Tuesday 2nd April - flight from Heathrow at 11:15 to Washington DC, Dulles Airport.
I will be staying at DC Lofty for 2 nights before leaving for Chicago on the Capitol Limited train.
I will have 2 days to explore - the bottom picture shows the hostel where I will stay and the 'L' which is Chicago's famous Elevated train system - I will be using this to travel around the city and also hope to get a boat trip on lake Michigan.
Sunday 7th April I will be off to Omaha, Nebraska, after boarding the California Zephyr.
Here I will be staying at the Magnolia Hotel.
On Tuesday 9th April I will arrive in Denver - early morning arrival so full day exploring before overnight stay in the La Quinta Inn
Wednesday 10 April will be spent travelling on board to Salt Lake City, Utah. I will arrive late - 23:05 and stay overnight at The Camelot Inn before a full days sightseeing on 11th April.
(Not exactly like our Camelot eh)?
After arriving in Sacramento mid afternoon on Friday 12th April I am checked in to a very beautiful and historic building owned by Hostel International. I will have 2 full days and nights here before changing trains to catch the Coast Starlight to the city of Angels.
Having visited Los Angeles on a previous trip (and not really enjoying the facade of tinsel town) I am literally just having an overnight stay at the Metro Plaza before changing trains once again for the Grand Canyon.
I will arrive in Williams, Arizona at the ungodly hour of 03:50 to begin my day trip to the South rim of the Grand Canyon before spending the night at the Grand Canyon Railway Hotel - one of the oldest Hotels there it is still in the style of the Railway Hotels built to house all the railway workers.
After leaving Williams I will be on the Southwest Chief and will begin the longest segment of the trip - it will take more than 24 hours to reach Kansas City by train!
Following a day in Kansas City I will make the relatively short trip back to Chicago to change trains again for the trip to Charlottesville.
Now - I am going to own up straight away to the reason I chose to visit Charlottesville ........ it is the closest big town to Walton's Mountain! In my defence although there is no such place as Walton's Mountain, Earl Hamner who wrote the series did grow up with his family in nearby Schuyler and until his death his younger brother James Robert (Jim Bob) lived at the family home there. The Walton's is Earl's account of his days growing up during the Great Depression and the trials and tribulations of the town and his family.
Charlottesville is, of course, also where Thomas Jefferson built his primary home, Monticello. Thomas Jefferson was the principal author of the Declaration of Independence and the 3rd president of the United States.
The picture above shows Alexander House Inn, where I will stay and I picked it because of its traditional Virginian styling (including porch and picket fence)!
After staying for 2 days I will make my final train trip back to Washington DC on April 23rd and after a further night in the Capitol will fly home on Wednesday 24th.
phew ........ I'm exhausted just writing it all down!
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