Last leg of our trip - Chicago to Dallas

We left Chicago at 1:45pm on Wednesday, 3/18, and we're due to arrive Dallas on Thursday, 3/19, at 11:45am... right now, we are about half an hour behind schedule at each station, but the scheduled arrival for Dallas is still staying the same. Thankfully we don't have any specific appointments today.

We booked a "Roomette" for this portion of the journey...

The two seats fold down and make a lower bed; the top bunk folds down and there is a mattress up there that you put on top of the lower seats. Three are steps just to the left side of this picture (you can't see them very well) that aid with access to the top bunk.

 Observations:
- This is much more comfortable and conducive to sleeping than the coach seats - we slept well. We were particularly tired as a result of using the coach seats on Tuesday night, so our results might not represent normal results!
- The "ette" part of "Roomette" is critical to notice. There is not much room! Very little space for storage (when the seats are up, you can store under the seats but anything stored under there is not available to access when the bed is made up). I think if I traveled this way more, I would have a better idea of what to pack and in what kind of case. For example, there was a place where a hanging bag could be hung - we were provided hangers and hung our jackets there, but a bag that could be hung would easiest to have accessible but also out of the way.
- I brought slip-on sandal/night shoes, that Carl used too (no, we do NOT have the same size feet! I don't know how he wore them!). The train folks emphasized that we had to have on shoes if we were away from our room - definitely good to have easy-to-slip-on shoes.
- The train horn/whistle sounds almost constantly. We thought they only had to sound the horn for uncontrolled crossings, but from observation, the horn is sounded for every crossing. Once we went to sleep, we didn't notice it anymore. The sleeping cars on this train (and on the DC to Chicago train) are closest to the front of the train (and the train horn).
- I forgot to take a picture while it was made up in the bed configuration...
- It seemed like the tracks from St Louis through Arkansas were really rough - lots of bouncing and swaying side-to-side. Carl was on the top bunk and was glad that there was a safety webbing provided that he connected to the ceiling and would keep him from falling out of the bed.
- Getting in and out of the top bunk was a challenge - the entry was at the corner of the bed - and it was not really possible for an adult to sit upright in the top bunk.
- The folks next to us were parents with two kids - in roomettes across the hall from each other. The top bunk would be "fun" for a child, I think. There are also different kinds of accommodations for families.
https://www.amtrak.com/onboard/onboard-accommodations-for-all-your-needs/sleeping-accommodations.html
https://www.amtrak.com/onboard/onboard-accommodations-for-all-your-needs/sleeping-accommodations/superliner-roomette.html
- The measurements in that second link imply that you'd have a foot and 2 inches of space next to the bed once the lower bed is made up... that is space right inside the sliding door. We happened to have the TravelPro suitcase sitting in that area too... I figure we had about 1'x2' of floor space for doing things like getting dressed...  have I mentioned that it was tight?
- There was a restroom on the floor that we were on which was nice - not to have to go downstairs in the night. There were additional restrooms and the shower room downstairs.

Lots of crop fields as we passed through Illinois

More crop fields

Nearly empty observation car

Lots of available seating

We were stopped at the station in this town -- blocking the street while folks were boarding and disembarking -- I've been the folks in that car before being stopped by a train, but never knowingly on a train that was stopping traffic.

It seems that every small town has a central government building - many with very interesting architecture.

The sleeper car accommodation included meals in the dining car so we took advantage of having dinner -- this was before we ordered. The meals and service were very good!

I had indicated on a previous post that the dining car was only for the sleeper car folks, but, at least on this train, it was open to all, but non-sleeper car folks have to pay.

It was about sunset as we came to St Louis...

The sunset was beautiful, though we weren't on a great angle to capture it.

The train crossed over the Mississippi into Missouri at St Louis.

At St. Louis, they cautioned us to remain seated as two train cars were going to be removed from the train before we arrived to the platform for disembarking and boarding.

There is various information on the train about train travel consuming less energy than cars or air travel. It occurs to me that the train can dynamically alter its carrying capacity - adding or removing cars as the need requires (as long as the cars are where they are needed to be added).

We asked the server in the dining car how long ridership had been down and she said just this past week - that up to then, train travel had been going well.

Carl took a picture of his breakfast. It was good!

He told me that he had reserved the whole dining car for our private use...

After breakfast...

We didn't make use of the shower facilities on the train, but I went to check them out...

Not bad... not as nice as in the lounge though!

Dressing area.

We are enjoying our trip, though one of the things that we have heard about train travel is that you get to talk with other passengers and the crew. In fact, in the dining car, I think they usually seat you with other people -- so the two of us would have been seated with another couple or a single. But... now they are only seating people at every other table and certainly not seating folks together who are not traveling together.