Agnes Phua
Special to wtop.com
WASHINGTON – A writer embarking on a three-day train trip home this spring from Washington to Washington – D.C. to Seattle – learned much more about train travel and why members of the military chose to spend their vacation on board.
It did not faze Jon Anderson, a senior Military Times staff writer when he found out in Chicago all trains on that route had been canceled indefinitely.
“It went from being a three-day trip to essentially a five-day trip,” he said, where he later went through the Colorado Rockies into California before heading north to Seattle.
This train- and mountain lover met various military personnel including an aerial photographer who worked for the Navy through the late 1950s, retired Army veterans and their families while chatting with fellow travelers.
They were using rail as an alternative and more economical form of travel due to rising gas prices.
“If you enjoy meeting people, train travel is a wonderful way to do that,” said Anderson, who later shared his experience in an Army Times article.
He was impressed with how an Army civilian and her family were spending their vacation doing a complete circumnavigation around the western half of the country in a week – what he considered to be traveling “even more epic distances than mine.”
He also met retired Sgt. Randel Smith who first jumped onto a train back in 2006 after returning from 18 months in Iraq. Smith was spontaneously and warmly welcomed by fellow passengers who bought him drinks and thanked him for his service.
“The soldiers were traveling from one place to another – from war to peace,” Anderson said.
“I think an internal transition needs time. Train travel gives you that luxury of time to watch the world go by.”
Traveling on the train was a refreshing change for Anderson as he wanted to avoid the commercial establishments usually encountered on road trips.
“You could be in New Jersey or New Mexico and it would basically be the same,” he said. He also had his fair share of luck on this train journey as traveling through the Colorado Rockies by rail was something he had always wanted to do.
“You leave Denver