0545. Somewhere in North Dakota. Awake. Pinky dawn.
0615. Sainthood for whoever invented the Wisp. You so don’t want to brush teeth in train potty.
0645. Seatmate still sleeping. Smell bacon. Saw a deer bouncing thru field.
0725. Coming up on Devils Lake ND. About 90 minutes late.
0756. Breakfast coffee and Luna bar. In lounge car.
0830. North Dakota is starting to get lumpy.
0836. Rugby ND. Cloudy today.
0937. Had a little nap.

0900. Mountain Time. Nice stop in Minot. Had a nice walkabout. And it was state fair time.
0930. Road construction. Railroad that is. Sun is out.

0945. Approaching Stanley ND.
1049. Williston ND. Sleepy again. Had 3/4 of the Panera bagel and cream cheese that I bought yesterday.
1205. Well into Montana now.  Looks like ND.
1230. Wolf Point Montana   No more oil wells. But bigger farm stuff. My seatmate got off.

1300. Sagebrush. Horses.
1315. Ft Peck Indian reservation.
1333. Glasgow MT.
1350. Bathroom report. There are 66 passengers in this car. Well maybe 55 right now. There are 5 little airplane style restrooms. They are still remarkably clean. And one larger dressing room with more room. You really could fluff yourself up nicely. And it had its own restroom.  Guess where I just was!
1445. Malta MT. Wetlands. Redwing blackbirds. And sheep. Still about 90 minutes late. That’s ok.
1525. On a siding in Dawson Montana waiting on the east bound Empire Builder to come thru. Finished the kindle book I was reading. No cell signal.

1625. Hanging in the lounge car. Will get off the train in Harve.
1655. Harve. Stuck on train while it gets gas. Then they will let us out for a smoke. “Just tobacco” they said. Thank goodness for the smokers. I love getting off the train. We are over two hours tardy now. Box chicken dinners are put on the train here.  Think I’ll get one. Need some real food.

1756. Just finished off my box dinner.  Food wise it was just so-so. But satisfaction wise it rocked. A Montana bento.   Maybe in 3 hours I’ll be in Glacier.
1845. Shelby Montana. Home of 3 or 4 grain elevators and darn little else.

1915. Windmills. Lots of them.
1930. Cut Bank. A little drama just by my seat. Two sleeper ladies stop the room service delivery person how can they get their ” free” dinner since dinner is running late and they are getting off where I am.  Room service lady says lots luck. She was running late too. Don’t have those problems in coach. You just have to be in line for the chicken boxes in time. Mountains starting to show up.

1950. Horses standing around in friendly little family groups.

Made it to East Glacier Park at about 8:30pm. Not too tardy. And it smells great. All piney crispy cool.

But you had to get past a lot of wheat to get here.

The train didn’t leave until 2:15pm so I had some time to spend/kill. Went to the Federal Reserve Bank Museum. Our tax dollars at work.

Then it was back on the train. This one was much bigger. More people, bigger cars, more stuff.

Notes that I made on the iPod as I rolled along on The Empire Builder.

23.July.2012

1135.  About two hours before I need to be at the station. Went to the Federal Reserve Bank museum. Very nice. Also free. Plan was to get some cash and maybe do a boat ride. But I discovered this fine little park. With comfy chairs. I may stay here.
1400. on the train. Surrounded by Plain People. Mennonites I guess but they don’t speak English at least not among themselves.
1414. we are rolling. The Mennonite lady across the isle from me got a horseshoe out of her bag!!!So much for my nice window seat. They decided to move me to another car. Shit. Complained to early. Got a window, after all.

1600. Milwaukee smoke stop. Also potty break. Always go potty when the train stops. Getting new passengers. But no seatmate for me yet. Person just came running down the aisle-yelling stop the train. Seems that he was a visitor. Not a passenger. And the train took off with him on board.
1620. Announcement “checks your lower level doors. We have one open.”
1645. Getting a seatmate   Oh well. It was good while it lasted. Cloudy. Rain on the way.
1700. Columbus Wisconsin. And this is where a seatmate arrives. The seatmate will be going to Glacier too. Hope I get a good one.
1735.  Going thru a wetland. Saw purple loosestrife. An attractive noxious weed.
1755. Just leaving Portage Wisconsin. Seatmate is fine. She is leaving in Minneapolis.
Called Carlton.
1845. Wisconsin Dells. Had coffee and bread from lunch for dinner. Sign says Kelsey’s Annual Corn Boil. 2nd Sat. in August. Sorry miss it. Sitting here blocking traffic. Moving now. Hey the Plain Men smoke pipes.

1900. Just passed US Army Ft. McCoy.
1925. La Crosse Wisconsin.   It never rained. Soon we will be in Minnesota.
1947. Welcome to Minnesota sign.
2021. Winona Minnesota. Smoke and potty.
2136. Redwing Minnesota. We stopped to let a freight train pass a while back.
Dark now.
2200. Will be in Minneapolis in 45 minutes for a last smoke and potty break.
2350. Leaving Minneapolis. New seatmate. Going to sleep now.

The reason for coming to Chicago was to visit the Shedd Aquarium, specifically , the jellyfish.

