Riding Chicago's El, Amtrak to Emeryville and Seattle

But it was not all about trains; a meetup with a long-lost relative and canine hounding

There is a saying: “Chicago’s El is Hell”. I have always been a willing customer and afficionado of public transport – evaluating its economic benefits as part of my consulting jobs as well as utilizing its convenience and affordability when traveling. I recently spent several days’ navigating the subway/tram/ferry system of Istanbul; Munich’s U-Bahn and S-Bahn systems so easy to navigate, even for non-German speakers like myself. 

It’s been many years since I rode Chicago’s “El”. During the summer of 1967, taking a summer transportation course at Northwestern in Evanston; the next year living in Chicago’s near north side and commuted to the 16^th street locomotive workshop during my Amtrak days. But recently, I found myself navigating the infamous Chicago Transit Authority once more for a date at Union Station with Amtrak’s California Zephyr.

Since 1984, the El reached O’Hare Airport so I looked forward to a ride on this new rail line (new to me) with only a two-block walk to Union Station. O’Hare, Rosemont, Cumberland – these were new stations to me on the EL; but soon there were old friends of Irving Park, Division, Clark/Lake….I was now in familiar territory. Getting off at Clinton, following the signs to “Union Station”, it was indeed, an easy two-block walk.

I am not a novice when it comes to Amtrak – in days of yore (1974) living in Washington, I was their Manager of Budgets and Costs; since then, after logging many rail adventures – mostly along the East Coast and Midwest; I desperately needed some West Coast exposure. The rail trip would be Chicago – San Francisco (Emeryville); followed by Emeryville to Seattle.

Chicago’s Union Station

In Union Station’s Pennsylvania lounge, photo of the Pennsylvania Railroad’s iconic “shark nose” locomotive

My roomette aboard the Zephyr

Chicago – Emeryville

All aboard the California Zephyr - on time out of Chicago, but some difficulties will appear before the first night is over.

First the Windy City’s suburbs then several hours’ of fields of corn drifted by my window; imagining iconic baseball players emerging from the acres of tall stocks of maize with Kevin Costner looking on ala “Fields of Dreams”. Illinois turned into Iowa – a new state for me, and a stop at Ottumwa resurrected memories of Radar O’Reilly of MASH – wasn’t he from Ottumwa?

First sign of trouble surfaced during the early morning hours in western Nebraska. An electrical fault that rendered normal on board power useless was being investigated while the train sat stationary for several hours, with only emergency lighting operational. Four hours later, we began to move, slowly, without enthusiasm. Turns out an underpowered freight train lay ahead of us, unable to make the gradient – then out of nowhere, a rescue locomotive was dispatched to the ailing freight. All this and we soon were more that 4.5 hours behind schedule – and the problems compounded as our engine crew “timed out” and had to be relieved. But never mind, the Amtrak train schedule forecast (an app on the phone which shows the position of each train and projected running times to destination) showed an on-time arrival at Emeryville (overly optimistic – not going to happen).

Just after leaving a mid-afternoon arrival at Denver (instead of mid-morning, as scheduled) there was just enough time to catch a glimpse of the disappearing plains as we climbed the steep slope of the eastern slope of the Rockies.  

Morning brought Utah and the salt flats of Nevada as we prepared the ascent of the mountains of central California and descent into the Bay area. By now the train was running about 6 hours late and even Amtrak’s optimistic updated timetable promised a Bay area arrival of after 10 pm.

In his iconic book The Great Railway Bazaar, Paul Theroux wrote: “I sought trains, I found passengers”. Amtrak seems to have emerged from the Covid-inspired “dining car prison” scenario where since 2020, most passengers choose to order food from the dining car (via the sleeping car attendant), then white plastic bags are delivered to the passenger’s room where it is devoured in solitary splendor. All the ambiance of a McDonald’s Drive – Thru. Human interaction in the dining car has always been on of the great pleasures of train travel – thankfully, this feature is now returning to Amtrak.

