4. Riding America's LONGEST TRAIN to Alaska!

this is america's longest train i should clarify it's not physically the longest train by number of passenger cars it's the longest in distance traveled by a single train taking us from chicago illinois to los angeles california over four whole days i'm michael and i'm traveling by rail from the most southern train station in america to the most northern and riding america's most iconic historic and interesting trains this country has to offer this is downey live travels by train season two and so we're starting right here and of course i'm taking my dad with me we're starting chicago union station you couldn't convince most people to sit on a train for four days but my dad is retired and he just has the right attitude he's willing to go anywhere at any time i like to think i got a little bit of that from him they've already started boarding the train so no lounge for us today head straight on board and like any good adventure we're already having troubles finding our passenger car room a this isn't a sleeper car no we gotta get off his coach but we did stumble into an old friend look who it is hopefully we see more of caesar on this trip for those who don't remember caesar was my car attendant when i rode the amtrak california zephyr but back to this trip so we have the romettes here one on each side my dad and i have bedroom this time cause they're twice as big i've never stayed in a bedroom before let me give you a room tour okay so we have our bedroom a bench couch seats three we also have another seat around the corner behind my dad this will fold down into one bunk and this will slide out into one bunk so we're sleeping here we have our own sink mirror and a bathroom walk in very nice with a shower hello hello if this is how it's starting i think we'll go insane after four days small but it's comfortable so it's the biggest they offer yeah so it's not considered small in the amtrak world uh i should tell you i paid over two thousand dollars for this room for my dad and i to go from chicago to la just in case you're wondering about price worth every penny so far we'll find out and so while we sit back and relax and wait for the views to start rolling now's a good time to talk about laundry which brings us to the sponsor of today's video true earth because they've got us covered in all stages of laundry from the laundry bag that i bring with me when i travel to put all my dirty clothes into to the plastic free hamper that i use when i get home to doing the actual laundry using their amazing laundry ecostrips this is the product i fell in love with it's plastic free lightweight biodegradable compostable packaging is recyclable the strips themselves are paraben free and phosphate free and they work in both top loading or front loading machines in either hot water or cold water basically you can't go wrong it's as simple as tearing open the packaging pulling out a strip using one strip for a regular load or two for a big load and their new scent happens to be lilac breeze which is that's nice so if you want to help save the planet and switch to the true earth laundry eco strips click the link in the description below the video and use discount code downey for 10 off he can't ever go on vacation and so without much waiting around we're often headed out of the windy city i'm hoping to spend four days in peace and quiet first of all i want to see almost all of america in one swoop and i'm going to enjoy your company kind of hope for the same thing a nice relaxing trip some food wake up every morning with a different view and not know what's gonna happen that day but have no plans mississippi uh no it's the chicago river he's just excited the train runs through the industrial back roads of chicago before running into small towns of illinois we've been going for about 20-25 minutes and we're already out in out of the city that's quick now that is joliet union station and that's one of the things i enjoy about these trips is getting to see all the different stations and on this train in particular you get to see the most i'm gonna have the atlantic salmon let's go with the baked ziti please with our dinner order in it's time for us to sit back and enjoy the passing scenery it's nice seeing us go faster than the traffic no platform on either side but we have stopped because we're in the station of pontiac illinois and the reason i wanted to see it because my first job was at a pontiac dealership let's go find the cafe [Music] oh that's handy we are the closest bedroom to the dining car this is what amtrak calls a diner lounge it's not a full dining car but rather a half dining car and half cafe on the other side so i grab some pretzels and a coffee and join my dad at a table because unfortunately this train does not have an observation car so this is the only social space we can use so this journey will have our train changing in san antonio and i'll explain that later but basically this is the only communal area for us is this single car that's half cafe half dinette but we should get a proper dining car tomorrow and so my dad will have to hold his excitement for the observation car a little longer i mean we still hadn't realized our food situation would be disappointing the name of the station is normal illinois imagine telling that to someone who doesn't know you yet where are you from normal okay i wonder what someone from normal is called if you know the answer leave it in the comments below but is it a normalite a normalin a normaler now the beauty of taking the train is truly seeing all of america from farms to backyards to small towns to big cities now i should mention that this route is not typically a bucketless trip for most people in fact for the last two years my dad and i have taken some incredible train journeys together from the northern train that takes you to the polar bears in canada or on canada's most luxurious rocky mountaineer train and well i hope he's not expecting a similar experience to those in fact some would say that spending four days on an amtrak train sounds like a nightmare trip well for me i'm looking forward to spending some time with my dad and hopefully he feels the same but only time will tell how this goes here we are