Would she ride Amtrak again? Reporter recounts cross-country 'once-in-a-lifetime trek'

Would you believe me if I told you I was recently a contestant on "The Amazing Race?"

Well, I wasn’t being filmed, and I didn’t quite go around the world … or meet Phil Keoghan – but it was a once-in-a-lifetime trek with big obstacles and even bigger rewards, some of which were huckleberry flavored.

My destination was Boise, Idaho. Yes, the potato state that sounds like Iowa and Ohio had a baby.

So, what’s in Idaho (besides spuds)?

This trip taught me that there are a great many non-potato-related things in Idaho (we will get to those later), but my main reason for journeying there was to visit my childhood friend Alex.

Not a fan of planes and reluctant to drive 29 hours over three days to get there, especially alone and with anti-Black sundown towns still in existence, I opted to take the train.

It's not that there would be a lot of white people in a certain city or a town that concerned me, but the purposeful exclusion of people of color in violent or nonviolent ways in a certain city/town that impacted my decision to take the train.

One way, I spent 45 hours on the rails and 10 hours in a bus. I met people from other countries, like Germany and France, saw the Rocky Mountains and ate steak for dinner every night – all aboard a passenger train in the U.S.

Amtrak costs a pretty penny — sometimes

It’s well known that Europe, Asia and other regions of the world are leaps and bounds above the U.S. in public transportation, especially when it comes to short- and long-distance trains.

But that doesn’t mean trains in the U.S. are not worth looking into as a mode of transportation.

It can sometimes be cheaper to take a train compared to flying or driving. Although this is very dependent on whether you decide to ride in coach versus a room, your car’s gas mileage, how much luggage you have, total distance to travel, when you book the train, etc.

For me, the cost roundtrip was $2,324, but it would have been cheaper had I booked it the maximum 11 months in advance instead of the eight months I did. For those solo explorers looking to travel long distances without the use of planes, I’d say it was worth it.

The art of logistics

My journey started on Amtrak’s Lake Shore Limited train, which I hopped aboard at the Cleveland Amtrak station, a building tucked away downtown and comprised of one large waiting room.

After seven hours sitting in coach, I arrived at Chicago’s Union Station and led by my old college roommate, Sarah, embarked on a 5-hour tour of downtown Chicago. We went to Eggy’s Diner, visited The Bean and walked around Millennium Park. All too soon, it was time to head back to the station and start the longest stretch of my railroad journey, a 38-hour ride from Chicago to Spokane, Washington, on Amtrak's Empire Builder.

During this part of my vacation, I stayed in a small 3-foot-6-inch-by-6-foot-6-inch room with two seats that fold out into a bed called a roomette. Technically, it can fit two people since there’s a drop-down top bunk, but it’s really the perfect size for solo travelers (provided you don’t experience claustrophobia).

I booked a roomette on my way to and from my destination, which greatly increased the total cost of my trip. It would have been around $1,000 had I travelled entirely in coach.

The train stopped to pick up passengers every hour or so, but every four to five hours we had fresh air breaks for passengers to exit the train and stretch their legs or smoke (Amtrak has a strict no smoking rule onboard).

The Empire Builder takes its passengers through the Rocky Mountains in Glacier National Park, but other than that, most of what lay outside the train was the fields upon fields of crops forming the backbone of America’s breadbasket.

I arrived at the Spokane train and bus station at 4 a.m., which is not the safest place to be in the early mornings. Luckily for me, one of my colleagues arranged a tour of sorts for me with the city’s fire chief. We went to Denny’s (the only place open at 4 a.m.), Casual Friday Donuts and an overlook to check out the city just after sunrise – certainly beyond what you’d get to experience with a short airport layover.

My bus to Boise left the Spokane train and bus station at 7 a.m. The 10 hours to Boise were uneventful (save a giant bug biting me in line at a gas station Krispy Krunchy Chicken), but it was certainly the most scenic part of the journey.

Idaho is an underrated state if I’ve ever seen one. The rest of the country imagines buildings built from potatoes, but the endless yellow plains of canola and snow-topped mountains reveal a picturesque state. Boise was another trove of wonders, with wild peacocks, surfing, waterfalls and other happenings one would not associate with Idaho, like delicious huckleberry-flavored lemonade.

It did have potato-shaped ice cream and a giant potato airbnb, which were cool.

I took the same route back to Cleveland, but with a 10-hour layover in Spokane (I booked a hotel for that stay) and what became a 30-minute layover in Chicago since our train had a late arrival.

Upsides of traveling the U.S. via train

Getting myself from the East to West Coast was exciting, but it was my experiences aboard the train that made it all worth the price.

