![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.comstocksmag.com\/sites\/main\/files\/imagecache\/lightbox\/main-images\/shutterstock_1911650284.jpg\" "\\"Denver's")
<\/a><\/p>\n\n Denver\u2019s Union Station was constructed in 1914 in a Beaux-Arts
\n style. (Shutterstock photo)\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\n We had booked a Roomette, a tiny two-person sleeper with seats
\n that convert into a bunk bed. On the top level were straps to
\n keep the person up there so he or she wouldn\u2019t jolt out and onto
\n the floor should the train jerk suddenly during the high-speed
\n overnight jag through the desert flats. The ticket included our
\n five meals over the course of the 33 hours that it would take to
\n get us over the Rockies.\n<\/p>\n
\n The train reaches an altitude of nearly 10,000 feet and traverses
\n 26 tunnels cut through a 10-mile stretch of particularly
\n intransigent mountains; through the red rock canyons pinning the
\n Colorado River into its route on the western side of the
\n Continental Divide; along hundreds of miles of orange and red
\n cliffs, many of an astounding height, and scrublands in Utah; out
\n into the duller-orange and brown desert expanses of Nevada;
\n through Reno and over the lush Sierra Nevada north of Lake Tahoe.
\n Finally, it picks up speed to begin the journey down the
\n foothills and into the Sacramento Valley.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\n \n A Roommette seat in daytime configuration on the California During our day-and-a-half journey, we \n What makes the Zephyr journey so overwhelming, from a sensory \n It\u2019s a form of cinema v\u00e9rit\u00e9 that is particularly slow-moving, \n \n The California Zephyr passes along the Colorado River. (Photo by \n As a passenger, you experience a sort of enforced relaxation, \n These people lean in not just to the destination but to the \n \n The Sightseer Lounge on the California Zephyr.(Photo by Sarah \n At meals, the tables seat four people, and so, if you\u2019re \n Over the course of Saturday and the first half of Sunday, we met<\/a><\/p>\n
\n Zephyr. (Photo by Sarah Stierch via Wikimedia Commons, licensed
\n under CC BY 4.0)\n<\/p>\n
\n hop-scotched the seasons. Atop the Rockies, on the soaring peaks
\n that stood like sentinels high above the train tracks, there were
\n still the snowy remnants of winter; in the desert lowlands and
\n valleys, it was already deep into the hot and arid summer.\n<\/p>\n
\n point of view, is the fabled glass observation car: a long
\n carriage lined with tall windows curving upward toward the
\n ceiling. Fans of train travel the world over wax rhapsodic about
\n this carriage. Sitting in the car, wherever you look, there is
\n scenery. Turn your head, and you see rivers and horses, herds of
\n free-range cattle or bison, the backyards of houses that the
\n train passes, fishermen and rafters \u2014 some of whom have
\n ritualized the practice of standing up and mooning the passing
\n Zephyr \u2014 trees and stark rocks. Look upwards through the curved
\n top-level windows, and you see soaring cliffs and vast Western
\n skies. You are both on the ground and aloft,
\n simultaneously.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\n vivid and, at times, intimate. The train moves slowly enough that
\n you can see into bedroom windows as it passes small wooden houses
\n and dilapidated trailer parks along the tracks. You can see
\n individual pieces of garbage discarded in garbage dumps. You can
\n see fishermen throwing out their lines on calmer stretches of the
\n Colorado River and families waiting patiently at rail track
\n crossings for the Zephyr to pass by.\n<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n
\n Tony Webster via Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0)\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\n made possible by the extraordinary hard work of the conductors,
\n engineers, attendants, chefs and other members of the crew that
\n keep the whole operation running smoothly. The world goes by at a
\n thoroughly human pace, and unlike airports and airplanes, where
\n one generally dreads enforced interactions with other stressed
\n passengers, crews and security officials, on the train you meet
\n happy people.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\n journey along the way. They want to talk and have interesting
\n stories to tell. There\u2019s a sort of instant-mix camaraderie. You
\n meet the same people again and again \u2014 after all, there\u2019s only so
\n many social permutations possible on a train, only so many places
\n you can end up; you walk up the train or down the train, into the
\n dining car or into the observation car, and that\u2019s about it. And
\n when you meet them, you talk.\n<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n
\n Stierch via Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC BY 4.0)\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\n traveling as a couple, you\u2019re immediately sat down with two
\n others \u2014 and, in the normal course of things, you chat with those
\n two others, find out their stories and share travel anecdotes.
\n What you find is that whether this is a person\u2019s first
\n long-distance Amtrak ride or their 20th, they have a sense of awe
\n of both the landscape and the engineering feats that put in place
\n the cross-country tracks over such rugged, challenging scenery.\n<\/p>\n
\n retired teachers, a public relations person, a couple on the way
\n to Portland, Oregon, to take part in a cross-country bike
\n expedition, a retired couple on the way back from a
\n granddaughter\u2019s high school graduation in the Midwest, several
\n train aficionados who just enjoyed the romance of long distance
\n travel on the rails, and an older lady traveling back, solo, from
\n an academic gathering in Chicago.\n<\/p>\n