February 15 – 16, 2024
Dusk was cloaking the windy city as we chugged out of the cavernous
garage and headed in a southeasterly direction.
This train was one of the newer ones. Not new enough to have USB slots or anything,
but the roomette is a slightly different design. In many aspects it is roomier, with more
storage. However, the lower bunk is much
narrower as there is a solid armrest/table combo that pushes into the space,
potentially pushing the sleeper right off the bed. Here’s a few pictures of it by day. First, the right-hand seat. My coat is hanging over a wide
armrest/shelf. You can see the window-side
armrest where it extends over the seat.
And then here's the left side. You can also see the upper bunk. Instead of swinging down from hinges on the window side, as would be typical, it comes down on that vertical track. The upper bunk on this train has its own window as well. You can see the lower portion of it here. Additionally, this roomette has a flip-down sink you can see on the left.
Standing in between the seats and looking up towards the closed door, you can see above it, a large storage locker. I didn't need it, and probably wouldn't have the arm strength to put my bag up there anyway. This is all kind of boring, but if you've ever considered taking a roomette in the train it might be of interest.
And then one last picture of the coach seats in the train to compare with airplane seats. These are very cushy, with only two on each side. They have full leg rests as well as foot rests, plus recline quite far. If the train isn't crowded you can get by with sprawling across two seats.
I slept very poorly as the track on this stretch is rough. The upper bunk rattled and clanked all night because of it. In the morning I had to dress and walk down to the café car for coffee because for some reason they don't use the one in the sleeper. Then later I walked back and got a packaged omelet and ate in my room.
This is quite a scenic route, but this time of year everything is pretty brown so it doesn't photograph well. But it was made more interesting as there was a recorded narration of all the sights along the way. Not the whole route, but for several hours. Below, Kanawha Falls.
These rapids on The New River are popular for rafting.
Hawks Nest Dam on The New River in West Virginia
In the photo below you can see the old gray historic Tunney Hunsaker bridge, and beyond it, a bit of the New River Gorge Bridge, which is one of the longest and highest in the world.
As we rocked along the track we never were able to see the whole bridge, but it is spectacular. And yes, you can actually walk across the bridge! With a guided tour, you will be harnessed, and will walk across on the catwalk just under the road bed.
This area used to be full of coal mines. In the wooded hills along the tracks we could see low walls with cut-outs that used to be coke ovens for burning the coal. The pictures aren't too sharp as we were bouncing along. I'd love to go through the area at my own pace some day and visit some of the historic places that were pointed out to us.
During the tour, the narrator would usually provide ample time for a person to look out the correct side of the train for whatever she was showcasing. After a series of tunnels, we were to look very quickly to the right and see a certain bridge. But there were so many tunnels, I forgot what we were looking for, so I barely caught a glimpse of the Humpback Bridge over Dunlap Creek in Virginia. Built before the Civil War in 1857, it is the only remaining bridge of its design. Nearly 110 feet long, its boards were hewn with a broad axe. It's put together with pins of locust wood. Up until 1929 cars were allowed to drive through it on Route 60, but since then it has been preserved as a historic structure.
We arrived in Charlottesville, VA promptly at 3:53. A college town, there were lines of people waiting to board. For some reason they boarded before they let us disembark from the sleeper cars.
Once in the station I ordered an Uber ride to my car rental place, which was way north of the city for some reason. Once I was on my way with my car, I realized that I needed a different cord to plug my phone into the car USB for the long drive, so I had to buy one at a Walmart.
Finally, at close to 6:00 I was heading south towards Hendersonville, NC. Just as the sun was setting I stopped at a little market to get a bottle of water for my trip. I had loads of snacks with me so that I could skip dinner and drive straight there.
It was a new experience for me to drive so late and so long. Traffic moved along smoothly going 65 to 80 mph, with people regularly tailgating. I learned to ignore it and just drove. I was surprisingly wide awake. I hadn't figured out how to get my audiobook going, so I sang all the songs I knew to pass the time. Hymns, Christmas songs, folk songs, or whatever came to mind. I pulled into my hotel at close to midnight and was happy to crash on the comfy bed. I was so thankful for God's protection during my drive.
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