Our ‘official trip’ starts on Sunday but Denise and my adventure starts a little earlier.

She lives in Muskegon, MI and took the high speed ferry across Lake Michigan to Milwaukee where I picked her up and we traveled to Madison and spent the night at our house.

The next day emJay and neighbor John shuttled us to Columbus, our nearest Amtrak station that takes checked luggage, for our 5:00pm departure.

Thanks to John for the use of his pickup and his time transporting us north. Lots of gear!

At Columbus we met ‘Amtrak Bob’, right, who handled our checked luggage and got our travel plans all squared away. On the left is Jimmy who lives in Milton and is a ‘train spotter’. Bob says Jimmy is it at the station everyday! Even has his own earmuffs!!!

A pleasant surprise was that Amtrak no longer requires bikes to be boxed for travel. You just roll the bikes down to the checked luggage point . . .

. . .  and ‘Amtrak Bob’ hands them up to the loading staff. The are evidently hung from the ceiling of the luggage car. Easy on, easy off . . . just like on the Continent!!!

The train pulled out at 5:02pm, two minutes early. Soon we met Cherie, who we termed our semi-conductor. She works across three cars and reports to the conductor. She probably has an official Amtrak title but we thought Semi-Conductor seemed appropriate. She ruled the roost in the three cars. When we arrive in Everett, on Friday, we ride 7 miles to the ferry that will take us to Whidbey Is. Ends ups she lives two blocks from the ferry landing in Everett! She also found our fellow rider Jim, who had boarded in Chicago, ahead of us. We all had a nice chat and we invited ourselves to stop at her home in Everett for showers. Unfortunately she is traveling to the end of the line in Seattle before returning home..

At  7:15 we were seated for dinner in the dining car as we passed over the Mississippi River at LaCrosse . . .

. . . where we shared a table with Joan from Illinois and Steve from New Jersey. Steve is a retire vocational instructor and is traveling to Seattle. Joan is only going as far as Fargo where she will ‘detrain’ at 3:30am to attend an in-service massage seminar starting tomorrow. She specializes in ‘foot massage’. Not massaging YOUR feet, but using her feet to massage your back, arms, legs, etc. More surface area in her feet than in her hands.

Lynne was our waitress and was a real character. She is retiring after this trip ending a 12 year career with Amtrak. She uses Lynne or Shirley as a name. Lynne when the customers fill out the service survey and they feel she has done a good job and Shirley when they are not happy!!!! I had the Amtrak Angus Hanger Steak, mashed potatoes, veggies and Whiskey chocolate bundt cake for dessert. l washed it all down with a half bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon!!! Fell asleep right away!!! But it didn’t last!