He could only have been a tenured math professor, was my initial impression of this white – haired wizened creature that shared my dinner table as the Zephyr plodded westward – living in Rochester, New York, his destination was the Math Fest of the Mathematics Association of America convention in Sacramento. Also at the lunch table was Margret, a Sacramento resident, returning home, and Zack, a Chinese student from Shanghai just finishing his studies at UCLA – Zack was ambivalent about returning to China and was considering remaining in the US.

California Zephyr at Denver station – at this point, only about four hours late

The next day I was to meet more Rochester residents – Harry and Madaline, who were quite familiar with a little – known part of Canada that I visited in 2019 - Salt Spring Island, one of the Southern Gulf Islands located between Vancouver Island and the British Columbia mainland. Ross, a former consulting colleague of mine now calls Salt Spring his home after a career of transport consulting in China and India. They were on holiday on Salt Spring also in 2019; perhaps we dined at the same restaurant? 

Other fellow passengers included several gay couples as well as a young girl with a nose ring and the results of ear stretching; a typical practice among some African tribes, particularly the Masai, where the ear lobe is stretched and a large hole appears, symbolizing adulthood and courage. 

In the Sightseer Lounge crossing the Rockies

When traveling, what fellow travelers do you like to meet?  Those from your home country, fellow Americans, with similar life experiences? I discovered that during this trip, as well as during many previous trips domestically, as well as overseas, conversations that were most interesting to me, people whom I closely identified with, were Africans. Johnson from Uganda, Venuste from Rwanda and Abdid from Ethiopia, each chauffeured me to my destinations in San Francisco and Seattle – conversations with these people are indelibly fixed in my travel memories. We talked about my experiences in their countries (not been to Uganda, but to its neighbors of Kenya, Rwanda and Tanzania) and their experiences in the US. Not only did I enjoy these discussions with my “fellow Africans” (somehow, after living in South Africa for 30 years, I have the feeling of home in that continent), but, more importantly, each of them expressed their pleasure in talking with me about my experiences in their countries. Transport consulting assignments in Rwanda and Tanzania several years ago brought fond memories to my mind, and they identified with each of the places I recall in their homelands. I truly believe that, like David Livingstone, a part of Africa remains with me to this day and the fondness of its inhabitants sparks in me, greater interest, than discussions with my “fellow countrymen”.

Interestingly, each one of these Africans, asked me: “You have traveled the world and know many countries, what advice can you give to others wishing to travel to far-off places”?[1] My answer was usually “to be tolerant of other cultures and people…things overseas are not like at home”. Their answer was usually “have more humility”. Indeed, good advice from all.  

Most Amtrak trains west of Chicago include a sightseer lounge (called the “observation car” on board) and is the greatest innovation by Amtrak in recent years. Solely on the double-deck trains operated west of Chicago (due to clearance restrictions in New York, Baltimore and Washington) this is a full-length lounge car, full floor to ceiling windows extending to the roof, providing unobstructed views of the passing scenery, with swivel seats all along both sides. On the lower level is a café/snack attendant with a few tables but mostly passengers bring drinks/food upstairs to the observation seats.  

Sunset was mid-way through our journey across Colorado with dawn breaking several miles to the west of Salt Lake City. Most of the morning was spent crossing the salt flats of Nevada before the “biggest little city in the world” (Reno) and begin the climb over the Sierra Mountains of Central California.

Enforcing a no smoking policy on board, there are a few “smoke break” stops, primarily where train crews change requiring a 15 – 20 minute halt. Amtrak is serious about enforcing this regulation as frequent announcements promised “you will be removed from the train if you are found smoking”.  

Into the Salt Flats of Nevada

Passengers gather at one of the few “smoke breaks”

Descending the Sierra Nevada slopes from Reno into Central California

Security is apparently an occasional problem on Amtrak – several announcements warning passengers to be kind to Amtrak staff and to fellow passengers – “…when entering the dining car, be sure to keep you clothes on”. One can only speculate what incidents prompted that remark by the train conductor. In fact, there was an incident on board the Zephyr as the conductor announced that a passenger has been taken into custody for “defacing a restroom” and was taken off the train at Sacramento “in order to turn him over to Amtrak police and to obtain photographic evidence of the defacing of the restroom”. Indeed, there was some delay at Sacramento while those events took place.

