The All-American Train Ride?

Photo by reivax via Flickr (Creative Commons)

Doesn’t have the same ring to it as “the all-American road trip,” does it? With the possible exception of the (nearly lost) art of freight train hopping, riding the rails in America has never been mythologized the way some other modes of travel have. Guardian writer Ruth Fowler recently rode the train from New York to Los Angeles, and in this essay she argues that we’ve got it all wrong: Amtrak really is the way to go, and not just because of the high price of gas.

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