Back to Dakota

Last Thursday Tammy and I took the Amtrak train from Montana to North Dakota.  The train was not crowded as this is the off season for traveling.  I did notice that the passenger profile has changed - there are lots of men in their 20s, 30s, and 40s riding the train while in the past I hardly seen middle aged men on the train.  Why now, is due to these men working in the oil fields of North Dakota.  Many people got off and on the train at Williston, Stanley and Minot, North Dakota.

Before we left Kalispell I had a movie (Super 8) to return to the library  as it was due before we got back to Montana.  So we were up late watching the movie; and then I had to drive into Kalispell to drop it off at the library.  We never got to bed until after 1am.  Four hours later we got up to get ready to be at the train station by 7 am.  No matter - we could sleep on the train - and we did.

Tammy claims she can't sleep sitting up.   Here is a photo of her sleeping (with her 'blankee').  She claims she is not sitting up.  What do you think?

While the Flathead Valley is pretty bare, the mountains have plenty of snow.

Once we got over Marias Pass we had sun.  Here are photos once we passed over to the east side of the mountains.  We have had nothing but sun since leaving Kalispell.

The cloudy area to the right of center is where the train came over Marias Pass and through the mountains.

The further we got from the mountains the less snow we saw.

Sweetgrass Hills

Near Wolf Point, Montana the train stopped to attach a train car that was left another day due to problems with the car. The next two photos show the scenery to the north and to the south of the train.

Another photo from near Wolf Point, Montana

The train was on time or ahead of schedule all the way until we got the train car near Wolf Point. That took 40 minutes to attach and we never made up that time before we got to Minot.

The Minot train station is still affected from the 2011 flood.  The ticket office and baggage office are located in a back room while the station is being fixed.