Chicago to New Orleans, 20 hours via the City of New Orleans
After a 16-month hiatus from train travel, I’m back in Chicago Union Station. This trip is a bit different, though. I flew to Chicago with my wife, Mary, and we will be leaving soon for New Orleans. I’ve been looking forward to this trip, wanting to share with Mary the wonders of the Field Museum and stateliness of Union Station. I am pleased with her reaction. She loves them both. She is not quite as excited about sleeping in Coach, though, because she is more reasonable than I am. We will be enjoying the privacy of an Amtrak Bedroom. I specify Bedroom, because there are several options: Roomette, Bedroom, Bedroom Suite, Family Room and Accessible Bedroom. I only have personal experience with the Roomettes and Bedrooms, so will only give my reviews of these choices. The Roomettes are minuscule, with barely enough room to change your mind. They have two beds, bunk style. The lower bed is formed by sliding the two opposing seats so that the backrests recline to form the head and foot of the bed, with the chair seats scootching together to form the middle. The upper bed is on a hinge and isn’t much wider than a diving board. There are straps to contain the sleeper so that they don’t cannon ball onto the floor. When the bed is made there is virtually no standing room. The Bedrooms are twice as large, which means that they are tiny. They include a sink, an enclosed toilet, and a shower head above the toilet. It’s kind of like an upside-down bidet. There are three seats, instead of two. The beds are similar in arrangement to the Roomette, and I have the good fortune to be sleeping on the diving board tonight.
After a very nice meal in downtown Chicago, we board the train at 9pm. We settle into our room, and the train pulls out of the station. We are riding on the City of New Orleans for about an hour when the train pulls out of Kankakee, and rolls along past houses, farms and fields… OK, it was dark, but I had to get a reference to Steve Goodman’s 1971 song The City of New Orleans in here somehow. But I swear, the next morning we did roll by “the graveyards of the rusted automobiles”. From an aesthetic standpoint, that was probably the highlight of the ride for me. Perhaps it’s different in Spring or Summer when the vegetation is awake, but the route has none of the geological splendor that the Empire Builder and California Zephyr routes enjoy.
One of the perks of being in a Sleeper is that your dining car meals are included. The dining car is a very pleasant experience, sharing your table with other passengers and eating delicious, albeit heavily caloric food. Unfortunately, on this trip, there was no table service, and our food arrived at our bedroom door, heavily wrapped and contained in plastic. (I try to avoid plastic waste whenever I can.) They did allow us to take our meals upstairs and eat them there, but it took some of the magic out of the experience. I found myself longing for my home-made Amtrak cooler with its tasty, healthful meals.
We arrive in New Orleans just before 5pm. An old friend of ours, who we first met thirty years ago through our children, will be picking us up in his car. Our paths separated as the kids headed off in different directions. We have recently rekindled our friendship. Peter lives in Seattle but has rented a house here for four months to enjoy the city and be close to his son. We will be his guests. The house is in the Bywater Neighborhood. It is jam-packed with humble, 150-year-old shotgun homes, so-named because if you shoot a bullet through the living room window it will go through every room in the house before exiting through the kitchen back door. A corollary to this is that if you are in the bedroom that is closest to the living room, you must walk through the bedroom that is closest to the kitchen to get to the bathroom. We are staying in a shotgun. We are going to get to know one another!
Peter tells us that he has tickets to a free outdoor concert that will be held on the grounds of the George Washington Carver High School. This is not just any concert. The person paying for and performing at it is the legendary Jon Batiste. Absolutely worth the price of admission! We arrive at the high school and proceed through the gauntlet of security. A recent terrorist truck fatality has the city on edge. We are two hours early, but there is free food and drink to keep us occupied. People start streaming onto the field, but the crowd size is small given the caliber of the performer. I am not familiar with Jon Batiste, but I am immediately captivated. What a positive, optimistic presence he has! He seems more interested in introducing and performing with his guests than being the limelight himself. One of his guests is “Big Chief” Monk Boudreaux. The 83-year-old Boudreaux is the Big Chief of the Golden Eagles, a Mardi Gras Indian tribe. The Mardis Gras Indians are African American carnival revelers known for their elaborate Mardi Gras costumes. The Mardi Gras Indians subculture began during the era of slavery when a blend West African, Afro-Caribbean and Native American cultures developed. Jon Batiste’s other guests were Flavor Flave, Ledisi, The Neville Family, and Jameson Ross. He also gave his brother and father solo opportunities. After two solid hours of music, Batiste, his guests and his band, march off the field, just like a mini Mardis Gras parade.
When we booked our trip, we were completely unaware we would be here for Super Bowl weekend. We don’t go to the game but do have a wonderful Superbowl experience. A neighborhood bar near our house throws a potluck buffet Super Bowl party every year. Imagine a bar or restaurant in Seattle encouraging people to bring food from home to share with everyone else. It’s enough to give a lawyer or insurance agent a nervous tick! As far as I know, nobody got food poisoning, and a good time was had by all. Our NOLA adventures also included a tour of the Whitney Plantation, which tells the story of plantation life from the slaves’ perspective. It was a very sobering experience. Our train adventure is ends the way it started: on a jet, this time heading back to Seattle. We say our goodbyes at the airport drop-off spot. Peter was a wonderful host and very fun to talk to. It’s nice to know that old friends lost can become new friends found.
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