Another looooooooooooong trip report. Keep reading till you get bored.
 Completed in April 2002.



 Completed another trip. This time it was "Around the US in 19
 days". This was the most relaxing of all the trips ( except the days I
 travelled by car ) . As usual accompanied by my camera and camcorder. Took a 30 day USA Rail
 pass for 385$. Aim was to go to all the four corners of US, and the important places between
 them. The train with sight-seeing car, dining car , comfortable chair car was perfect way to
 see the country.

 Started the trip on Apr 5th ( so I can celebrate my birthday on the
 train ) night and came back on  Apr 24th night. Actually thought spring time would be good, but learnt
 that "fall" is  much better :(-. But spring time was good to see the snow in the
 northern parts, and early summer.

 Saw the entire US from snow-capped mountain cascades ranges to the  boringly flat plains of texas,
 snow whiteouts in montana to 95 degrees in NewYork , rain in YellowStone  to the sand dunes in the  arizona desert, 14000 ft rockies to the florida beach , west-coast to
 east-coast and back, ...

 The scenery kept on changing approximately every 100-200 miles. So every
 hour was something new to see, and fabolous sunsets and sunrises.

 The amtrak tracks ( owned by the frieght companies ) constructed more  than 100 years ago is built
 very cost-effectively with minumum number of bridges and tunnels. So it  curves a lot, most of the time follows the curves of the river, and also does  some complete 'horse-shoe' turns, adding to the beauty, but very slow. Average speed is like 40-50 mph.

 You have to see this to fully visualse the enormity of the trip !!!

Photos http://flic.kr/s/aHsjBaQkq5

•  Some numbers
•   Total distance covered in 19 days
•  By Train : 7520 miles
•  By Car : 1700 "
•  Thats equivalent of what I ride for one full year. 90% of the people in the amtrak is in the age range 0-12 and 55+
•  :(((- Average occupancy of the amtrak coaches : 30-40%. So the next seat is always empty. Perfected the "Art Of Sleeping on two seats".
•  Number of times slept in the same place for two consecutive days : 2 That says how hectic was the trip
•   Number of days took bath. did'nt count, but pretty much regularly.
•   Number of times laundried the clothes :0

 Exciting movements

 * Crashing my car in the center median at 75mph in montana, and
 barganied with the police office for the price of the ticket
 * Train from SaltLake City to Denver where the train goes inside the
 colarado river canyon for 230 miles., and seeing mile-high denver from
 mile above
 * Passing the continental divide from which the rivers starts to go to
 the opposite oceans
 * Visitng Ground-Zero
 * White-house and the president convey
 * Dolphin ride in Clearwater(Florida) Beach, where the dolphins play
 behind the speed boat.
 * Miami beach and the poor people, who have very few clothes to wear
 :)-
 * Missing the train in New Orleans, and the entire train waiting for me
 , and catching it.
 * Border Patrol stopping me for the passport in 'El paso' ( very near
 the mexican border ).
 Luckily I had it.
 * Train from LA to SanJose where it goes near the coast ( so near that
 if it falls it will be in
 water ) , and the missile lauch sites in the air-force base
 * Travelling in US alone, without a cellphone ;)-

 If you are still interested , continue reading .(or) just see the
 photos

 Detailed Travelog

 1 ) SanJose -- Seattle ( Coast Starlight )
 First day of the trip, so throughtout the day was on the sight-seeing
 car. Oregon is pretty nice
 country. Train followed a very curved route in the cascades, with lots
 of tunnels, and lots of snow.
 Sunitha ( MCA clasmate ) came to the Portland station and gave some good
 food to eat.
 Some volunteery guides came along and explained the routes.

 Visited a waterfall in seattle, and friends( IDC Oracle India, CSD
 college). Ate good food in a
 indian restaraunt.



 2 ) Seattle - Shelby, Montana ( Empire Builder )
 Train went along the "Pueget Sound" bay near Seattle for a long time,
 and crossed again cascades
 and rockies. Crossed one of the longest tunnel in US 7.7 miles long.
 It was a very nice sight, early morning sun, with snow, mountains,...
 Very  hard to explain.

 3 ) Shelby,Montana - YellowStone ( Car )
 Actual plan was to take a car to go to YellowStone, and return it at
 Montana. Went on a bus to a
 place called 'Great Falls' to rent a car, and saw the country as
 boringly flat. And
 rememered that route from SaltLake city to chicago is much better than
 Montana -- Chicago route.
 So change of plan to drive all the way to "Salt Lake City".

 Montana state freeways was amazingly straight ( even on mountain roads )
 and can always travel at
 80 mph. Actually only two years back there was a official speed limit
 75mph.
 Before that it was just "To drive safe and prudent" .
 While driving with a camcorder in onehand, and crashed on the center
 median and just the front
 tire got burst. Called police from the nearby farmhouse, and for the
 first time changed
 tires, and got the first fine. Office said to pay 60$ immediately.
 I had only 50$. So he just took it, and ofcourse gave a bill :)-

 Drove to the nearest car rental to change the car, and reached
 YellowStone at 2:00 AM

 YellowStone park , the park were geysers are, are closed, due to snow.
 But saw lots of colorful
 hot springs. Just want to be there in on of the largest super-volacanoes
 , with a
 caldera/crater of 7 miles across. If it blows some time soon ( not
 very soon maybe 1000-5000 years ) , the entire US will be in ashes.



