California Zephyr

After my wonderful five week vacation, I can’t help but share some of the highlights and some of the reflections. My husband and I traveled on Amtrak from Cleveland to San Francisco then rented a Chevy Malibu for the trip back. For most of our trip, we camped in national parks or forest service camps, but also stayed in a few motels and KOA campgrounds. The trip on the California Zephyr was great. If you have never traveled by train, you might want to give it a try. Although it is not the fastest way to travel, it is unique in its opportunity to view the country and meet fellow travelers. I also felt that it was an ecology friendly way to travel though I would like to know what the difference is between the fuel consumed by the train, an airplane and a car in relation to the number of passengers they hold.

Riding the Zephyr was also a trip back in the history of America to a time where the pace was slower and the world seemed larger. In 1885, a train following much of the same route took my great great grandparents, Benedict and Rachael Miller and half of their twelve children and grandchildren to Oregon where many of my distant cousins live today. So for me, it was an opportunity to reflect on their pioneer spirit and wonder at their willingness to leave half of their family behind to venture off to new life when they were about the same age I am. They would not see the family left behind in Indiana and Ohio until 1906 when they made the trip back and both died during the visit.

The scenery from the train is fantastic, and the route is an engineering marvel. This is especially true when one considers that the tunnels and tracks laid on the sides of mountains were first created at a time when most building was accomplished by pure human and animal muscle along with some dynamite. When I think about the tremendous amount of work accomplished by our ancestors, I am awed. I am also amazed at their optimism and fortitude in the face of hardship. What has happened to their decedents? We take for granted all the things they were striving to accomplish and yet we are the most depressed and drugged people in history.

One of the best parts of traveling by train is meeting one’s fellow passengers. When traveling by car, everyone is trapped in their own little bubble flying through space with their feet a few feet from the ground resting on the metal floor hovering over the sameness of the interstate highway. Even when we stop for food or just a break, we rarely talk with those who are traveling the same direction. On the train, the observation car becomes a place for meeting others and sharing experiences. I talked with a young Amish boy from Indiana, a couple of girls from Sweden, a couple my age from Illinois, and a computer geek from Silicon Valley (just to give you a sample of the variety of travelers aboard the train). Because of the limited space in the dining car, the hostess seats people together when there are not four people in a group, so we really had no idea who we were going to be eating breakfast with each day. We had breakfast with a different couple each day and enjoyed the conversation. The food was very good and not terribly expensive.

There are some down sides to traveling by train. The first is that one must be prepared to give up some of the comforts to which most of us have become accustomed. We did not get a sleeper car, so we had to sleep in the reclining seats. For me, it wasn’t that much of a problem; I can fall asleep just about anywhere. When we talked with others who were in sleeper cars, they said that it wasn’t really worth the money. They complained about cramped conditions and difficulty sleeping but some of the sleepers have showers. After hiking the AT, going without a shower for a couple of days isn’t a big deal to me especially when there is a restroom with running water where one can freshen up a bit. We had to leave Cleveland in the middle of the night (2:30 AM) and had a three hour period in Chicago when we changed trains that offered us a chance for a nice breakfast and a walk to the lake. The trip took about 2.5 days and we were delayed five hours due to a freight train that blocked our route when it broke down and repairs they were making to the track. (Considering the recent passenger delays in airports and passengers stuck on airplanes, this wasn’t a bad deal. The scenery was great, there was food, restrooms, a reclining seat with lots of room for napping and reading, the opportunity to walk around the train and chat with others in the observation car, and the air conditioning worked well.) When I compare my trip west with that of my ancestor, I really have to say I had it pretty good! I copied the following from the family history complied by a distant cousin, Ken Heeter.

“From hearsay, personal observation and experience, I may be able to relate bits of the past: Just before my birth in 1885, my grandparents, Benedict and Rachel Miller, with half their family of twelve children (most of them married and with families of their own) all moved to Oregon, the trip required two weeks by train to San Francisco, then by boat to Oregon, landing and settling about forty miles south of Portland, around Hubbard, Albany and Eugene. “

Libbie Friesner

“Grandma and Grandpa decided to move to Oregon too. My mother was still a young girl living with her parents, and her boyfriend (my father) went along. Travel at that time was a step above the covered wagon, and they went west by way of an immigrant train which I believe was made up of both passenger and freight cars. The passenger cars had a stove at one end for heat and cooking. My father said he had a good time sitting at an open window and shooting at fence posts. At this time there was not a railroad going to Oregon so they traveled by train to San Francisco and transferred to a ship that took them to Oregon.”

Winona Ruby Yoder