The aquarium was great. So were the jellyfish.

The hotel is in the middle of the financial district. The makes it affordable on weekends. It also means that even the Starbucks is closed. A person could starve. My room has a coffee machine, cream, and lots of k-cups. And a microwave. Lean Cuisine and coffee will be dinner. Chicago hotdog with all that stuff they put on dogs here was lunch.

Leaving for East Glacier at 1415 tomorrow.

Notes that I made as I rolled along on The Cardinal. Continued.

21.July.2012 

0130 Been napping. Train going faster. Those coal-loading operations are magical in the dark.  Everyone watched movies on their computers.
0215 Cincinnati crying baby arrives in seat in front of me.
0545 Indianapolis adding 2 cars here. Parked just outside Colts stadium. Says Lucas Oil Stadium in big red letters.
0603 underway. Went to potty while stopped. A very good plan. And used a Wisp. Coffee after 0630.
0700 Crawfordsville the conductor says we will be on time to Chicago. Will wait and get coffee there maybe. Who was I kidding of course I didn’t wait for coffee. Coffee and a Luna Bar for breakfast.
0908 Central Time. Stopped in Colton IL. Freight train had unexplained application of brakes. Spent the rest of the trip into Chicago talking to my seatmate – a trucker returning home to Chicago after dropping off a truck in Charleston.

Off the train. Having a smoke in Thurmond WV. Hey why should the smokers have all the fun?

On Friday I learned :

• I can not read on the train.
• Always use the head when the train is stopped.
• The food isn’t very good but the coffee is fine.
• Amtrak loves a/c.

Notes that I made as I rolled along on The Cardinal.

20.July.2012

1135 Underway on time.
Train full. Isle seat. Handicapped woman in window seat.
Okay this is home for 24 hours.
1230 coming into Culpepper. Been out in the country for most of the ride so far. Too bumpy for me to read.
1415 Charlottesville got off the train for a non-smoke break. Train still full.
Saw cows horses geese chickens deer so far.
1540 just left Staunton about 30 minutes late. Saw apple trees. Ate sandwich number one.
1640 Clifton Forge somewhere in VA my seatmate spilled her Pepsi in my purse. It wasn’t diet. Will I attract ants?
1740 Greenbrier. 40 minutes late.
1815 Alders in WV cute little town on New River.
Saw wild turkeys llama
1945 got off the train for a non-smoke in Thurmont.
2030 the New River is too lovely to be in WV.
2055 Montgomery interesting looking town
2130 leaving Charleston. Moved to window. Have new seatmate.  Total dark outside now.  Just finished last sandwich.

Since I am not going on a plane – I put a pocket knife, can opener, fork and spoon in the kit. I have come to accept that train travel in North American (outside the DC-NY-Boston and Toronto-Montreal routes) is not really “transportation”. It is “entertainment”. The train that I’ll be taking to Glacier Park and Seattle is running 28 hours and 35 minutes late today. It is actually yesterday’s train. Today train is only 11 hours late. The train I am taking to Chicago ran almost 4 hours late today. Every empty corner in my backpack is filled with granola bars and almonds.

The hits just keep coming. This from the NPS Glacier Park web page.

Weather – Flash Flood Watch
The National Weather Service has issued a flash flood watch for Glacier National Park on Friday, July 20 from noon to midnight. Heavy rain, lightning, hail, and winds up to 60 miles per hour may occur. Rainfall up to 2 inches per hour is forecasted.

This is about as good as the iPod camera can do. I think I could knock some of the pinkness out with some post processing. And, I tried the movie feature. I don’t really like or do movies. But, the movies are no better or worse than the stills.

I am so not ready to go. Maybe there isn’t that much to do to get ready. How hard is it to ride a train (and one MegaBus) for 3 weeks?

Trying the camera out in ideal conditions. Now can I get another image in?

More testing.

Last one.

So, what did I learned from this? The iPod has a very lame camera. Post processing doesn’t help. It seems to hurt. Bright days help. Close up is a bad idea. I have a couple more days to experiment.

The camera is pretty shabby. As promised. But everything else is pretty cool. I traded in the old one. They “gave” me $40. Told Carlton it was like a buying a new car, nevermind that the old car stills runs OK… Spending all afternoon getting it setup.

OK, got all the tunes together. My GNATT play list. I selected what I had or what I liked best not necessarily the “definitive version” of the various songs.

Everyone in the entire country has heard of Washington DC’s former mayor, Marion Barry. He will be forever remembered by the famous line “The bitch set me up”. (Aside: Carlton has played tennis with Mayor Barry. Not recently – but about 10 years ago.) He was mayor for about 16 years. You name it – he had it – as far as scandal and controversy went. He is still on the city council and regularly has little – shall we say “issues”. Nevertheless he remains a man of enormous popularity and no little influence. Especially among the voters in DC Ward 8

Few outside of the beltway will have heard of the current DC mayor, Vincent Gray. He is perhaps a far sleazier mayor than crack toking Marion ever was. And, Mayor Gray is totally without charm, charisma, or good cheer. And did I mention, he looks like a silent film era vampire?