We just returned from a trip to Wisconsin where we helped my parents celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary.  The actual anniversary was in January, but we celebrated in July — a very nice time to be in Wisconsin.

My big brother wasn’t able to make it — he has a back injury that makes traveling difficult at best but mostly impossible.  He describes traveling distances that require more than twenty minutes as feeling like someone is sticking toothpicks under his toenails — and that’s not as fun as it sounds.  I assured him that didn’t sound fun to me, and he reiterated it isn’t as fun as it sounds.  He has a dry sense of humor, so I think that means he’s in a lot of pain — which was evident while I was talking to him on the phone a few weeks ago.

My little brother and his family was there as were my sister and her family.  Many other family members joined us, and I think my folks did a lovely job at putting together a ceremony and celebration that fit their tastes and style, which has always been family and church-oriented.

When I retired from the Air Force, I decided I wouldn’t fly commercially unless I absolutely had to.  While trying to decide how we would travel this summer, we considered flying, but I floated the idea of Amtrak by hubby.  We did a little research and decided to give it a try.  Amtrak has a direct train from San Antonio to Chicago, so we booked a roomette on a round trip.  We rented a car in Chicago and did a little antiquing before and after the weekend in Wisconsin with family.

I want to let you know riding the train was great fun.  I was pleasantly surprised that hubby was able to relax and enjoy the trip.  He usually has to be doing something all the time, but he seemed to think that riding the train allowed him to relax, because he knew there was no work he could be doing while he was on the train.  This is huge, because it allowed him (and me!) to truly relax and enjoy the trip.  The only thing we would do differently is spring for the extra money to buy a bedroom for the trip.  The roomette was just fine for one night, be even for the day and a half we were on the train, we found ourselves wishing for the extra space the bedroom allows.

The roomette is a private compartment slightly wider than two very comfortable seats which face one another with maybe two feet between them.  There is an upper bunk folded up against the wall, and the two seats fold down to form the basis for the lower bunk at night.  The mattress for the lower bunk is pre-made and waiting in the upper bunk, so getting the room ready for sleeping is easy — your sleeping car attendant will do it, but we wound up doing it for ourselves both nights because we weren’t ready to turn in when our attendant came by and offered to do it for us.  There’s plenty of space under each seat to slide a carry on suitcase and get it out of the way.  The in-compartment closet is very narrow and won’t hold anything wider than about 6-8 inches, but it was spacious enough for narrow items.  Lighting is good, and one electrical outlet is nice for running a computer or charging cell phones, etc.  Hubby’s simple three outlet splitter came in handy, but his multi-outlet surge protector didn’t fit the space around the outlet, so be careful.  We had plenty of space for knees and legs between us with some bumping now and then as we changed positions.  The tray table that opens between the two seats was acceptable and comes with a checkerboard embossed on it.  Both our sleeping car attendants made sure complimentary coffee, water, and ice was always available.  I think juice was mostly available, too.  The bathrooms were always fresh.  Drinks, ice, and fresh bathrooms were a nice touch throughout the trip

For entertainment, we read, watched a movie on hubby’s laptop, sat in the observation car, chatted, hooked up the GPS to the laptop and followed our path, and played some cards.  Since two-handed poker isn’t much fun, we used a dummy hand.  To make it more interesting, after each hand was completed, we’d check the dummy’s hand against our winning hand to see if his hand would beat it.  If it did, we paid him a white chip out of our winnings.  This made it more fun for us.

When you have a sleeping car reservation, your meals in the dining car are included.  We had a wonderful dining car crew and happened to have the same crew going up as coming back.  Food was very good and very filling.  The only downside to the train was not being able to get enough exercise.  Sure, you can get up and walk around, but you don’t really want to be pacing up and down the train.  We joked they would soon be adding exercise cars.

Overall, we loved the ride and hope to do it again sometime.  We will get a bedroom for the extra space.  Bedrooms come with full private bathroom facilities, a sofa (that folds down to the lower bunk), an upper bunk (that folds down but seems more spacious than the roomette upper bunk), and a chair.  The “hallway” in front of the sofa allows for more spacious comfort than the roomette allows. The closet is shorter than in a roomette but the same width.  In either circumstance, space is limited.  We thought the only reason to get a roomette or bedroom would be if you were going to be riding over night, but we were wrong.  Many people were getting them for shorter stints, and we now understand why — it just makes the overall experience more enjoyable.

One couple got on in Dallas yesterday afternoon with their grandson.  They were taking him to SeaWorld in San Antonio.  They got a bedroom.  It seemed to work out very well — the boy was napping on the upper bunk while they visited comfortably below.  I’m sure they arrived in San Antonio with a well-rested kid.  That alone made the bedroom worth the extra expense.  One of our dinner companions said the bedroom was cheaper than the roomette for the day. Now that’s a good deal all the way around!

The train was approximately the same cost as flying (for two people) and was about a day quicker than driving.  I highly recommend investigating if Amtrak can meet your travel needs.