Sunset Limited

Leaving Florida was an adventure in itself. We went from plan A to plan B to plan C, leaving Saul Goodvan at the shop and continuing on in any way possible. First, we rented a car and headed to New Orleans. From there, we hopped onto the Sunset Limited, the train line that’s run from New Orleans to Los Angeles since 1894. 30 hours later, and we stepped off the train and into El Paso, Texas.

Along the way, we met fellow wanderers, fellow artists, and fellow eye-mask-wearing, tossing-turning, exhausted coach passengers. We spent almost all of our ride in the observation car, looking out the panoramic windows at the changing scenery. From the Louisiana swamps into the flat of Texas, we fell asleep in San Antonio and woke along the Mexico border in Big Bend country.

This morning the sun rose as we ate breakfast in the dining car at a family style table, chatting with a traveler about her days protesting Vietnam and her fear for the future. By the time we disembarked we’d heard the stories of Maggie, a former schoolteacher from Arkansas who had “gypsy in [her] blood,” a large format photographer from Prescott, Arizona, a bartender from Austin who had escaped the SXSW scene for the tourism of NOLA, and a father sharing his love of travel with his son.

As we settle into El Paso, we’ll be sharing more photos and more stories from our time in New Orleans, as well as from those 30 hours on the Sunset Limited.

Sunset Limited Amtrak line, Texas. March 2018.