East to Chicago
After three nights in Sacramento, it was time to head east. I made my way to the Amtrak station and loaded my bike into a bike box. The Amtrak boxes are great. They are long enough to take the bike without having to remove either wheel.
Climb after Sacramento
Shortly after leaving Sacramento, the route takes a steady climb. The scenery in pretty good, however as I was to find out later, even more spectacular scenery was to come.
After about 5 hours we crossed the border into Nevada and arrived in Reno, famous for its casinos, albeit not as developed as Las Vegas.
After dinner we continued across the ‘high desert’. This is a pretty desolate area.
I got into a conversation with a nice young (“not yet 40”) lady called Jennifer. She told me that she lived and worked in a ‘eco village’. I was not sure what that entailed. The village is evocatively called ‘Dancing Rabbit’. As the journey continued, I was to find out more about the village and Jennifer.
Mormon Graffiti Artist
As we chatted, we were joined conversation by a young bloke who told us he was a ‘Graffiti Artist’, originally from Salt Lake City. He was interested that I came from Australia, in the context that a bloke called Lush also came from Australia. Lush is apparently a ‘world famous graffiti artist’. I looked him up on the net. As I suspected he was principally responsible for the ‘Flinders Lanes’ street art in Melbourne.
As the conversation continued, it transpired that the young graffiti artist was from a Mormon family. He was definitively a ’lapsed’ Mormon. He also told us that he was returning to Salt Lake City for a court appearance related to a charge for graffiti. He told us that he was a well-known graffiti artist will several convictions. He had also spent some time in gaol (jail for my American readers). His expectation was that he will not be sent to gaol as a result of this court appearance. He told us that his pervious experiences in gaol had not been pleasant. I took that as being an understatement. He told that at one point he was held in cell along with a convicted murderer and rapist.
As we chatted the ‘artist’ showed us examples of his work on his mobile phone. Some of his stuff was really good. Jennifer asked him heaps of questions. She was particularly intrigued as to how he could compose complex works without first having sketched them out on paper. He seems to have that ability to simple walk up to a train, or wall, and paint – with the outcome visualized in his head.
As it turned out, Jennifer was so impressed with the graffiti artist, that she gave him her business card with the possibility of commissioning him to paint a mural on a wall in her eco village. I later learned that he was keen to do the work, however, planned to bring two, or more, fellow artists long with him. Jennifer was not too sure about that.
Learning a bit About Amtrak
We arrived and left Salt Lake City early in the morning. The Rockies effectively start at that point. The train begins its slow climb across the desert and up into the mountains.
As we travelled, I got into conversation with an older bloke who made a yearly trip my train. He told me that he had a ‘Amtrak Credit Card’ and earned enough points during the year to pay for the trip. He said that his wife could not travel on the train for “health reasons”. He didn’t seem too fussed about that.
The bloke knew a lot about the route and issues related to Amtrak. The company is subsidized by the Federal Government to provide interstate passenger services. As you would expect, this is not popular with the conservative elements, both Republican and Democrat, in the Congress. The rolling stock is getting old (at least 30 years old) and is rapidly approaching the point of needing to be replaced. It appears that there is little chance that the required funds will be forthcoming. Another issue is that, with the exception of a some lines in the Northeast corridor between Boston , New York and Washington DC, Amtrak does not own the tracks. They have to use tracks owned by the freight companies, e.g. Pacific Union.
These companies are extremely profitable and would prefer to run more of their trains rather than allow Amtrak on their tracks. Apparently it is not unusual for priority to be given to freight trains over the Amtrak trains. This adversely impacts the on time performance of Amtrak.
The Scenery gets Really Spectacular
After lunch, the route began to follow the Colorado River. This is of course, the river that ‘made’ the Grand Canyon many miles downstream. At this time of the year, the river is at its fullest, and is a raging torrent.
At one point the line is on one side of the river and there is an Interstate Highway on the other. The highway incudes a bike track which is below the level of the road. In numerous sections, the bike path was under water.
As we continued, the rail line continued to follow that river. The highway veers away from the river. As such the only way to see the river at this point is to be on the train or in the river itself. This is a very popular, kayaking and rafting area. There were lots of rafts on the river. I am sure that would be an amazing experience.
We passed a section of the track where there had recently been a land slip. This forced the closure of the line and for several days and the train was redirected north through Wyoming. I had received an email some days earlier, altering me to the possibility that my train would be taking that route. Fortunately, the track was repaired prior to my departure; otherwise I would have missed the best part of the trip.
As we continued, we passed through a couple of ski villages, before reaching the highest point of the route. At this point the line goes through a tunnel. As with the whole way through the mountains, the construction of the tunnel was amazing engineering feat. The labourers were primarily Chinese. From what I understand, it was essentially slave labour.
After passing through the tunnel, the line starts the steep and relatively short decent down to Denver. The steepness of the terrain requires the line to take numerous sweeping turns. This culminates in an amazing set of 10 curves down to foot on the mountains. On the way down there are views of the Great Plains stretching across to the horizon. These continue all the way to Chicago and beyond.
Denver and Onwards
We stopped briefly in Denver . The station in Denver is being upgraded. I suspect that is a good sign.
Over dinner, I chatted with a couple of Dutch people. The woman, albeit Dutch, has spent most of her working life in France. The bloke was ‘very Dutch’. We talked about the recent European Parliament elections. The right wing parties, like Britain’s UKIP, that are against the EU, did well in the elections. The bloke appeared to be a supporter of these parties. The woman appeared to hold a contrary view. I am not sure how long that relationship will last.
After dinner, I had another long chat with the lady from the Dancing Rabbit eco village. It really sounds like an interesting place. Check out the link below.
Sleeping in the Vista Car
When I returned to my seat, I found that I had a very large neighbour. I decided to try sleeping in the viewing (or vista car). At least I was able to get horizontal.
The train was now heading across the Great Plains – lots of ‘much the same’. Jennifer left the train around 9.00 a.m. to head south to her village.
Into Chicago
I arrived into Chicago late in the afternoon and walked to the Hostel. I was so good to have a shower. I head off towards Rush St, but didn’t make it that far, before finding a good brewery bar and restaurant. The local Ice Hockey team was playing a Stanley Cup playoff game. A bit like Aussie Rules, it only seemed to get interesting towards the end.
I had fish and chips and a couple of good ales and headed back to the hostel and a really good night’s sleep.
Flickr Link
https://flic.kr/s/aHsjXWixDQ
Dancing Rabbit Link
http://www.dancingrabbit.org/
billrider2013 