I promise that this Fest will NOT:
- involve international border crossings (customs inspections, currency exchange, use of cell phones outside the country)
- contain any overnight Amtrak trips more than one night on the same train
It's being announced here in January so that you have 6 months to plan your trip. As we found out with last year's PNW Fest, securing reservations for the long distance Amtrak trips was an adventure. While we must ride the southbound Crescent and northbound City of New Orleans to visit these three cities, you are on your own for the eastbound segment between Chicago and the east coast. With 3 routes to choose from, and various costs and availabilities involved, we may go different ways anyhow.
The Amtrak trip segments needed by most will be:
- Sunday, 7/17: Northeast origin city to Atlanta (arrival Monday 7/18) on Train #19, the Crescent
- Tuesday, 7/19: Atlanta to New Orleans on Train #19, the Crescent
- Thursday, 7/21: New Orleans to Memphis on Train #58, the City of New Orleans
- Friday, 7/22: Memphis to Chicago (arrival Saturday 7/23) on Train #58, the City of New Orleans
- If necessary, your trip home from Chicago, most likely on Trains #30, #48, #448, or #50 leaving Chicago Saturday 7/23.
- Atlanta: Monday, 7/18, departure on Tuesday, 7/19 (1 night)
- New Orleans: Tuesday, 7/19, departure on Thursday, 7/21 (2 nights)
- Memphis: Thursday, 7/21, departure on Friday, 7/22 (1 night)
Atlanta: The Amtrak station is not located near any rail rapid transit. A #110 bus (formerly the #23) runs by the station frequently in both directions. The most common trip that rail travelers make on this bus is between the Amtrak station and the Arts Center MARTA station, from where one can take heavy rail to downtown or other locations. If your hotel is in the Buckhead district or near the malls at Lenox, you can take the #110 bus in the other direction. It may pass close to your hotel, or you can transfer to the MARTA heavy rail at either Buckhead or Lenox stations. Taxis are available at the station as well. Since we are arriving early in the day, your hotel may not yet be allowing early check-ins; you should however be able to leave your luggage with the hotel that morning, until you check-in after our activities that evening. Alternatively, you could store your luggage with Amtrak, however you will have to return to the station on the bus and leave there once again after you pick it up. In the morning, one must be sure to leave their hotel with enough time for potentially a MARTA rail ride, the bus from Arts Center, Buckhead, or Lenox, and be at the Amtrak station well before the 8:38 AM scheduled departure of the Crescent.
New Orleans: We arrive here in the evening. There are ample taxicabs at the station. Many hotels in the CBD are also walkable from Amtrak. One can also walk from Amtrak to the St. Charles Streetcar at Lee Circle. All of our streetcar rides will take place during the day on Wednesday. One can sleep late on Thursday before the afternoon departure of the City of New Orleans.
Memphis: We arrive late Thursday night. With good timekeeping on the City of New Orleans, we should still be able to take the trolleys to hotels along Main Street. If we are late, we may have to catch cabs here. In most cases, the distance does not appear to be more than a walkable number of blocks. Our official trolley riding will take place on Friday. There may be much time to kill in the evening before our late night departure on Amtrak towards Chicago. I may add to the itinerary a round trip ride on the suspended monorail to Mud Island. This appears to be a short walk from either the Riverfront or Main Street trolley routes. It seems likely that most will opt to leave their luggage at Amtrak or their hotels on Friday morning in advance of our day's activities.
Chicago: The City of New Orleans should get to Chicago around 9 AM. This leaves much of the day for possible CTA or METRA trips, before some will need to catch eastbound trains home. This will be played by ear; I will investigate what we might have time to do, but in past experience our published plans were often dashed due to late arrivals into the city.
Please start to e-mail me with your plans once they are known, and let me know which, if not all, of the days you plan to participate.