Amtrak Discover America Rail Pass

The Plan

A special package on Amtrak USA rail pass, is now available to US citizens. Realizing the rail pass is a wonderful way to explore America Amtrak has opened the pass up for purchase by all Americans. Normally the USA rail pass was open only to foreign visitors. As of May the USA Rail Pass is available to all US Citizen. This hubpage has a link for free downloads from Amtrak.  Just select the download free link a little farther down the page.

Although we are US citizens our family lives in Indonesia. Clearing up some personal matters brought me to the USA alone, Although the family has visited the US many times before, much of it had never been seen by my two teenage daughters. So as part of a 30 day plan to see America I started out from Fort Worth, Texas.

My first stop was in San Antonio where the time to wait for connection to a train coming from Chicago allowed plenty of time to see some of downtown, eat dinner and even catch the end of the NCAA basketball tournament at Staples arena, which was adjacent to the area where the San Antonio train station was located.

My next destination was Los Angeles where I was to meet my daughter on April 10, 2008. I admit that worry about Amtrak not being able to stay on schedule would make me late on arrival. This is not an option when your 14 year old daughter is flying by herself from Asia and expects her father to be there when she comes out of the chute at the LAX Tom Bradley international airport.

I should have had more faith. On arrival at the beautiful Amtrak Union Station in downtown Los Angeles we were within 15 minutes of scheduled arrival time. What follows is a review of the trip just completed.

The Trip Amtrak showed the schedule departure from Fort Worth at 2:40 pm on the 7th of April and we left exactly at that time. The train moved smoothly through the Texas prarie and into the edges of Texas Hill country. Many fields were beginning to be ablaze with the Texas wild flowers that Ladybird Johnson introduced along the highways many years ago. Over the years the seeds have spread naturally and now can be found in many remote places. Where this has happened beautiful patches of yellow, purple and red can be seen.

The train slid through Crawford Texas with no announcement, but with a nod of the head and a wink from the conductor. After Crawford I began to notice that the track side we passed was so clean, compared to what you see in Asia along sides of train right of way. Hard to believe. Again, many beautiful flowers. I would say my only complaint was an inability to get a wireless signal so I could sign on the the Internet and start this report.

We arrived in San Antonio at 10:30, just in time to see the last 5 minutes of the NCAA game. Lo and behold the game was being played about 100 yards from where the train stopped. Still wireless, literally, on Amtrak. Stress!

Most of passengers walked to a Denny's restaurant nearby for food. I preferred to watch the end of the basketball NCAA final game. The train was scheduled for departure at 05:40 in morning for Los Angeles. The 7 hour layover was due to waiting for the New Orleans to LA train we would hook up with. It was actually no problem to get some rest. I slept pretty well, seats being very comfortable. The yard crew moved the car around a bit last night but hardly anyone noticed. After the train for LA was all put together I did change seats. A coach section was located with power outlets. Now I can work longer on my laptop and keep constant check for wireless networks. ]

Just 45 minutes before the train departed an Internet connection because available. Some messages were waiting from my daughter. The train left exactly on schedule and we headed out into the still pitch black dark morning. Unfortunately, wireless on Amtrak again.

San Antonio to El Paso

As we left station at 0540 sharp, on time, it's quite dark outside. As daylight approaches it is easy to see the change in type of landscape as we head out into the prairie. We slid past the cities of Hondo, Olvalde, and Bracketville before taking a short stop in Del Rio.

As the train left Del Rio we found the US Park service had volunteers on the train to give us interesting information about the history and geographical sights we would see between Del Rio and our next whistle stop Sanderson.

Del Rio was founded as a farming community because of the San Felipe Springs. There was fertile land all around the springs area. They say the San Felipe Springs are the 4th largest springs in Txas with a flow rate of 90 million gallons a day. Del Rio's original name was San Felipe del Rio which means Saint Phillip of the River. The name was given by Spanish missionaries in 1635.

Shortly after we left Del Rio we glided through the Amistad National Recreational Area. Amistad means friendship . This recreational area is straddling the US Mexican border. My first thoughts on seeing this were, "How will they put a wall down the middle of this lake. The border is smack in the middle of the dam with a monument showing the border on the road over the dam.

We next came through Comstock, Texas. This town of 300 residents was first called the Sotol City. It was named after one of the most common plants in the area. In 1857 an army camp call Camp Hudson was established. The camp was one of several posts built between San Antonio and El Paso to protect travelers on the Chihuahua Trail.

In several places we could see the Rio Grande River and Mexico on the other side of the river. We soon came to a canyon named for the Seminole Negro Indian scouts that were stationed at Fort Clark during the 1870's. More than 50 black Seminole scouts served in the Army from 1879 to 1914 with their numbers reaching 116 at the highest. This particular Army unit included 4 recipients of the Congressional Medal of Honor. The scouts could speak English, Spanish and their own dialect of English mixed with West African dialects. The skill of these Black Scouts was said to be uncanny. They could find and follow trails that were a month old across hundreds of miles of desert and mountains. They could ride for days without water and could live indefinitely on half-rations and if necessary live off the land.

As we came to the Pecos River there was a tall rail bridge. The present day bridge was constructed in 1944 and is currently the tallest rail bridge in the United States. It ranks 20th in the world. The previous High Bridge was built in 1892 and at the time was not only the highest in the USA but the third highest in the world. Marriages were performed on the 1892 bridge and movies were filmed on it. In 1921 Jimmy Doolittle, famed general of World War II, flue under the bridge , tipping his wings to fit between the upright spans of the structure.

As came into El Paso it was time for dinner. The trail had a Cafe Car with snacks and microwave heated food. The dining car had more conventional fare. The prices seemed high in the cafe car for what you get. The prices seemed fair for what you get in the dining car, yet still more expensive than the cafe car items.

El Paso to Los Angeles

Conveniently the night time covered a good part of the travel through the desert with sun rise occurring just before we arrived at Palm Springs, California.From Palm Springs onward the trip seemed to go very fast with few stops for freight traffic. On arrival I was stunned at the beauty and efficient layout of the famous LA Union Station. My checked baggage was waiting for me when I arrived at the pick up point, near the front entrance to the station. I did have to pay $3 to get a cart to carry my bags to the other end of the station. There I took the Flyaway bus for $4 to LAX international Airport.