China: Highlights from Some of the Debris-Flow Workshop Presentations

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16 September 2025: Should you travel by Amtrak?

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In my last three blog posts, I described my train trips from Denver to Chicago and back last month.   Would I recommend travelling by Amtrak?   I can’t give you a definite yes or no because it depends on several factors. With the exception of the high-speed Acela service between Washington, DC and Boston, I don’t recommend Amtrak if you need to arrive at your destination on-time or only slightly late.   Of course, the same could be said of flying, couldn’t it? I also suggest you avoid Amtrak for overnight trips in coach class.   Unless you are able to sleep in uncomfortable circumstances, you are not going to get a good night’s sleep in an Amtrak coach seat.   I certainly didn’t! But how about a first-class roomette or bedroom accommodation on the train?   Be prepared to pay luxury hotel rates for your room and meals.   But what you get from Amtrak is comfortable but not luxurious.   Personally, I don’t think it's worth the price.   ...
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18-19 August 2025: A Sleepless Night Across the Heartland

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The five days I spent in Chicago were rather hectic.   Four days at the Great American Stamp Show at a convention center in the western suburbs plus dinners and “guy-time” with my nephew, Liam, including celebration of his 27 th birthday.   On Monday, August 19, I braved the crazed traffic on the Kennedy Expressway to return my rental car to the downtown agency, then walked several blocks to the train station while pulling along my big, wheeled suitcase with two smaller bags around my shoulders.   It was good exercise which I needed before 19 sedentary hours on the return train to Denver. I wanted to check the big suitcase and arrived at the baggage line 55 minutes before the train was to leave.   There was only one agent and the line moved at a glacial creep.   When I got to the counter 20 minutes later I was told that the cut-off for baggage checking was 45 minutes before the train departed.   “Well, I would have had time if Amtrak had more agents workin...
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13 August 2025: Riding the Rails from Denver to Chicago – Part 2

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Story and photos by Will Mahoney   I awoke around 6:20AM as it was getting light.   The lush agricultural land and scattered woodlands passing my window reminded me that I was now far from Colorado.   I checked Google Maps on my phone and saw that the little blue dot marking our progress was now nearing Gretna in eastern Nebraska.   Downtown Omaha in the early morning light viewed from the Amtrak station.   At 7:00, we made a brief stop in Omaha.   Instead of immediately heading east across the Missouri River and into Iowa, the train headed south 20 miles to Plattsmouth, Nebraska where it finally crossed the Missouri.   South of Omaha, the Zephyr crossed the Platte River just above its confluence with the Missouri.    The logical route for Amtrak across Iowa from Omaha would cross the center of the state, serving Des Moines (the state capital, population 215,000), Iowa City (76,000, home of the University of Iowa), and the Quad Cities (Incl...
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