Notices by blinry (blinry@chaos.social), page 3

We've passed the Moffat Tunnel, and are now snaking our way alongside some very pretty creeks!

We made another li'l stop earlier, so I can show you my train from the outside! :)

Another picture of the Hudson river! Pretty light!

Surprise: We're stopping in Albany for a full hour! Maybe to connect with a train from Boston?

So now I can show you my train from the outside:

The connecting train was delayed, so now we also are! 🙃

Making our way out of Albany, now heading westwards!

I just realized that the entire trip from coast to coast will be 5000 kilometers long.

That's a lot of kilometers.

You could also say: Five megameters!

(3150 miles, for you folks with non-SI units :P)

It'll take three nights overall. I'm sooo hyped! 😆

When I told @piko about this trip, they reminded me of the time I got that book about hypersonic trains from the library, a hypothetical train system designed for 7200 km/h:

https://chaos.social/@blinry/111495370153260987

Good morning!

Oof, didn't sleep much... the AC in the train is set ridiculously cold, the ride is very shaky, and there's nothing to lean your head against...

But we made it through a brief section of Pennsylvania and through Ohio, and are about to cross over to Indiana!

Hello Chicago! :)

Most important thing to do during the stopover: Get more vegetables for the second stretch of the train trip!

But not these. One is not a vegetable, and I'm not sure if I can prepare the other one?

Visited Chicago's Climate Action Museum, and one of its central messages is: "Stay home!"

As someone who loves to travel, who takes so much joy from immersing myself in places, cultures, landscapes I'm not used to, this leaves me confused and conflicted... :/

I've gone though a similar process when I started eating a vegan diet.

The last question it came down to was "Is my personal enjoyment of the taste of animal products more important than the suffering of those animals?" – and my personal answer was "no". Especially when it's as easy as it is these days to replace those products.

Maybe I could substitute travel experiences, as well? 🤔

Anyhow. Here's the route for the second part of my trip!

Seat61 calls the California Zephyr "one of the great train rides of the world".

It'll take 51 hours, over the course of two nights, and, eventually, bring me to @bangbangcon!

Here we go!! Boarding!

I'm treating myself to a "roomette" with an actual fold-down bed on this train.

Here's my little home for the next 2.5 days!

Leaving Chicago! 👋

Here's a tour of all the features of my li'l roomette!

There's two seats like this, opposite of each other. Using the handlebar below it, you can recline the back a bit, like in an overnight bus.

A plastic table between the seats fold out. It seems to have an integrated chess board! :O

Control panels next to the head rests allow you to set the air temperature, and the volume of the announcements.

Sadly, the other "music channels" are silent. You can also set the ceiling lights to bright, dim, and off. Very handy.

I also have been granted the power to summon a train attendant! Haven't used it yet.

Speaking of lights, there are at least 5, which can be controlled individually, for a very customizable lighting experience!