I am having a hard time believing the paper published it. Or maybe I should; the Tribune has fallen on sorry days.
For one thing, there is almost no description of the scenery, nor is there very much about interactions with other passengers (except for one drunk).
The lead talks about falling in love with Milwaukee--but never says why.
The students get off at Essex, but there is no mention of the Izaak Walton Inn. The writer says they "grabbed a hotel room" --but never says where. (If it was Essex, the Walton Inn is it.)
The student complains about soggy sandwiches but says nothing about the dining car. I presume the lads were too broke to eat there, but the writer could have said so.
I'm going to use this sorry piece as a shining example of bad travel writing in an upcoming travel writer's workshop at the Depot Inn in La Plata.
Posts: 2236 | From: Evanston, Ill. and Ontonagon, Mich. | Registered: Feb 2007
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I don't think it's that bad an article, Henry. He does mention the Dining Car at the end where he lists the costs of the trip. As for "grabbed a hotel room", that was on previous trips when they would stop for hiking. They stayed on the train this time straight through to Seattle.
I'm a little surprised that in pricey Santa Barbara they didn't notice the Hostel directly across the tracks from the station.
Frank in sunny and soon to be warm SBA
Posts: 2160 | From: Santa Barbara, CA, USA | Registered: Oct 2003
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Well, I agree that is is not what I'd consider a good write up of the way I experience train travel. But from the point of view of my two twenty-something sons, it seemed to match their veiw of train travel pretty well. I don't take exception to them "grabbing a hotel" in Essex - unless you are a train buff, why would one think it was worthy of special mention, any more than the name of the Oceanside dump? (it is not clear that the Isaac Walton is actually where they stayed). so, nto a great article, but I suspect that after 25 days in coach, lack of good sleep, exercise, blah food (all mentioned), this is exactly what the trip was to them - relatively boring trip over too many miles to truly enjoy, but to say they did it.
Posts: 406 | From: La Grange, CA | Registered: Sep 2007
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I have no problem whatever with this article; there were no horror stories of trains inexplicably delayed, and the unpleasantness of an encounter with someone under the influence of something is simply "gonna happen' when doing a marathon like this in Coach.
On-board food? You get what you pay for. Same applies for the "ambiance" of Coach travel.
Regarding the stay at the likely Issac Walton; it's not a "mecca' to anyone outside of the rail enthusiast community. My Niece and Brother-in-Law have stayed there. They were driving around there after dark during High season and without any advance reservations - and Issac Walton had rooms open. To them it was simply a place to tie up for the night - and, as my Niece noted to me, "those darned trains", of which they had no knowledge were there until they had checked in, "kept me awake all night'.
In short, I think the article was more objective than most here are likely to give it credit for being, but I for one am not about to find out first hand. We shall see what our DePauw graduate around here, RRRich, has to say about such.
Posts: 9975 | From: Clarendon Hills, IL USA (BNSF Chicago Sub MP 18.71) | Registered: Apr 2002
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I'm no writer, but I do read a lot, and I agree with Henry...that article needs a good editor. It seems to lack focus. I'm gathering that the kids took the trip just to say they took the trip, so scenery, people, food, experiences, etc. are of no interest to them. Fortunately, at the end they have learned that this is a big country.
You can go to college and learn a lot, but whether you realize anything is a different matter.
posted
I didn't think it was that bad of an article; more positives than negatives, as GBN likes to point out. Have to keep in mind that it's written from the point of view of a young college student, and the whole trip seems to have been more of a "goof" than anything else. At least he concludes by telling us his next trip will be by train.
Posts: 1530 | From: Ocala, FL | Registered: Dec 2006
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Point of argument, GBN: The Izaak Walton is not only a railfan's mecca -- it is a favorite with skiers and snowshoers from all over the nation. Many glossy travel magazines have praised it for that reason, not because helper engines idle in the yard.
As for the rest, we shall just have to agree to disagree.
Posts: 2236 | From: Evanston, Ill. and Ontonagon, Mich. | Registered: Feb 2007
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I think this article would be OK for a student publication or a blog--could it be a blog that tries to use student writers? Or was it a true feature article, in print too? I think the writing is weak, the detail useless, and everything very personal and somewhat boring. . . but overall not bad publicity for Amtrak. . .
Frank, my reading of the article says they DID stop in Essex--used the stop to do laundry, hang out in a tavern, etc. . . they did not go straight through to Seattle. I thought it was a first train trip for them, anayway? But what I am thinking is perhaps they actually stopped in Whitefish, not Essex, grabbled a motel THERE (there is one Downtown), went to a tavern THERE, and got mixed up about the stops! If so . . . very bad travel reporting!?!?!
Posts: 2642 | From: upstate New York | Registered: Mar 2004
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Ms. Sojourner, the photo presently being displayed with the article would suggest that the party did in fact do their stopover 'for laundry and whatever else' at Essex.
Mr. Kisor, regarding your comments on winter sports enthusiasts, for them is the Issac Walton a 'mecca' or is it simply "there"?
