Thanks Rich
Rich Thomas wrote:
Check out Greyhound Bus Lines (called "Ridin' da dog") for buses.
They go about everywhere. And as a free bonus you get quite the
sociological education from your fellow passengers.
There is a train that goes from O'Hare (Chicago) to downtown, pretty
easy ride. There are some nice things to do in Chicago (Museum of
Science and Industry), art museums, some great pizza places there too.
I would not take a train from Chicago to NY -- that route is probably
one of the worst for performance given all the cities it would go
through. You could do that in a 2 day drive (or maybe 16 hr straight
through). The only part that would be half attractive is through the
mountains. Or jump on a plane and it is maybe 3 hr flt and you don't
have to deal with it (having dealt with it numerous times -- it gets
old after about 2 hours).
One of those Amtrak (our only passenger train line, run by the gummint
if that gives you a clue) trains that goes across the west is supposed
to be in some pretty country, esp through the Rockies, maybe from
Chicago on west? I think there is one that goes across Canada too,
that might actually be better to take -- pop up to Toronto or Montreal
from NYC and then do it. Maybe ends up in Vancouver or somewhere,
then easy pop down to SFO. http://www.seat61.com/Canada.htm#Canadian
--R
On 2/21/2010 6:22 PM, Hendrik & Fay wrote:
Hi All
Hendrik's wife - name is Fay - here. Thanks for all the responses,
greatly appreciated.
We have our LA 4 day stay sorted. We have allowed 2 hours to get
through customs at LAX - is that enough time?- and have booked a
shuttle service to Anaheim as we are staying there for 4 nights.
I got cheap flights with American Airlines to Chicago & have found
that it is a ninety minute train ride to Milwaukee from there.
Have been on Amtrak website & we can go from Milwaukee to La Crosse
by train - 3 hour ride.
The main reason for train travel was to go from Chicago to New York -
but that means we have to go back to Chicago from La Crosse.
From New York I have looked at traveling by train to San Francisco.
Then driving to Las Vegas & then back to LA.
If anyone has any better suggestions please let us know - Hendrik
would prefer to drive & would love to do part of Route 66 from
Chicago to Las Vegas - however this would mean backtracking twice.
Our daughter & her team buddies are having a home stay in Decorah
Iowa before the conference in La Crosse.
They are all flying to Minneapolis/St.Paul as the Decorah people have
offered to pick them up from there.
As a back up if anything goes wrong I am trying to find a bus service
for them & am having trouble.
Is it Rochester buses that service that area?
Your smoking laws seem to be as strict as they are here in South
Australia, doesn't vary much from state to state here.
Rail travel is also really expensive here, depending where you want
to go it can be unaffordable for the average person.
Thanks all
Fay
Redghost wrote:
Schedule two weeks for this tour. Maybe you can head to visit Kaleb
and purchase a car in his name, then sell it to him at the end of
the trip. Or, I would love to purchase an SDL and lend it out for a
fee, then buy back.
Rent the car. The train is akin to 1942 Nazi rail cars to Poland,
packed with future Auschwitz residents. Private berth will cost as
much as a fair condition used car with a family of four. The car
tour allows you to see a bunch more and you can make stops to visit
the locals and really take in the ambiance. Smoke as much as you
desire and visit all the Walmarts along the way.
Plan a loop tour instead of the criss cross you have laid out.
Less doubling back will give you a better chance to see things.
Try LA to SF up the 101. Then get on Interstate 80 to ChiTown.
Three or four days at 80mph. Do the competition then head east to
NYC. Go down I-95 to Washington DC, then on to SC until you hit
I-40 and do the South and Southwest until you get to the turn to
Vegas. Back to LA.
There is no real public transport anywhere in the US unless you are
in Boston or NYC.
Just my $0.02
On Feb 21, 2010, at 12:56 AM, Hendrik & Fay wrote:
Joy to the world the mouth of the south will be coming to your
little backwater.
OK so my hand has been forced, my daughter and some school mates
(buddies in your language, which I must learn) entered a secondary
school based competition and gained second place in the national
finals. Which means they have been invited to compete in the
international finals to be held in La Crosse Wisconsin
http://www.fpspi.org/International%20Conference.html from June 10th
- 13th.
Anyway we figured that we might as well all go (Me, the missus,
daughter and son) and have a gander at the US.
Seeing all I know about the States is what I have learnt from Bruce
Willis movies and he doesn't mention much about the nuts and bolts
of traveling around the states, especially since 911.
The original plan was to stay in LA for a few days and then fly
over to Chicago and buy a cheap car (preferably with a star hanging
off the bonnet (hood)) but looking into this a bit more has
revealed that registration and insurance is a nightmare to get
without a permanent US address, so we have shelved that idea and
gone to plan B which is the choo choo train.
I love train travel but apparently the anti smoking Nazis have been
busy in the US and apparently now you have to row three miles off
shore in order to light up, well perhaps not 3 miles off shore but
I am led to believe that Amtrak has a no puffing in their cattle
trucks policy and you can only smoke when the train is stopped and
you are in a designated smoking area on the platform?
Has anyone here used the train lately? Is it any good or is car
rental a better option?
For instance we plan to travel from Chicago to Milwaukee to visit
the HD museum and a couple of breweries, there is a train service
between the two but then we have to get around Milwaukee as well,
spose they have public transport.
So any hints on traveling or anything will be appreciated, our
itinerary at this stage is LA for a few days - Chicago - Milwaukee
- New York across to San Fran, down to Los Vegas (my 9 year old Son
requested this one =-O ) and then back up to LA, with a few stops
in between I guess.
I'll probably have more questions for you later, so pay attention :-)
Hendrik & Family
who really only wants to see a big Walmart (maybe make it onto the
people of walmart site) and a huge Gunshop (sort of like this
http://www.snopes.com/photos/architecture/gunvault.asp )
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--
Clay
Seattle Bioburner
1972 220D - Gump
1995 E300D - Cleo
1987 300SDL - POS - DOA
The FSM would drive a Diesel Benz
_______________________________________
http://www.okiebenz.com
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To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to:
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_______________________________________
http://www.okiebenz.com
For new and used parts go to www.okiebenz.com
To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/
To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to:
http://okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com
_______________________________________
http://www.okiebenz.com
For new and used parts go to www.okiebenz.com
To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/
To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to:
http://okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com
_______________________________________
http://www.okiebenz.com
For new and used parts go to www.okiebenz.com
To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/
To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to:
http://okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com
