Cumberland, Maryland

Right now I’m sitting in my sleeper car on board the Amtrak train Capitol Ltd. It is 10.10pm local time on Thursday 10 October 2007 and we are about 2 hours out of Chicago on our way to Washington DC.

Luggage lined up waiting for the taxi to take us to Minneapolis train station.

Judy ready for the trip

Washington DC is the next stop on our route to South Carolina and we will arrive there at approximately 1.30pm tomorrow. We left Minneapolis at 7.50am this morning and arrived in Chicago at 4pm where we had a 3 hour stopover before boarding this present train for Washington DC.

Tom enjoying the sights

Tom and Judy are occupying the sleeper next to me and we have just had a beautiful dinner. And we are now engaged in a late-night chat about the beautiful day we have had and the journey that lay ahead.

Judy on board our first Amtrak train - The Empire Builder

We are now in Cumberland Maryland and have been lucky enough to get an internet connection, so I am posting this for now while the connection lasts.

I will try and get on later and post some pictures taken on the trip so far, if I am unable to post them now.

Judy, Tom and I have now arrived at Washington DC. We have a 4 hour stopover before we board our next leg of the trip to Clemson South Carolina. The good news is though that we have managed to get on our computers in the VIP lounge and are presently enjoying internet access.

Hope to be able to contact you soon again. In the meantime, I am posting some pictures which we acquired on the trip so far.

It is now 6.40pm local time and we will be leaving Washington DC in approx. one hour on the final leg of our trip.

Capital Hill half hour ago