According to my records, I am on my 500th Amtrak train. Not every train ride has been fantastic; I have to deal with rude passengers; once a bomb threat on a train, we hit someone and had someone pass away while on the train.
But on the whole, I have loved my trips, and I do not regret taking them.
My Travels
The train that I have been on the most is the Hiawatha, the long-distance train I have been on the most would be the Southwest Chief, and the only long-distance train I have ridden from start to finish every year since I started is the Capitol Limited.
I have ridden most of the Midwest Regional trains; there are a few more I still need to take; they are in Michigan and Indiana.
By now, I have been on all but a few of Amtrak’s long-distance trains, but I still want to ride the Auto Train, Silver Star, Lake Shore Limited, and the Palmetto (but I will be riding it in October). Looking at my records, I rode more than I thought!
I know train travel is not for everyone or flying, but I still think milestones are fun. I know others have ridden more trains than I.
For example, I see a guy I see almost every time I take the 337 Hiawatha from Chicago to Sturtevant. He has ridden the Hiawatha practically every weekday for over 40 years. I think I have done a lot for someone who travels mainly for fun.
Why I Travel
What I enjoy most about traveling is getting away; we all have our getaway, some it is reading, collecting things, other hobbies, or other things, legal or not. Traveling has helped my depression, for I have something that I can look forward to on a bad day, even if it is a short trip. It is lovely to sit and watch the country pass by the window.
I encourage you to try traveling if you haven’t; you could even give rail a try. I have learned so much from my journeys. Addtionaianlly I learned more about who I am. from talking to people from around the world. I learned about other countries.
I have seen both the good and bad sides of the United States. We act and treat others as citizens and what we have done with our country. I saw how we preserved the beauty of this country and destroyed other areas. Traveling has its bumps, sways, and delays, but so do our lives; these are not the issues of life but how we react to them that makes us what we are.
Safe Travels!
Kev
