The first lap of our train ride was miserable. (From 1:30 Wednesday to 7:30 a.m. Thursday.) It swayed. It bounced. It jerked. The only thing good was the floor model oxygen generator we’d brought worked great.

Sleeping was impossible.

Yes, we had a nice sleeper room, but the rough ride made it difficult.

My dinner was pretty good… a burger. John’s meal was acceptable.

In the middle of the night, I saw John leaning over the edge of the bed. He said, “I can’t take it anymore.” But he did, and eventually, we arrived in Washington, D.C.

The first class lounge in the train station was nice. John napped. We relaxed until about 4:00 when we boarded the next train which would take us to Chicago.

It was smooth as glass. Loved it. Our room wasn’t as large, but ok.

We slept well (except I had to crawl into a top bunk which wasn’t easy).

Breakfast was ok. We had another eight-hour layover, but again we were comfortable in the lounge.

While waiting we checked our tickets from Chicago to Flint, MI, and were told they couldn’t promise we’d have an AC plug. (Another $200 to upgrade our tickets.)

When we got on the Chicago to Flint lap of the trip, we found all seats had AC power. The $200 had been spent unnecessarily. But we continued to Flint.