Travels with Sherlock

Traveling to the Holmes, Doyle & Friends conference last weekend, took me on a round-about journey. An airplane ride would have taken 10 hours, due to no direct flights. That was not acceptable, so I decided to travel in style, flying first to Reno, Nevada to catch an Amtrak train to Chicago and they a shop flight to Dayton, Ohio–my final destination. (Yes, this added to my journey by three days. But what a fun way to go!!!)

I lived on the California Zephyr for two nights, three days and ate up all the charm of train travel. It did give me some idea of what it would have been like in Sherlock’s time, just without the steam engine. Sleeping in a berth, meeting other passengers in the dining car and just watching the landscape flash by your window. Don’t get to do that every day!

The highlight of the trip was traveling through the Rockies! (See the pictures above and below.) The weather was snowy and the landscape popped with all the earth-tone colors. Nature is magnificent when chug-chugging along. After the Rockies, there’s not much to see and our train needed to pick up some time. I must say, it was a bumping ride from that point onward, with a phone app saying we hit speeds of 80 mph. That might not sound all that fast, but trust me, those tracks weren’t made for that speed. At several points, it felt like we’d be thrown from our beds.

All in all, however, it was a great experience and is worth one trip! Sherlock would approve.