Travel Journal Also available:    27 May 2023

• USA

Travel to see country & people: In my row on the Amtrak train to Sacramento sit three lovely Mexican Golden Girls who knit by day, share brought-in nachos, cheese cubes and white wine in the evening, and then at night tuck under a mountain of blankets under the seats on the floor for sleeping.

Travel Journal Also available:    25 May 2023

When I wake up this morning, our Texas Eagle train has already left Texas and we are about to leave Missouri as well. We are just arriving in St. Louis and crossing the Mississippi to Illinois. I've ridden this route before on the way out to Fort Worth. There was nothing to be done but backtrack a bit along the same route to get to the Pacific. At least I don't have to go all the way back to Chicago, just as far as Springfield in Illinois. My train left Fort Worth two hours late. I would have missed my connection in Springfield. But overnight the Texas Eagle made up so much time that I still have time at Springfield if it goes on from there. The nice thing about traveling with Amtrak is that you are never left to your own devices, but there are always staff there who round up all travelers and guide them to the right departure platform. You have to be very stupid here to get lost. There are also not many connections, so everything is clearer than in German rail traffic.

• USA

This is the third time I'm crossing the Mississippi. This time heading west again from Illinois and now I'm rolling through Iowa, the 12th state on this trip.

So far I have already traveled to the following states on this journey:   

1. Massachusetts
2. Rhode Island
3. Connecticut
4. New York
5. Pennsylvania
6. Ohio
7. Indiana
8. Illinois
9. Missouri
10. Arkansas
11. Texas
12. Iowa

• USA