America by Rail

   This is the blog post I wrote while coming back home. I'm now safe and sound in Blackfoot!

   Can I just say before I start how cool technology is? I’m in a train that came from Chicago that is currently winding its way around the top of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado, typing away on my laptop, listening to my American Authors album. When my battery dies, I can just plug it in and keep going. When you think about it, that’s pretty dang amazing.

   Guys, I am so excited right now. I'm in the middle of real mountains again. The sky is so close, I'm sure I could touch the clouds if I just reached out my hand. The forests here stay green all year long, like they're supposed too. It's good to be back in the West where I belong. But I digress.

   So although you all won’t be reading this until I’m back safe and sound in Blackfoot, I have currently been traveling for 48 hours. I’ve been on a train for 44 of those. I started out in Charlottesville, Virginia on Wednesday and by (hopefully) 11 tonight (Friday), I’ll be pulling into Salt Lake City!

   I started in Charlottesville, with the typical old South architecture. Think red brick, white trim, covered porches, and rocking chairs. All of the towns in Virginia have beautiful buildings, and are so full of history! My bones ached to know the stories they contained.

   Traveling by train means that for the most part, you are going through the back door rather than the front. I’m taking a backstage tour of America. West Virginia in particular made my imagination go wild. Let me paint a picture: imagine tall hills (almost mountains) so covered in trees bright with new leaves that you can’t see the actual hill. At the foot of the hills is the smoothest river you’ve ever seen, as green as the trees it’s reflecting. Bends in the river allow for little meadows, which often contain an abandoned structure. Usually a dilapidated shack with a rusty tin roof. Of course, there were actual towns as well. But remember, this is the backstage. I saw one town smaller than the football field it contained, situated along both banks of the river. All the houses were on stilts, and instead of a back yard, people had a canoe tied to a tree. Another town that we stopped at looked just like how I picture the town in To Kill a Mockingbird, although that’s actually in Alabama. All of the train stops were teeny-tiny, but again with that beautiful southern architecture. As we slowly wound our way through West Virginia, I was struck with a feeling of what can only be described as reverence. The reverence a bibliophile has stepping into the Library of Congress, or the reverence of a historian examining ancient documents. I just know that those hills contain secrets I can only imagine, hushed by the luscious foliage and ancient rocks.

   Sometime during the night and early morning we passed through Kentucky, Ohio, and Indiana. I woke up when we stopped in both Cincinnati and Indianapolis, and I got out onto the platform with all the smokers so that I could officially say I've been to both cities. From my perspective, both were very ugly, but that's what happens when you enter through a back door. You see all the things that have been hidden out of sight.

   We pulled in to Union Station in Chicago about 10 in the morning, and I had four hours before I needed to get on my second train. So I put my suitcase in a locker (which used your fingerprints as a lock!) and explored for a few hours. Sears Tower was not even a block away, so I went up that. Thursday is a good day to be a tourist, because the only other tourists are school groups, which isn't bad. Except for middle school groups, which was what I got to deal with. Apparently, regular cameras are just too simple for a tech-savvy 14 year old, because the kid who took my picture when I was on the Sky Deck didn't actually take my picture. So my only proof are pictures of my feet, since selfies are overrated. I had a famous stuffed crust pizza for lunch, and walked around for a couple more hours. Fun stuff.

   The train I'm on now left Chicago Wednesday afternoon, and it's been fairly boring until we hit Denver this morning. Iowa and Nebraska just aren't that exciting, especially in the middle of the night. Currently, we're waiting, sideways, as a ground crew goes ahead of us to make sure the tracks are safe. We're in the middle of some canyon in the Rockies. Have I mentioned how gorgeous it is yet? Spring is the perfect time to take a train through the mountains.      

   Train travel in general is pretty great, as long as you’re okay with the slow pace and the long delays. Because of property rights, freight trains always have the right of way, so sometimes passenger trains have to wait for long periods of time. But the leg room is fantastic, you actually get to see everything, and for the most part, people are much friendlier than at airports. Also, I didn’t have to go through any security, have my bags checked, or even show my ID. I got to take my own food, and they didn’t care about liquids. So, I’m definitely taking the train rather than a plane whenever possible! But mostly, I’m excited to be back in Idahome!