Those with rooms have access to the train’s dining car, which serves cooked-to-order breakfast, lunch and dinner (the food is cooked on the lower level of the train and brought to the second story via dumbwaiters). Because space is limited and the picnic-style stables seat four, parties of three or less usually eat with at least one stranger. It’s a prime way to meet individuals from all walks of life.

So, while I could’ve saved time on a plane or taken my chances in a car, neither option would have given me this experience: Laughing with people from all over the U.S. and enjoying a medium rare steak while seeing the plains whisk by through our window.

Though I did have options. Should I have felt a little antisocial I could have ordered from the dining car and had my meal delivered to my room.

Another experience was watching a fiery sunset in the train’s observation car, which provides a view from both sides of the train through domed floor-to-ceiling windows.

Yet another was laughing at the overhead announcers.

“Only you can prevent forest fires and only you can make sure you are aboard this train, and it leaves on time,” they once said before a fresh air break.

“This is the last call for _____. If your stop is ______ and you are not off the train this is going to be a bad day.” They would often warn.

And my personal favorite was said while pulling away from the station in Glenview, Illinois.

“On the right is an ice cream stand that I’ve gone past for 25 years and never had a cone from … but I digress,” the voice overhead said. In case you are wondering, the ice cream stand in question is Glenview Dairy Bar.

And one more was witnessing Sabine and Victoria, a mother and daughter duo from Germany, celebrate visiting their 50^th state. They broke out the red, white and blue cupcakes and boas at 11 p.m. during a fresh air break in Minot, North Dakota, and I was lucky enough to get one of the cupcakes.

There are other upsides of train travel that I didn’t take advantage of, like significantly more free luggage than what's allowed for air travel (I brought one duffel bag), the ability to walk the train (many did this with their infants to soothe them to sleep) or the free alcoholic beverage that comes with dinner each night.

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Downsides of traveling the U.S. via train

With that being said, there are certainly some bumps in the road (or in this case tracks) that I either experienced or met people who had.

Amtrak trains are notoriously late and arrive at odd hours at the Cleveland station. The train picking me up from Cleveland was late, as were the ones dropping me off and picking me up in Spokane. The train dropping me off in Chicago on my return journey was also behind schedule, which had me rushing to grab Chick-fil-A inside Union Station before bustling to my next train.

Luckily, many of my delays were less than two hours. At dinner, I met a group from Florida whose train was more than 10 hours late when it dropped them off in Glacier National Park.

To be fair, many of the delays are not completely the fault of Amtrak. Freight railroad companies own the majority of tracks across the nation, so freight trains consistently take priority over passenger trains.

Once you get aboard, you may also find that not all seats are created equal. The train I was on from Cleveland to Chicago was beyond bumpy, though it’s unclear whether that was because the train car was an older model, single story or both. I was in two-story train cars for the rest of my trip and the ride was smooth.

Lastly, if your train is on time and the journey level, you may find yourself with a layover at an unsafe, uncovered or unstaffed station in the middle of the night, as not all stations have a shelter or staff. So, it’s important to research stations ahead of time when you have a layover.

My takeaways

Prior to and during my journey I had people, from an Apple customer service provider to my hairdresser, say, “I’ve always wanted to do something like that, but never have.” I had an even greater number of people provide skeptical comments about my ability to even complete the trip, “That’s just so long.” “Won’t you get motion sick?” “Is that safe?” “How are you going to eat?”

I always answered the questions and concerns with logical answers, but in reality, I was going to see my friend – motion sickness and hot meals be damned. From the early planning stages to the end of my journey, “I Am Woman” by Helen Reddy was on full volume in the back of my mind.

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It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience to meet people from all over, eat good food and see an old friend in her new home. Would I ride Amtrak again? Well, I’ve built up quite the collection of rewards points after my journey, so I’d have to say yes. Maybe I’ll take it to New York City, or hop on the auto train, which allows passengers to load their car as well as luggage, down to Florida.

Or maybe I’ll get over my fear of flying and finally make that trip to Japan I’ve always dreamed of. Then I can see what their trains have to offer.

I could also take a cruise through Greece. I’ve never spent much time at sea, but there’s a first time for everything, and I so want to see the Parthenon.

No matter the path, I’m sure Helen will be with me all the way. I know that if I have to, I really can do anything, and that’s exactly what I plan to do.

Contact Beacon Journal reporter Tawney Beans at tbeans@gannett.com and on Twitter @TawneyBeans.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Amtrak ride cross-country a 'once-in-a-lifetime trek' for reporter