Posts: 9975 | From: Clarendon Hills, IL USA (BNSF Chicago Sub MP 18.71) | Registered: Apr 2002
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GBN, I couldn't say if the Izaak Walton is a mecca for skiers -- but I do know, from reading travel magazines and talking to non-railfan friends who are skiers, that it's a popular destination in the winter for them.
It *is* a mecca for foamers, that's for sure.
Posts: 2236 | From: Evanston, Ill. and Ontonagon, Mich. | Registered: Feb 2007
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I re-read the article and now realize that I must have misread the part about Essex the first time around. The second reading and the picture indicate that they must have stopped over. Why would you need to do laundry after one night on the road, though?
Frank in sunny and warm SBA
Posts: 2160 | From: Santa Barbara, CA, USA | Registered: Oct 2003
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Ok people I am going to play devils avocate. This article was witten by a 20 year old male. It is what I would expct from most of them. They weren't writing a travelogue for some upscale magazine. They were simply expressing the things that were important to them and what they would tell friends.So the sandwiches were soggy. No explanation needed. If you read between the lines they were impressed with what they saw Also as to the names of the motel they probably didn't remember them an hour after they left. How many of us do. I jot thm down in my travel journel . We forget these guys aren't experiences travelors or writers (yet) Furthermore I rather enjoyed the down to brass tacks report. BTW I expect the so called drunk was not drunk but rather a full blown space cadet.
Posts: 1577 | From: virginia | Registered: Jun 2005
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"Yo dude, Ted, Wicks and I just rode trains for 25 days...we saw Glacier Park, Seattle, Santa Barbara, Austin and a whole bunch of other places...it was pretty cool!"
In 1979 I loaded a couple of bags into an old Vista Cruiser and made a 4-corners tour of the USA (and a little bit of Canada) with 2 friends. The purpose of our trip was to accompany one of the friends who was checking out grad school programs at Northwestern, McGill, Brown, Princeton, UNC, Vanderbilt, Texas, UCLA, Cal Tech and a few other places I've long forgotten. None of us had ever been east of the Rockies or south of Grants Pass when we waved good-bye to our friends that morning and headed east on I-90. One month of highways and new adventures: Yellowstone Park, the northern lights, Chicago, New York City, Appalachia, Mississippi, Halloween in New Orleans and warm beaches in California. I'm not sure the postcards and letters that I sent from that trip were any more focused or polished than the travelogue published by these 3 dudes. But I remember when I got back to Seattle, I was already planning to get back out and see what else there is to see in this great world of ours.
I'm just glad the dudes didn't spend a whole paragraph writing about the great fig tree they saw when they got off the train in Santa Barbara.
Posts: 831 | From: Seattle | Registered: Jan 2011
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TrainLady is right. This is the Spring Break/Girls Gone Wild generation. Perhaps the Tribune was trying to entice this demographic to read the paper (a lost cause, if you ask me) and deliberately published a piece that matched the group's callowness.
My own college trip was by VW Bug in the summer of 1961 from Chicago to L.A. along Route 66. My roomie and I (we had both overdosed on "The Grapes of Wrath") were going to work as fruit and veggie pickers. We didn't pick a thing (we'd never have lasted a day) but we had a jolly good time anyway being pretend Steinbeck characters.
Come to think of it, next week I'm paralleling that route aboard the Southwest Chief with stopovers at La Plata and Winslow.
Posts: 2236 | From: Evanston, Ill. and Ontonagon, Mich. | Registered: Feb 2007
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As I thought about the article it ocurred to me how great this guy can write. I have noticed that so many college grads can't write a decent sentence. They talk as if they have a mouth full of mashed potatoes.
Posts: 1577 | From: virginia | Registered: Jun 2005
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Gil -- you remembered that I went to DePauw also (where these three guys are attending)! I'm impressed!
No, the article wasn't a prose masterpiece which they are going to turn in as a final exam for a Creative Writing or Journalism class, but it is a good account from a college student's perspective of traveling by train. I'm a bit surprised that the Tribune published it, but I'm sure they saw something worth publishing in it.
If these guys actually did stop at Essex, they would have had to have stayed at the Isaak Walton, but did they have reservations ahead of time? I know you need reservations for summer travel at the Walton, but the place is also popular as a winter destination, for cross-country skiers (and of course those dreaded railfans!), as someoene else said -- besides, the Empire Builder stops at Essex year round, but only stops at East Glacier in the summer (when the park is open) -- but where is the "tavern" they hung out at? The bar in the lower level of the Isaak Walton maybe? I'm a bit surrpised that college students could afford to stay at the Walton (well, if they are from DePauw, maybe they WERE able to afford it.......)
Posts: 2428 | From: Grayling, MI | Registered: Mar 2002
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If the passes were $579 each and they each spent a total of $650 including the passes & train food, they were definitely not eating in the dining car. That's less than $100 for food for several days. Still, they had a real adventure. I think that same drunk (or maybe his brother) was on my last Starlight trip, too. Maybe he just rides back & forth (LOL!)
-------------------- My new "default" station (EKH) has no baggage service or QuikTrak machine, but the parking is free! And the NY Central RR Museum is just across the tracks (but not open at Amtrak train times. . ..) Posts: 337 | From: Goshen, IN | Registered: Jun 2006
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