Sorry about that, Chief
My own curiousity has set me back two states in my quest to get to all 50
This past weekend, my brother took a train between St. Louis and Chicago. He checked in with us from the train and we reminisced about a family trip we all took in 1970, travelling from Los Angeles to Kansas City by train and then on to St. Louis by bus.
The 1970 train ride was important to me because I assumed it counted for three states that I had been in that I would otherwise skip. Those states are: Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas. You can read about my quest to get to all 50 states from this post.1
Amtrak was not formed until 1971, so the train ride in the summer of 1970 was courtesy of the Atchison, Topeka, and the Santa Fe Railway. Or as the train said at the time “Santa Fe.”
Since I am a curious person, I decided to look more into the train we took to the Midwest. As a child, I assumed the train would go all the way to St. Louis and assumed my parents were surprised that they had to get off in Kansas City and take a bus. But I was also four years old and my agency in the decision making process was very limited.
While America has fairly poor passenger rail service now, it makes up for it somewhat by having people who are avidly interested in the history of rail travel. And the details of my trip in 1970 were not hard to find.
The train we took was the Santa Fe “Super Chief” and it would take you from L.A. to Chicago in about 39 ½ hours.2 And it operated from 1937 to 1974. And it had an established route during that time.
It went like this:
I had always assumed that the train plowed through New Mexico through the Texas Panhandle and then Oklahoma into Kansas. But it did not3. The train, in the words of Bugs Bunny, takes a wrong turn in Albuquerque. The train turns northeast and heads for Las Vegas, New Mexico, and then two stops in small towns in Colorado: Trinidad and La Junta, as it headed back to lower elevations.
So, I had assumed that my trip to Alaska in October was a visit to state #40. But it was not, it was only #38. I should be adding Arkansas, Tennessee, and Alabama to the list soon, but that will bring my total to just 41.
However, I am glad that I learned this now instead of when I was about to hit state 50. It’s just a matter of recalibrating future trips. Although I can’t honestly say that visiting Oklahoma is high on my list of things to do. To be honest, I haven’t wanted to visit Texas either. But I hope to be healthy enough to get the chance to go to both of those states. And the other states I’ve missed:
Idaho
Montana
North Dakota
South Dakota
Wyoming
Nebraska
Iowa
As for Texas, I could get there by train fairly easily from Los Angeles. It’s just 16 hours on Amtrak from Los Angeles to El Paso. Oklahoma would take longer, 35 hours and it involves taking a train from Los Angeles to Newton, Kansas and then take a bus from there to Oklahoma City.
However, I find Amtrak to be one of America’s least pleasant ways to travel (freezing cold trains, weird passengers, horrible food, and lengthy delays). But aside from that, it’s a great way to see the country!
If I had to pick which state will be the last one for me, I would bet on Iowa. Mostly because Iowa will have the hardest reason to justify a visit to. I have been to the states that border Iowa on the north (Minnesota) and south (Missouri).
If I could start over on this quest, I’d leave the New England states for the end and then you can go through six states in a day if you put your mind to it. Or leave Hawai’i to the end, so you can end in a pretty place with good weather. But life is not designed around arbitrary quests. And that’s probably better.
For those who were wondering, I have been to the District of Columbia, so if it ever becomes a state, which seems unlikely to me because Democrats don’t feel they should do such things, although the Republicans created around a dozen states in the Plains and Rockies to fill up the Senate back in the 19th Century.
As a little kid, I assumed the ride to Kansas City took at least four days. It did not.
Essentially, I turned the train route into Route 66. Which really wouldn’t make sense.
I see a trip to Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons in your future!
Don't Mess Wtih Texas!
I recommend "Boom Town: The Fantastical Saga of Oklahoma City, Its Chaotic Founding... Its Purloined Basketball Team, and the Dream of Becoming a World-class Metropolis" by Sam Anderson to inspire your trip to Oklahoma.
I really enjoyed my weekend in Des Moines, Iowa. I did do a road trip to the site of the Buddy Holly crash site.