Finally, after a peaceful ride from Sacramento to the Bay area, it was just after 10 pm, and over 6 hours late, we pulled into Emeryville station. The temperature difference was significant – 80 degrees in Sacramento but only 60 in San Francisco. The cold California current and its peninsular location contribute to the city’s cool climate, compared with its nearby neighbors. Invigorated by the cool night air, I found my way to the Amtrak bus and after a short ride over the Oakland Bay Bridge, arrived on Mission Street San Francisco.

After a couple of days in the Bay area, I boarded the Coast Starlight bound for Seattle. My two days were full of strolls around Union Square and Mission Street; a hop-on-hop-off bus ride through several tourist spots (Fisherman’s Wharf, over the Golden Gate in open top bus, icy winds blasting passengers), boat cruise around the Bay and a two – hour Japanese language meetup at a local restaurant (35 participants spread over four tables, with varying degrees of language capability, but we switched tables every 15 – 20 minutes for a variety of language partners). As with the California Zephyr, this route was new to me in my Amtrak travels. Evening departure from Emeryville and by morning our train was deep in the Cascade Mountains and bound for Oregon and the state of Washington.

The iconic Golden Gate Bridge

Alcatraz – some dispute regarding ownership

The northward ride was pleasant, views of the 15,000 foot Mount Shasta to the east, then crossing the Cascade Mountain range of Northern California, then the largely flat terrain of Oregon before entering the state of Washington.  Without major incident (nearly on time operation) with final arrival in Seattle only 15 minutes late.

Vancouver Island

Dinner by the sea with long – lost cousin in Seattle

My plan was to visit Vancouver Island the next day, round-trip by fast hydrofoil ferry, a day-long visit with a long-lost cousin of mine, whom I had not seen in over 50 years, a final day of sightseeing, hop-on-hop-off bus ride, zoom up to the top of the space needle and ride a ferry to Bainbridge Island in the Puget Sound, make my escape to Sea-Tac airport by tram and catching the red-eye flight to Newark then home to Tampa.

Seattle tram to Sea-Tac Airport

However, one particular incident stands out, during this Starlight trip – and after.  A fellow passenger, who was an exact double of Mike, the maintenance man of our condo, was traveling with a “support animal” resembling a tall, black – haired poodle. Searching on line for the look – alike dog, could be an Irish Water Spaniel. “Born and raised in Alaska”, he was heading to Seattle for a several month – long underwater assignment – he was a scuba diver. An unusual dog; black wire-haired, resembling a poodle, but much larger and had a regal “prance” in its walk. Its owner and I talked several times and bid each other farewell as we disembarked at Seattle’s King Street Station. But that was not the end of the dog story.

But I was not done with this dog; I was to meet this animal and its owner two more times in Seattle, then the dog in Tampa.  While in my cousin’s car, leaving my hotel, I saw the same dog, walking with its owner, in front of my hotel. Thinking it was a bit unusual, the incident was forgotten. Until the next day, when I was on a hop-on-hop-off but tour in Seattel, passing through Chinatown, I saw the same dog walking with its owner – now this dog/person has my attention.

Thinking that mysterious dog sightings were finished, late that evening I left Seattle for my flight back to Tampa. But, on my second day in Tampa, I was driving home from the gym in the evening, on Cass Street passing by a short street leading to the Straz Center for Performing Arts. Along that street, there were two dogs, resembling the black prancing poodle – the same breed of animals I had met in Seattle. So, what does my future hold; am I destined to be “hounded” (sorry for the pun) by these animals forever? Time will tell.

[1] Actually a Turkish taxi driver in Istanbul asked me the very same question!