Amtrekkin' 2

I will be using this blog as an outlet for my thoughts on my 21 day trek out west on the Amtrak train. I will document the places I go and especially the people I meet.

Since I was a freshman there were always a few things I wanted to do for my senior year winterim: do an independent study, take pictures (I learned many techniques in my photgraphy winterim sophmore year with Mr. Gordon, which I applied in The Egypt Winterim resulting in some very nice photos), and do the “Amtrekkin” class trip winterim done when I was still new to the school. Unfortunatly the Amtrekkin Winterim wasn’t offered this year, and I decided an Independent Study would be fun, and would probably be my best bet anyways. I decided I wanted to focus on my photography, but the desire and attraction of the Amtrekkin Winterim still lurkeded in my head.

“Well,” I thought to myself “can’t I just do both?”

So I proposed the idea to my parents and after a short conversation we decided we could make it happen.
I’m going get on the Amtrak train in Toledo and take it to Chicago, Minneapolis, Seattle, Los Angeles, Oakland (and a quick bus to San Fransisco from there), Salt Lake City, and Denver, spending multiple nights in each city, staying at hostels and with people who have been kind enough to me to offer me a place to stay. I’m doing this alone, traveling very light, with just my  camera, laptop computer, and enough clothes for a couple days (I will do my laundry as needed). Starting off in Chicago will be a good way to get used to what I am going to be doing on my trip. I’ve been to Chicago four times, and I know the area I’ll be in fairly well, so I think it should be a pretty good transition to the life I will be living for three weeks.

Doing this alone is very important to me. I believe a trip like this will help to strenghen me, help me to get to know myself, and help me to get to know the real world. Being totally self reailent will be a challenge but I’m prepared for what is to come. I’m an adult now, 18, and I believe this is a great right to passage.

America is a huge country and I haven’t been many places here. I want to see our beautiful country, I want to see what life is like out west. Doing so from a train is the cheapest and most adventurous option. Being stuck on a train for hours, even days on end will force me into situations where I will have to meet other people. From the Dining Car to the Obsevation Car I will encounter others and will gladly strike up conversations with them. I look forward to meeting fancinating people and hearing about their lives. I can learn about their hometown, and what life is like there. I’ll tell them of my travels and of this blog I’m making on the way. All of the people I meet and all of their stories that I hear will help me to better tell my story here. And I won’t just meet people on the train; I will be staying with other people in every city. I can’t quite imagine sharing living enviroments with other people for a few nights and not getting to know them.

With my camera I will take pictures of the ones I meet, with their permission of course, and use those to compliment my writing and help me to remember them along my journey. Takng pictures of the cities I visit will also help me to describe what a place is like, and will hopefully help me to visualise city scences better for my writing. This is also an enormus oppertunity to improve my photography, not just my writing. With my down time on the train I will have pleanty of time to improve my photgraphic techniques, as well as time to edit my photos on my computer. Mr. Spurgeon has agreed to submit to me feedback on my photography with information on what I can do to try to improve along the way.

I want to learn about what life on the other side of our gigantic country is like, surely it can’t be just like Toledo. What better way to learn than to go in and experience it for myself.