America is Already Great

America is Already Great

You can see for yourself

If you want to truly understand what a wonderful country we live in, you have to travel and see what it looks like. My partner and I have driven through a lot of it, but we have been able to see the diversity and bounty of America best when traveling by train. Over the years, we have taken Amtrak trains to Pittsburgh, Omaha, Los Angeles and San Francisco. Most recently we traveled from Milwaukee to Emeryville, California just outside of San Francisco. Every trip has shown us both the best and the worst of America.

We first picked up the Amtrak Hiawatha at Milwaukee’s airport stop and took it to Chicago’s Union Station. Along the way, we passed small bedroom communities, villages and cities, farms, businesses small and large and the vacant expanse designated for the ever-changing Foxconn debacle. Arriving in Chicago, we passed through rust-belt abandoned factories and buildings adorned with some spectacular graffiti artwork. Not to be outdone, the street artists have also beautified bridges, tunnels and freight cars waiting for the next load on sidings off the main line.

Union Station, built in a time when elegance and style meant prosperity, still serves as one of Amtrak’s main hubs sending passenger trains in every direction carrying all who can afford the fare. We waited for our train, the California Zephyr, in the Metropolitan Lounge where we were served free coffee and soda and browsed a small salad bar. When our train was called, a redcap took us and our bags to our car on a powered cart.

Our days of sitting up in airplane type coach train seats are long over. We opted instead for one of the bedroom units in the sleeper cars. Ours was cozy and slightly tattered, as much of Amtrak has become. We had a couch that converted into a super twin size bed and a smaller bed that folded down from the ceiling, requiring a ladder to enter. When configured as a day room, we could move around. At night, not so much. There was also a single chair that faced the couch, a small sink and a closet that contained a toilet and doubled as the shower. The car attendant handed the changeover and took reservations for meals in the dining car. All our meals were included in the fare.

We left Chicago at 2 pm and wandered west through the suburbs into flat farm fields that stretched to and into Iowa. We crossed the Mississippi around sunset after a nice meal. Meal seating is at tables for 4 so we usually sat across from other couples and all of the ensuing conversations were interesting and lively. We only encountered one grumpy silent pair on our trip.

We slept though Iowa and Nebraska in woke up early the next day slightly east of Denver. After a quick breakfast, we grabbed seats in the observation car. The whole day our train climbed into and passed through the spectacular Rocky Mountains. We soon entered snow capped ranges that lifted into the sky. The steep, rugged terrain made it very clear just how difficult it must have been for those who laid the first tracks across the land. We passed through over 35 tunnels that went through mountains too tall to cross or across slopes prone to avalanches. Even though it was late in April, we saw places where the snow was still over six feet deep along-side the tracks.

By nightfall, we were back in our room sleeping soundly as we traveled through Utah. The next morning, we awoke in the high desert of Nevada just east of Reno. After another quick breakfast, it was back to the observation car so we could watch as we climbed up the Sierra Nevada range and into California. Again, the snow piled up and the tunnels were long. We passed forests of lodgepole pine surrounding clear mountain lakes. 

In stark contrast to the beauty of the mountains, we descended into the central valley of California which is flat and permanently irrigated to feed the country’s insatiable appetite for fruits and vegetables. As we had across the plains, freight trains with oil tankers and coal cars passed in the opposite direction, often interrupting the view. 

As we got lower and warmer, the trackside became increasingly populated with tent camps. We saw all the homeless human hues in these camps that continued sporadically until we reached our city destination. In a country of such bounty and wealth, it is criminal that so many live in such precarious conditions.

Our ultimate destination was a small community north of the bay area, Pt. Reyes Station. It is a sleepy farming village, except on weekends when tourists come to visit the ocean and the National Seashore which protects a unique coastal forest area. Pt. Reyes is located on top of the San Andreas fault that runs off the mainland into the Pacific Ocean though Tomales Bay, just outside of town. We come here to recharge and chill out walking pristine beaches on sea shores filled with birds, seals and whales as they migrate up and down the coast.

We in America are truly blessed to have these places to see and enjoy. Once traveled to, they are impossible to forget and command our ongoing protection for future generations to enjoy.