in springfield and that is the illinois state capitol and the clouds here really remind me of springfield the simpsons well i think we can say we fully settled in now and we're ready to see america but just as we get comfortable dinner time here we go so it's back to the diner lounge which to clarify is not an official dining car that will be attached tomorrow along with the observation car i've never had a shorter walk from my bedroom to the restaurant that we have it's great so in the meantime we're eating microwaved meals off the flexible dining menu this is the pasta meatballs looks good smells good meals are included in the ticket price but with another three nights on board i can tell you my dad and i are both left looking forward to the proper dining car where food is actually cooked on board that's it the gateway to the west through on the level of the eiffel tower you look at it you know exactly where you are in the world okay we've got a bridge dad i'm going to ask you which river is this this is the mississippi river there we go here we are with the arch above it this is the mississippi river this time which means it's the first time i've ever entered missouri it also means it's already our second state of the trip with many more to come and i have to admit i've only seen the st louis gateway arch in photos but with the buildings in the background here you can really see how big it is this is really starting to feel like a tour of america now before i get too distracted my favorite amtrak dessert has arrived you've got to try this it's a soft is that not a delicious brownie other than the meals the other excitement we'll have on this trip are the fresh air stops hey louis all right st louis is a crew changeover spot and a refuel spot so we actually have about 55 minutes here which is really rare i just realized we're wearing the same shirt but in different colors and you've got the long sleeve i've got the short sleeve i got the long sleeve you know why why so i can be warm while being cool caesar i can't believe we're on the same train again been a while hey youtube yes this one nice too this one's nice we're gonna have some scenic views yeah we're gonna have some nice little beautiful views here and there hopefully you guys enjoy it all right like and subscribe this trip has been shockingly easy so far we're perfectly on time the weather is incredible and well just hanging out with my dad is really nice so nothing new to report on it's all going well but i don't want to get ahead of myself because we've only been on board for six hours and we still have another 60 hours ahead of us and off we go again i can tell you it's a nice night for a train ride oh look who's here look at that that's a bright line train we were on that three weeks ago what are they doing up here they look brand new they must be delivering them the flat landscape of missouri leaves lots of time for a long and lingering sunset and on the other side of the car the added treat of the moon hanging over the mississippi river and so once i've watched my first missouri sunset there's only one thing left to do i don't have a watch on but i figured by the fact that the sun's setting and we've had dinner and there's nothing else to do might as well get this bed made up and go to bed there's a foot pedal normally your car attendant will make the bed up for you but i thought i'd give it a shot i've been in so far you're doing good we're at the post up right right okay anything else that's it you are upset thank you i feel not needed oh i'm so sorry we'll let you do it tomorrow night i promise all right good night thank you good night i guess which bunk do you want oh i'll take the bottom yeah that was easy i'm realizing this now but we should have brushed our teeth first because we now have no room to get to the sink we also forgot that we didn't take our luggage out from under the bunk so dad is no it's under the couch when it's in its shortest form and when you pull it out it's still way back there good thing he's still young and limber we're done nice work dad arcadia valley missouri has a little caboose at their station kind of what i like about taking these trips is you never know where you're gonna go to sleep or where you'll wake up so i guess tomorrow we'll find out where we wake up this is uh it's snugger than i remember this there's really not much room here when you're lying down now i know how harvey felt hope you're not claustrophobic i'm just gonna brush my teeth and go to sleep all right good morning see you in the morning whoa good morning texas breakfast ends in 45 minutes so time to go this morning we have a three egg omelet potatoes sausage links the way i'd describe this is edible i promised my dad good food on this trip so i'm really hoping we get this dining car for him soon this cafe dinette is not as good of an experience as the dining car that we'll get tomorrow well i guess we sit down settle in in a different spot on the train that's all there is to do or now i should be taking notes the man knows how to live the life and so while he sleeps i'll fill you in on the day there are a lot of water towers in texas i mean a lot some would say that the landscape is boring but depending on where you're from in the world this could be really interesting so here we are watching it all roll past until we arrive at our next big city and fresh air stop ladies and gentlemen welcome to dallas texas that is war can you tell we're canadian it's a cool 97 degrees out here these stops offer just enough time to stretch your legs but not really enough time to go explore anything so to keep entertained i was looking around and spotted this tower behind us but my dad seems to have found another building that's a little more interesting so that is the book depository definitely the book depository and that's the daily plaza and that's the location where uh president john kennedy was shot there we go to go from here dallas to san antonio by car is four hours and 16 minutes or if you take the train like we are it's over ten and a half hours yep that includes lunch always finding the positive side of things oh yeah that's the null right there that's the knoll yeah sure enough as we leave the dallas station my my dad is right