Amtrak Across America (We Didn't Make It)

Watch this video to see what happened when we tried to complete our journey across the United States by Rail!

Our trip began back in Seattle when we boarded Amtrak’s Empire Builder for 48 hours. We enjoyed some of America’s most breathtaking scenery along the way before arriving in Chicago, but now it’s time to complete our rail journey across the continent to get home to Greensboro, NC.

Today, we’ll leave Chicago for the 24 hour journey to Washington, DC onboard Amtrak’s Cardinal Train. The Cardinal passes through Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, West Virginia, Virginia, and DC. We’ll travel through the very heart of Appalachia and the Valley of Virginia along the way to our nation’s capital.

From there, we’ll spend eight more hours on the Carolinian for our final leg home to Greensboro.

All in, that’s 80 hours or more than three days! Well, at least that was our plan.

Our 24 hours on the Cardinal would be spent in an Amtrak Viewliner II Bedroom, which we’ll explore in depth in this video. We'll even offer an Amtrak food review.

Unfortunately, an Amtrak Delay got in the way of our plans and we had to change them at the last minute. Watch the video to find out what happened on this Amtrak Adventure!

Train travel in USA isn't always perfect and we'll show you exactly what we did when our plans didn't work out. We'll give you some train travel tips along the way to make the most of your Amtrak train trip.

We made the most of our delayed train, even though in meant we couldn’t achieve our goal of traveling by train across the USA.

0:00 Introduction
1:33 Amtrak Metropolitan Lounge in Chicago
2:22 Boarding Amtrak Cardinal
4:37 Amtrak Viewliner II Measurements
7:12 Bad News Begins
8:42 A New Plan Emerges

Don’t miss our Amtrak Empire Buidler Trip

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MUSIC:
For Some Time (Instrumental Version) - Daniel Gunnarsson
Down by the Creek - Victor Lunderg
Deep and Abiding (Instrumental Version) - Victor Lundberg
Into Pieces (Instrumental Version) - Amos Noah
On the Road - Isobelle Walton
Waterslide (Tribute Version) - Loving Caliber

[ItsObesity-]

Jeb, I met you at the Union Station for this trip! And let me tell you. That whole delay was an absolute nightmare! 2 times, we were told there were buses coming and both time they cancelled. Then they gave us the ultimatum to either stay in West Virginia or head back to Chicago like you said. I also decided to get a rental car and road tripped it back as well. It was awesome meeting you and glad you guys made it back as well!

[annaliesebuchan]

I’m really impressed with the communication that Amtrak consistently has given you guys when there are delays. Sorry you guys didn’t make it but great video as always!

[TheWolfHowling]

Maybe next time you're doing transcontinental rail, you could take the southern route combo of the Sunset Limited & Crescent. The only East-West route in the US that doesn't terminate in Chicago

[thewolfethatcould]

I will always stick up for Amtrak as much as possible, those people and crews deal with so very much. I hope that our Amtrak Trains keep on trucking and fight through whatever they have to keep going. Thank you for all that you guys do. I also pray that America's People and transportation/water ways are protected going forward. Think we all just hit our first Road Trippin experience together.

[b.n]

I hope the driver and conductor involved in the derailment will recover okay. That's a pretty unfortunate situation but I'm glad Amtrak was diligent in communicating with you guys.

[DavidMcCoyII]

Trust me, you are so very blessed not to have been involved in that derailment. As a firefighter, derailing passenger trains and bus crashes are the stuff of nightmares because of the injuries.

[jamesthompson]

I have been riding Amtrak long hauls since 2007. My motto has become "It's not just a trip, it is an adventure!" That has kept my spirits up through assorted misadventures. I must add that in all those years the problems were never caused by Amtrak. It has been freight companies, weather etc. I'll never tire of riding, though. It is a wonderful way to travel.

[Hartfordland]

'I hate driving...
I hate driving.
The only thing I hate more than driving is waiting!'

Priceless. Great video, only you could make me look forward to a youtube video of a drive through West Virginia. Well done.

[seanromeo]

So sorry to hear you didn't make it Jeb! I went cross country with Amtrak this summer and it's an incredible experience. We took the Lake Shore Limited to CHI, then the Zephyr to SF, then took the Starlight to LA. We stayed multiple days in each location in case of massive delays like what happened to you. We were extremely fortunate where our only delay was getting into SF about 3.5ish hours late which actually turned into a benefit as we saw a spectacular sunset over San Francisco Bay as we got there.

[FPXS]

Ever since I came across your channel, I simply got addicted to the videos! As a tourist, I really enjoy traveling to your country and exploring the beautiful cities and landscapes you can find only in America. Thx for sharing your travel experiences and your point of view with us! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

[PaulHtmnn]

Last January my wife and I went from Philadelphia to San Francisco on Amtrak. The route was PHL to NYC (regional rail), NYC to CHI (Lakeshore Limited), and CHI to SF (California Zephyr). We highly recommend taking that route if you want to go cross country by train.

[derbagger]

I love travel. Planes, trains, and especially automobiles. I'm a professional driver and grew up with parents who were brought up on opposite coasts. I've done dozens of cross country drives.

[kieranstravels]

This video definitely shows how things can go VERY wrong on Amtrak sometimes. It feels so wild to me as a brit, because we complain about delay all the time, of as little as a few minutes - But then you see insane delays like this, and it certainly gives you perspective on how lucky we are. I'd love to see you two reattempt it though! Have a wonderful weekend Jeb and Suzanne!

[NicoleMu]

I went to college at Marshall University which is in Huntington WV. Idk if your familiar with the movie We Are Marshall and the plane crash that killed our football team!!! Huntington has alot of great history!! As you were driving by I seen my college apartment!!! Glad you guys were able to make it to Greensboro safe!!

[rampwidget]

Really enjoy your trip reports. Thank you for emphasizing safety and the shoutout for the railroad folks. I'm sorry your trip got cut short, that's really a bummer. Suggestion for a new cross-country itinerary: GSO-NOL (Crescent), NOL-LAX (Sunset Ltd), LAX-SEA (Coast Starlight).

[robertmcneill]

Well Thank God that you both are safe. THE SKIES DONT SEEM SO BAD, COMPARED TO SLOW TRAINS BAD MEALS, AND BEAUTIFUL SCENERY, OR A LONG DRIVE. MY son left West Virginia last summer and drove 10 hours to Myrtle Beach Airport to meet me and my daughter, who slept in, got breakfast, drove to Dulles international, boarded a tiny United jet, with a sweet flight attendant, who brought me a coke to take my. Heart medicne with. By the time i finished my coke, we were landing at Myrtle where my son had Just Arrived to meet our flight. IT WAS HEAVEN! Be Safe you and your wife are like family to me.

[jonbradshaw]

I absolutely love driving across the country. It is very therapeutic to me. That being said, I would love to try traveling via rail sometime.

[peterrich]

Thank you for all the joy both you and Suzanne project! You are both a wonderful part of my day.

[Dragonmdk]

Thank you for posting the video even though Amtrak didn't take you all the way, but at least they stopped before the landslide, from the start of the video I was thinking, what canceled it until you mentioned March 1st...and then the news of the landslide directly, lmao. Love these videos Jeb!

[charlesferebee]

I love driving. Drove 3. 5 million miles. Love riding on trains. Love flying on planes. The biggest thing I hate. Is having to ride on buses. Stay Safe out There 🇺🇸 👍🙏