Leg 18—Fullerton to Phoenix: May 20 & 21, 2006

I board Amtrak’s Train 4, the Southwest Chief, in Fullerton and travel through the following cities: in California, Fullerton, Riverside, San Bernardino, Victorville, Barstow and Needles; in Kingman, Williams Junction and Flagstaff. It is dark going through these cities, so I get some good sleep. I have traveled on this leg many times and there is nothing new to see. In Flagstaff, I have a two and one-half hour layover.

I try to find something to eat in downtown Flagstaff, but it is Sunday morning and nothing is open. I am hungry and tired. After all, it has been 29 days since I started this trip. I am anxious to get home.

At 7:30 a.m., an Open Road Tours thruway van transports me from Flagstaff to Phoenix’s Sky Harbor Airport with a ten minute stop in Verde Valley.

The van is crowded and the seats are small. Only one seat is empty in the van and it is too small for my carcass, but I have to make-do. I think about positive things to pass the time. I reflect on my trip. This van does not compare to a train with few passengers, large seats and plenty of leg room.

I think about Bob and me taking a car from Kansas City to Branson, traveling through Missouri and into the Ozarks, riding the Branson Scenic Railway. I think about watching the Cubs and Braves game at Wrigley, seeing Babe Ruth’s wife and son, and riding the Red Train.

I reflect on traveling through four more states that I have not previously visited, i.e. Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine and Vermont. Now I have been in forty-six states: I have been in all states but Connecticut, Rhode Island, South Dakota and Nebraska. I will need to visit these states next year.


I traveled through eight of the ten provinces in Canada. Canada is the world’s second largest country by area to Russia. I traveled from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean in Canada stopping at some of the larger cities. The country has ten provinces and three territories and is considered a bilingual and multicultural nation; both English and French are official languages.

What a trip. I traveled 10,000 miles in 29 days seeing some of God’s most beautiful landscape.

My friend, Alex, picks me up at Sky Harbor Airport, the final destination of the thruway van. I have completed a trip to remember.