this is the spot where jfk was assassinated in 1963. those those are the things i didn't expect to see on this train trip but that just goes to show take the trip because you never know what you'll come across might not have been a very positive piece of history but it's a historic moment in america anyhow and so a ride across the second largest state continues fort worth texas i feel like we're doing the milk run we have an hour and a half stop here we're not just making a lot of stops on this train a lot of long stops oh we're over 100 degrees now still when you're on the train for four days no matter how hot it is outside you still get out for a minute stretch your legs fresh air getting our steps in i should check how many steps we've taken you weren't far off 351 steps today and it's one o'clock in the afternoon that's that's not good oh yeah 645. oh you've done more than me yeah well i got up earlier we got up early alrighty that's enough let's go get lunch and i know it feels like we just had breakfast but really not much else happens on these trains so this is called the red thai noodle box and it's the vegan meal my dad and i both decided to try it just tastes fine yeah you're right meatball's good too when we had the salmon i said it tasted like it looks this one tastes like it should and so to make things a little more fun amtrak is riding along some of the roughest stretch of track i've ever experienced okay which just means it's a much more let's say exciting afternoon and as we continue south the landscape gets drier and drier i'm told texas is both in a drought and a heat wave but you can't feel it from the inside now it's over a hundred degrees outside and i'm inside wearing my wool jacket while that's wrapped up in the black and blanket the ac is going in here and uh yeah i'm enjoying it i'm cozy rough rocking shaking and cold with the air conditioner oh wow the old train see the trains you told us about pat we've got an old caboose here and so we settle into our routine of stepping off the train at each fresh air stop there's that texas heat again 104 104 to eating the next meal fingers crossed the rumors are true and tomorrow the food improves watching the american scenery pass by and stepping off at the next fresh air stop again austin texas and this is where caesar breaks the good news to us my final destination after that a new crew from l.a actually takes over from your car so you're gonna have actual diner observation card the whole deal after this okay you're not going to have it the same way you left it out here so we came down on this train and they're going to reconnect us to a different driver yeah basically that's what's going to end up happening we're going to miss it no problem my dad is excited next stop san antonio that's where we get the dining car [Music] time is currently 10 58 and we're here waiting to get off because we have a unique opportunity to go see the san antonio river walk san antonio riverwalk is beautiful and we have about two maybe three hours to go do it i just i just realized we've dressed the same again black shirts black pants gray shoes what can i say i had a good role model my dad always taught me to enjoy life so while amtrak connects our car to the new train we're heading out for a quiet time on the riverwalk little river sunken below street level and it has great shops and restaurants i feel like we're finally getting our steps in too i mean this is the time to be here it's not 100 degrees it's what 32 degrees and there's no one else on the river walking with us but then we realize this is likely our last time off the train for the next two days so just like he taught me we decided to make the most of it thank you cheers cheers this is why i ride the train [Music] i think if i've learned anything from this guy even still at his age of 76 is to take the opportunity no matter how short or small the window go enjoy it thanks for coming out with me dad that was a pleasure mike absolutely made the whole trip worth it and the trip is only half over only half hour see you in the morning and after a short night's sleep we're still in texas coming up to the seminole canyon state park and historic site these are the views i wanted to see on this train well a lot has changed overnight not only has the scenery changed but also the configuration of our train for the better we no longer have the half and half diner lounge but if we walk through coach class it will bring us to the moment we've all been waiting then you get the observation car and now the very last car on the train we arrive at the dining car thank you look at that smile just let me say the last two days that much better you'll notice the menu has changed to the traditional dining menu this is the experience we've been waiting for eating a properly cooked breakfast along the seminole canyon state park i know it might not seem like a big difference but eating microwave food for the last two days has us shockingly happy for this it's starting to look like this four day trip across america wasn't such a big mistake after all still having fun with my dad new food and a new backdrop means there's only one thing left that could make this moment any better oh this is good i mean the last thing i want in texas is a hot hot shower all right you get it and now we settle back in for our regularly scheduled programming which is more of this and a little of this i have to learn to do that more often the desert out here is beautiful in its own way but i enjoy it from the room on a train i would not want to be stuck out there or lost now that i'm showered and my dad is rested we just sit here sometimes quietly sometimes talking colors are so real they are it's not very often i get to just sit and spend time with him that's not part of some sort of family event i mean we literally have nothing else to do right now no wi-fi no work no schedule nowhere to be it's nice i mean but maybe the best part is that the man that taught me to enjoy the little things is right here with me and we're we're living it together like this next unique experience this is alpine texas we got off right in the middle of the road here but there is a station but what's really interesting is that the station is so short that