Amtrak Trip 2026

 Well, here we are...after 44+ years of full time work I've finally decided to join the leagues of the retirement crowd as of April 17, 2026. It has been interesting to say the least but I've almost always enjoyed my work and the people I worked with. I'll miss the camaraderie, but as you know "The Office" just hasn't been the same since COVID, so there isn't much of that good old bonding around the water cooler any more. 

"What are you going to do with your free time?" was the most prevalent question over the last couple of weeks and I figured I would reestablish this blog so I can tell the answers to that question in near real time. First up, and I do mean first as it started on Sunday morning after my last Friday, is an Amtrak trip around the western half of the country. So, let's get started with that story, shall we? 

Amtrak sells what they call a "USA Rail Pass" and it is a one price pass that is good for 10 segments over 30 days. They define a segment as any given set of city pairs...so Washington, DC to Baltimore, MD could be a segment OR New Orleans to Los Angeles, CA could be a segment. Once you start the first ride of the pass, you have 30 days to complete all 10. After looking at the map for not nearly long enough and thinking about how best to optimize the total pass I came up with a loose itinerary that I hope will be flexible enough to keep me amused and satisfied that I'm getting the most for the cost of the pass. Right now, on the first day, the plan is to start in Charlotte, NC and then take my first segment to New Orleans. I'll only be there for about 10 hours and then I'll take the "Sunset Limited" (Amtrak has these cute names for their routes) from New Orleans towards Los Angeles, CA as my second segment. The secondary goal of this adventure is trying to see parts of America that I have not seen in my previous travels. So, after studying the map for about 5 minutes I decided that I would get off of the Sunset LTD in Benson AZ and tour around southeast Arizona to places I have been to before. After a few google searches it turns out that there are no rental car agencies in Benson, so I changed my plan to Tucson where I could visit the historic part of town, get a car and drive around to some of the famous and infamous towns of the old west. After I'm done with that tour I will get back on the Sunset LTD and go to LA and then transfer to a train down to San Diego where I'll visit with old friends Scott & Angela for the weekend, which will be a nice cap to my first week of retirement. 

So, here I am, somewhere in the 'wilds' of southern Alabama in the early Sunday afternoon after leaving Charlotte this morning at 3AM and watching the world go by my large window from the comfort of my nearly 'first class sized' seat. There's a interesting collection of people riding and working on the train and I'm sure I'll build up enough tales about them over the next few days so that I can make a whole post just about them. In the meantime I'll get back to trying to plan my next stop(s) for the next week. 

Till next time.... Ever Forward my Friends.