May 28, 2009, All Aboard!

Carol took pictures as we left Tom’s house at about 7:00 a.m. We arrived at Union Station at 12:30 p.m., Chicago time where we met my son Jeff, and then drove into the bowels of Union Station to the package receiving area where we watched our bikes being loaded with a fork lift while hoping that we packaged our bikes to be bomb proof. With Tom and I, and our bikes and gear safely loaded onto the Empire Builder Train, we headed west.

Two years go, Linda and I had taken this same two day train ride from Chicago to Seattle, taking advantage of this inexpensive, and scenic journey as a way to visit both Jeff in Chicago and son Mike in Seattle. However, this time the train would eventually split in eastern Washington state, with half the train going to Portland, OR, and the other half continuing on to Seattle, WA. Tom and I rode second class to keep costs low, and as a result, we had trouble sleeping through the two nights on the train. First class can be relatively inexpensive, but only if you book early.

As we settled onto the train, and it gained speed toward the west, we started meeting some very interesting people. At dinner, we met a guy who retired from GM at 38, moved to Montana where he started a log home factory, and recently invented a machine that makes hunting arrows much more accurate. He hopes to make millions from his recent patent. He’s also a hunter who seldom eats any meat except for game that he personally harvests from the wild.