our train blocks the road for the whole five minutes we're here i just love that we get these fresh air stops and towns you'd never visit looks like a cute town and apparently it's the gateway to big bend national park as well so i might just have to come back oh cute you got to love these old stations definitely a charm about this riding by rail here we go back on board see you next time alpine it's lunchtime lunchtime yes so we sit down again and order the regular burger and the veggie burger and traded halves so we could both try them and if this is lunch in the dining car i'm so excited about dinner tonight and with the new dining car means we get proper desserts as we're rolling along the southern border of texas you'll see some interesting things this full-size prada store is apparently some sort of art installation there are a lot of dust tornadoes out here apparently that blimp is used by customs and border patrol so this little town here with a population of just 235 people swells on february 14th to thousands of people because everyone wants to mail their valentine's day cards from here the town of valentine texas but after all that excitement we're coming to the part of the trip that i was worried about boredom on a train trip that is four days long two days of which have been in a single state out of cell service for most of the time between cities and stuck in a room with nothing else to do except to look out on this unique landscape i mean it really does remind you how big america is and even when it feels like there's nothing to see there's always something to look at particularly when you're stopped with delays there's a freight train ahead of us with a knuckle issue so union pacific is up there trying to fix it but we don't know how long we'll be stuck here there's just the two of us and that cow out there and that's it we're appreciating the moment it's the desert brings perspective some of these scenes feel like they were sets in a western movie while others are just kind of mesmerizing either way that's why an announcement any announcement becomes all the excitement the train needs meet the burrito queen sounds good el paso oh that is something i definitely have to try brisket from the el paso burrito clean three dollars she's lined up 30 people deep i didn't think el paso would be that nice of a station but when there's food and is this good yeah make the stop pick the stop so after el paso we took the opportunity to go sit in the observation car and this is everything we dreamed of [Music] leaving el paso has us riding along the famous border wall but also crossing the rio grande river which was also the lunch i ordered two episodes ago at the red caboose motel but it also means we finally left texas and we've entered new mexico finally we've been in texas since yesterday morning and as the new mexico landscape changes and rolls along well my dad is in for a dinner delight dad yes you notice oh yes white linen tablecloth very nice dad last night together dinner in new mexico at 80 miles per hour at sunset doesn't get better fabulous it's a good way to end a good trip i think you can tell that our mood has improved the new dining car and the observation car have given us new life i mean it really is four days of sitting and eating but dad here is great company and easy to travel this salmon is so much better than the microwave salmon than the flex dining menu salmon you had the other day so much better i think the decision is clear we both much prefer the proper dining car over the flexible dining menu it's important for me to mention that the cost of meals is included in your room ed ticket but don't forget to tip your servers now regardless of which dining car you get it's always nice to have time to sit down together sometimes these small moments are more valuable than the big adventurous trip itself if there's anything this train has done it's shown me parts of this country i would never otherwise get to see that's the station that's the amtrak station right there that little bench and it's given me time with my dad which i never would have taken as adults we never just get to spend four full undistracted days with our parents anymore whether you want to or not is another thing it's been a hell of a trip really it's been amazing it's been a little slow in places but really exciting in some yeah and i want to thank you for bringing me along it's great i'm ready to come to any other trips you want okay i guess we'll leave in the comments down below where we should go to next and with a little lightning overnight we wake up on our last day in california we know we're in california because all of the wind turbines are clearly charging teslas and as we pull into the sand blown station of palm desert but really i feel like the landscape and scenery from this trip is so uniquely american nowhere else in the world could you get a sunrise like this and that's why riding the train through seven states for four days has been worth it i mean this trip has been great but i'd love to ride something a little more luxurious wait does mom have a birthday next week yeah it's next saturday and so as a last minute birthday gift i take my mom on america's most luxurious train the new rocky mountaineer rockies to red rocks taking us from denver colorado through the rocky mountains to the red rocks of moab utah but this isn't just any train this is a five-star experience with a hotel stop in the middle so we don't miss a minute of this epic landscape so subscribe and come back next week to see america's most luxurious train right here or join and become a member to watch it right now trust me the experience gets a little rocky and it's going to be a wild ride well that looks like a good time let's do that dad i'm sorry i love you but i'm switching you for mom let's go let's go let's go here we go i'll see you next week on the rocky mountaineer america's most luxurious train on downey live travels by train and it's over

Channel: DownieLive

Views: 919,084

Keywords: downielive, downie live, travels by train, amtrak, amtrak Texas Eagle, Texas Eagle, texas, trains usa, train usa, longest train, america's longest train

Id: ei9GFarMVwg

Length: 26min 21sec (1581 seconds)

Published: Sat Sep 03 2022