Bob has been wistfully hoping for a train vacation for as long as I've known him. This summer, I capitulated and we booked the Empire Builder to Whitefish, Montana at the end of August. We've been reading about Montana and Alberta all summer, preparing for our mountain adventure.
On Thursday morning, two full weeks before departure time, an offensive, insistent ring jarred me awake at dawn, and I bolted out of bed to answer the phone. The Amtrak recording announced that trains had been running 2-5 hours late all summer, because of extreme heat and problems (I guess) with the rails. We decided that it was time to check out the Empire Builder's ontime record.
We headed over to the station at about 10:30 p.m., when the train should have been pulling in from Chicago. Turns out it was about 20 minutes late, but it lost several hours on the way to Whitefish before arriving in Whitefish half an hour before midnight the next night. We'll be checking the Empire Builder's status between now and departure time.
About Me
- Catherine Hennessey
- The first blog was a simple travel journal written during an Alaskan cruise in 2008. I document all of our trips, and refer to my posts fairly frequently, especially when we're planning a return visit to a destination. I enjoy recording events in both words and pictures -- blogging is one more way of staying in touch with family and friends in this wonderful, connected world. I've been retired since April of 2013, and there's no shortage of things to do or activities to enjoy. I enjoy writing about everything ... and nothing.