June 2025 –
I come from a larger than average family. Being the oldest girl with an older brother that was 5 years older, you can say that I was the oldest. I really enjoy traveling, road trips are my favorite, especially when natures beauty is in full effect. This particular trip one of my siblings joined me. She had a “miracle” surgery that alleviated back pain that she had been experiencing for years. She wanted to join me for one of my excursions. This was my second year as a nomad and I wanted to test out travel and working via Amtrak more than 1 night.
My sister had 3 weeks and a new vehicle that she wanted to road test. So Angeline will get a little rest but she will definitely get some miles before our season is over before heading back to Florida for the fall and winter. I planned a stay in DeSoto, MO at a hidden gem one of Holiday Inn Vacation properties (Timber Creek – Unfortunately as of this posting it has permanently closed) that had a beautiful lake with activities, beautiful scenery and if you get lucky you can see the ducks marching across the parking lot at dawn. I booked this place using a perk from my vacation package upgraded from Travel Advantage Network, Sundance Vacations that not only make Condo’s available all across the US and various countries but discount hotel stays. I discovered an attraction that unfortunately was closed for our trip but it was billed as “The World’s Largest Subterranean Lake” . It was definitely an unexpected surprise and absolutely wonderful experience. I sure hope that they open back up. Here are some of the pictures from that trip from June 2023.
I generally travel solo as this is my time to connect to God and commune with all of creation. Traveling with my sister afforded me the ability to work while someone else was driving. Can you say “hotspot”. So we ventured out on a Thursday heading towards DeSoto, MO. Word to the wise, always plan on arriving at your destinations during daylight hours. Thank goodness I had been to the location before because GPS definitely provided bad directions, as I remembered. We played glow bingo and experienced nature in all its glory.
My mom loved Casinos as do my sister. Before my mom passed I used to take a couple of weeks off and we would do a road trip. I became adept at finding casinos to stop at during our travels. I figured I would extend the same courtesy to my sister on our way to Denver. We stayed at the Ameristar Casino Hotel Kansas City. Got a great deal for 4 nights stay. Has everything you can want to do inside including a train for dining. (Missouri Dawn) Generally I am open to extend or shorten a stay based on how I feel. Because my sister came along I was a bit more planful. We had a train to catch in Denver which was the start of our cross country trip on the rails to see mountains, rivers, streams, oceans, forests and wildlife.
Tip: Starting your stay and ending it during the week are great savings. If you need to work checkout a local library or Panera to finish the work day.
We arrived to Denver the day before our train trip to experience “the Purple Mountains Majesty” from America the Beautiful. I get it now, a greater appreciation for what is right here and I will spend the time I have left to see this land in all of its natural glory. The train trip was for 8 days. I found a spot in a parking garage close to Denver’s Union station and reserved a space using SpotHero. The beauty of the internet and apps is that you can book and pay for spots and adjust as needed. Our Amtrak trip was as follows: We took the California Zephr in Denver to Sacramento California, the Coastal Starlighter to Seattle Washington with a layover of a couple of days to see Seattle. We originally had scheduled to catch the Empire Builder from Seattle to Chicago with an overnight stay in Chicago and then back on the California Zephr to Denver.
TIP: Depending how long you need to park your vehicle booking monthly is sometimes less expensive than daily rates. Also, I would strongly suggest purchasing travel insurance. Also be flexible with any train travel, if you are the type of person that is attached to a rigid schedule, do not travel on the train.
I gave you the details of our original trip but as fate would have it we experienced a delay on the trip to Seattle from Sacramento so we decided we would extend our stay in Seattle and I found some very inexpensive flights from Spokane Washington back to Denver and because I purchased the travel insurance through Amtrak Vacations I called and they took care of extending my stay in Seattle, cancelling the Empire Builder to Chicago and the California Zephr from Chicago to Denver, providing me with a credit for my trip that I had 2 years to use.
I can’t even begin to express the feeling of watching the sunrise and sunsets from the train as I worked. I did take a day off to experience the initial days through the Rockies and worked using my phone’s hotspot up the coast. My plan aligned the weekends for sightseeing and because I chose to continue to work on Eastern time I had extra time to see the sights in the various locations.
Check out the sights and share some of yours with me in the comments. Miles traveled (~1500 miles to Denver (driven), ~2200 miles on Amtrak, ~1400 miles back to my sister’s home)
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