DC to Chicago for a few days, then Arizona, LA, SF, Portland, Seattle. Three-day, two-night trip just below the Canadian border to Minneapolis, then Chicago again, and home. Lots of family time with "Florida expats" at nearly every stop. Cousins galore.

And Amtrak was a great way to do it. Cost about $3K for the train, but most was in a sleeper, which includes meals - which were pretty good! For a month of travel, not bad at all.

Sadly, there is proposed legislation to cut national routes like the Southwest Chief (Chicago-LA) into regional routes. Would be a tremendous loss for mass transportation and American adventure.

I'm now a big Amtrak proponent. Will do this trip again next summer, though shorter (3 weeks?) and back through Denver on the California Zephyr.

And yes, there were Gators everywhere. Hit the rails!