When I have internet access on the train ( there’s no WiFi, but my 5G has been better than expected), I can do some fun stuff. Lately, I’ve been making avatars from photos of me with the DALL-E functionality in ChatGPT. This is one that I did in the observation car on the train.
The trip from Chicago is different. For one, I have the bedroom instead of a roomette. This gives me a toilet/shower, a sink, and a sitting chair across from a full-length couch. The couch slides out to become a bed with a sleeping pad like the one in the roomette but doesn’t consume the chair (and leaves some space to stand).
The unexpected thing about the different bed was that I had shifted my sleeping position from parallel to the train’s movement (feet first, like luging) to perpendicular (so that stopping and starting of the train caused me to roll). After a few stops, I started sleeping with my knees pulled up so that I didn’t roll as easily, which helped.
The shower was nice. I didn’t use the common shower on the Empire builder, but they were bigger than the shower I have at home, where the shower in the bedroom was not only smaller, but shared a space with the toilet (like a small RV). The water was hot and had a lot of pressure, so, still enjoyable.
The food is mostly reheated stuff and instant food. Where the previous train had you wait to be seated and a waiter at your table, the Capitol Limited has you come into the car and order your food at a counter and take it to a table of your own. The exception to this was for dinner, where you told the sleeper car attendant what you want and she’d order it ahead.
I didn’t like having a table of my own. I like talking with my fellow passengers. Breakfast was different. I got a late start and ate around 9 am. The dining car was crowded, prompting a couple to ask if they could sit with me. They travel by train a lot in this region and could tell me a lot about the places that Amtrak goes. They were really nice, and we had a great conversation. One thing that they mentioned was a trip that goes from Chicago to Fairbanks that is a new route for Amtrak. It seemed that it might be a hybrid train/cruise trip.
At this point, I’m chugging along through Maryland. I’m only a couple of hours from Washington, DC.
Daniel Gregson 
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