The Snailr Project, San Francisco - Los Angeles; Los Angeles

San Francisco - Los Angeles;
Los Angeles - New Orleans;
New Orleans - Memphis;
Memphis - Chicago;
Chicago - East Glacier Lake;
East Glacier Lake - Seattle;
Seattle - Portland;
Portland - San Francisco
So why this route? Well, the middle-sized Amtrak pass has eight allowable segments and fifteen days to use them in. There’s generally only one train a day on most of the very long distance routes, so there were always going to be some places that we had to stay the night just to get up the next morning and get on the next train. We decided to break it for two nights in New Orleans, and then, due to a full train, ended up having to stay there for three. We wanted to have at least one stretch long enough to make it worth shelling out for a roomette (the LA-NOLA leg), but also wanted to get off the train somewhere beautiful and national-park-esque as well as just cities (Glacier Park, then).
It does mean missing out on a couple of routes I would like to do across the west - especially the one that goes through the sierra nevada mountains, up through Denver and all the way to Chicago - but I couldn’t make it work with the other routes and the other places I wanted to go without doubling back.

And I HATE doubling back. Which is why, really, a long circular route was the only way forward. Because a coast-to-coast route makes it, somehow, about the destination. This way, it’s all about the journey.

San Francisco - Los Angeles;
Los Angeles - New Orleans;
New Orleans - Memphis;
Memphis - Chicago;
Chicago - East Glacier Lake;
East Glacier Lake - Seattle;
Seattle - Portland;
Portland - San Francisco

So why this route? Well, the middle-sized Amtrak pass has eight allowable segments and fifteen days to use them in. There’s generally only one train a day on most of the very long distance routes, so there were always going to be some places that we had to stay the night just to get up the next morning and get on the next train. We decided to break it for two nights in New Orleans, and then, due to a full train, ended up having to stay there for three. We wanted to have at least one stretch long enough to make it worth shelling out for a roomette (the LA-NOLA leg), but also wanted to get off the train somewhere beautiful and national-park-esque as well as just cities (Glacier Park, then).

It does mean missing out on a couple of routes I would like to do across the west - especially the one that goes through the sierra nevada mountains, up through Denver and all the way to Chicago - but I couldn’t make it work with the other routes and the other places I wanted to go without doubling back.

And I HATE doubling back. Which is why, really, a long circular route was the only way forward. Because a coast-to-coast route makes it, somehow, about the destination. This way, it’s all about the journey.