Our Upcoming “Big Adventure”

We have been planning for some time now to go to Oregon and visit our son and his family.  I’ve never seen my last two granddaughters and we hardly know Amber.  Our debate has been how to make the trip.  We just DO NOT wish to fly.  Flying wasn’t so much of a big deal before all of the “security” hassle but with all of this nonsense we do not wish to go through it all.  We like to drive and see the scenery and stop when we want and come and go as we feel like it.  But, a trip of 2400 miles or so, one way, is a bit costly with gasoline at $2.75 or so a gallon and motel bills, food, etc.  We thought about taking the bus (take the bus and leave the driving to us) and also going by train.

So with all of these various options in mind we finally arrived at a decision.  We are going to take the bus, uhh, I mean the train.  Actually we are going to take both the bus and the train.  For our trip the nearest Amtrak station is in Louisville, a little over 100 miles away.  But, we can’t get a train there.  We would have to be bussed to Indianapolis.  So, we are going to catch a bus at Bowling Green and take it to Indianapolis.  We will take the train to Chicago where we will transfer to the Empire Builder which will take us all the way to Portland, OR. 

The Empire Builder takes the northern route across the country and will take us across several states that neither one of us has travelled through.  Danny told us yesterday that this will be a “big adventure” for us.  I know we will be tired when we get there but probably not as tired as we would be from driving.  I will take less time than driving and will be less costly. 

It has been years since either one of us has travelled by train and we are really looking forward to the trip as well as looking forward to seeing our granddaughters and their parents.