 4 ) YellowStone - SaltLake City ( Car )
 Another long drive, against time to return the rental car before 3:00
 PM. 9 Hr continous drive

 Visited the mormon temple, and got to know about their religion. They
 also belive in Christ, but
 belive that Jesus came to US also .



 5 ) SaltLake City -- Chicago ( California Zephyr )
 One of the best railway routes ever built. Train follows the colarado
 river almost to its source for 236 miles and goes along the canyon
 formed by it. The interstate
 highway also follows the river for some time. This portion is the most
 expensive interstate ever built in US.
 Train reaches the highest point in US 9300 ft and passes the
 continental divide ( Just a imaginary
 line which separates the US . Rivers flow to the Pacific , Atlantic on
 either side of
 this line ) and saw mile high denver in full lights from a mile above.

 The conductor was so good and hilarious in explaning all the places.
 There were a town name called "noname" , "dotzero" , "oreztod" ( reverse
 of dotzero ) and
 many earlier mining town now almost abandoned.

 Reached chicago, stayed in Youth Hostel. Roamed Chicago with Segar ( MC
 College friend ). The
 view from the observatory of chicago's second highest building was
 awesome.
 Ate good food in a indian restaraunt.



 6 ) Chicago -- New York ( Lake Shore Limited )
 This part of the section would have been wonderful on fall. But now
 it's just after winter and the
 trees are just empty. Spring has not reached these northers parts.

 Met another friend Sridhar ( MCC college ).
 Roamed newyork full day. Saw Ground Zero, Pentagon , View from Empire
 State building , boat ride
 to statue of liberty, central park, wall street, ... and my favorite
 musuem "Holocaust musuem".
 Ground Zero is pretty much cleared up. It's a massive site. Almost size
 of 4-5 football fields.
 Still the nearby streets there are lots of cards, photos, flowers,... in
 all the walls.



 7 ) NewYork -- Washington ( Acela )
 Shortest train ride of three hours.

 In the east coast people depend on train a lot than the west coast.
 Even the amtrak were almost full !!
 Saw the White House, and convoy ( Jayalalitha style ) leaving ,
 washington monumemt , war
 memorials, and again my favorite musuem "holocaust musuem".



 8 ) Washington -- Tampa, Florida ( Silver Palm )
 This is also nice route( but nothing spectacular) to florida. But did
 not stop anywhere. Since
 the train to LA is only thrice a week, had three days in florida.
 Stayed with another friend
 KPK ( from CSD )

 9 ) Florida
 first day :- in clearwater beach. Ate good food in Indian restaurant.
 Went on a boat ride to watch the dolphins. This boat is so powerful it
 creates a big wave
 behind it and the dolphins come and play on the ways. It was so cool
 watching them.
 Captured very good sunset photos.
 second day :- Orlando ( Theme park capital of the world ). Disney has 4
 , Universal studios has 2,
 and lots of others. Went to Disney Magic Kingdom, but missed my
 favorite
 character "Donald duck". But saw him on the parade. third day :- Orlando
 - Miami and the Miami south beach. Pretty good beach. Took sun-bath
 and  continued people-watching. Drive to KeyWest and back. "Keys" is the

 southern most tip of florida, a chain of small islands, with very
 shallow seas  and connected by roads, with lots of bridges. Very lovely
 place, but could not stay for long.

 Learnt that a amtrak train has derailed :(-


 10 ) Orlando,Florida -- New Orleans ( Bus )
 10 hr bus ride to New Orleans, because of the derailment. So slept on
 the train after reaching
 New Orleans, and kept my bag on my seat, and left to roam New Orleans.
 The train
 leaves only at 12:45 PM. New Orleans is very nice , very old , swedish,
 french town. Birth
 place of Jazz. Just missed the Jazz festival. Only spent half a day, but
 did'nt miss my favorite musuem "D-Day musuem"
 http://photos.yahoo.com/sivasankaran - America by Amtrak - D-Day
 Museum

 Came back to the station on 12:16 and saw the train pulling away, with
 my bag inside. It follows the new timetable, which I don't know. So
 reported to the conducter,  and they stopped the train. Took me in a
 van, and I boarded the train some 5-10 miles  away :)-

 11 ) New Orleans -- LA ( Sunset Limited )
 Initial part was good, some swamps, rivers. Then it is just
 fffffffflllllllllllaaaaaaaaaaatttttt .Hopelessly, boringly flat  desert
 land all day long. Scenery changed a bit on approaching LA.
 Exciting incidents were, a tv crew came along and interviewed the
 people, on how secure they feel on amtrak after the derailment, and a
 border patrol stopped me on the  "El Paso, Texas" station for passport.

 After a two day journey, had a five minute stop-over at LA and boarded
 the another train to SanJose.

 12 ) LA - SanJose ( Coast Starlight )
 Another marvellous route from SantaBarbara to SanLouis Obispo. It goes
 so near the coast you can
 feel the ocean. Living in the bay area is not complete if you don't
 take this train route. It goes inside an very active air force base,
 where you can see  ICBM missile , satellite lauch sites.  After SanLouis
 Obispo it crosses a mountain range and does a couple of horse-shoe "U"
 curves, and goes inland.


 That's end of the trip. Overall it was very exciting