The Empire Builder continued west over eastern Montana blanketed with golden fields and the occasional cattle operation. Before arriving in Havre, another announcement from the engineer informed that a freight train near Cut Bank had derailed, making tracks there impassable. We would stop at the Shelby depot to ensure passengers could get around the mess via a three-hour bus ride to Whitefish, MT. Chaos was plentiful soon after train wheels stopped turning. Passengers spilled out onto the platform, then were told to return to the train until luggage was off-loaded and buses arrived.

Passengers trundled off the train anyway to loiter on the platform and breathe fresh air mixed with occasional wafts of cigarette smoke for most of two hours. When buses eventually trickled in one or two at a time, disorganization ruled supreme. Those with luggage stampeded to encircle each bus as if Elvis Presley himself would be stepping off singing Hound Dog, complete with pelvic gyrations. We chose to let the type As duke it out while we enjoyed a Montana sunset to take later transport. Rita and I stepped off the bus in Whitefish at 2:30 a.m.

The Whitefish, MT, train depot was added to the list of The National Register of Historic Places in 2002. In addition to creating the feeling you’ve been transported back in time, it is considered the busiest depot on the Empire Builder route between Minnesota and the Pacific Ocean, deboarding 170 passengers daily. A train identical to that which we abandoned in Shelby sat idling outside the station, ready to go, pointed westward and prepared to welcome us to the same seating arrangements left behind five hours earlier. Rita and I crawled into our bunks for a snooze well before the train pulled out of the station.

Looking out the window when we awoke, we were in heaven. Either there, or Idaho. A gently flowing stream was trapped between a jagged rock wall on its far side and the railroad bed on which we were slowly moving. Ponderosa pines interrupted the view of the narrow river and huge boulders it contained from time to time as we lumbered downhill.

After Montana yielded to Idaho, Idaho gave way to eastern Washington with rolling hills and a parched, desolate tinderbox of wheat fields without any hint of chlorophyll. When the Columbia River eventually came alongside, plants with elements of life dotted the landscape. The Lewis and Clark expedition took seven months to travel from North Dakota to the Columbia. We had accomplished it in a mere 30 hours.

The Empire Builder eventually crossed the Columbia just outside Wenatchee, Washington, that afternoon. The lengthier stop there allowed us (and those whose nicotine levels had intolerably dwindled) to step off the train to snap photos, stretch legs or replenish smoke-starved lungs. Considered to be the Apple Capital of the world, the area produces the majority of pears, sweet cherries and 90% of the country’s organic apples. Apple-related businesses are also plentiful in the area in addition to local vineyards well-worth visiting. Back onboard again, the final scenic 22-mile leg to Leavenworth began.

We headed northwest from Wenatchee, traveling slightly uphill as the train weaved back and forth along one side or the other of the picturesque Wenatchee River toward the Cascade Mountains. Passing over four bridges spanning the river near Cashmere, the track then took a more northerly turn before eventually bending back west again and into the lovely town of Leavenworth at sunset. We really didn’t mind the fact the journey took 32 hours instead of the expected 24. It was filled with adventure and numerous elements that are challenging to see when soaring over at thirty thousand feet.

…to be continued