Rog's Gallery

Florida Exodus Under Way (10/13/09)

When we old duffers contemplate the winter trek to Florida, the choices are many: driving all the way, which takes at least 20 hours in two-plus eight-hour stretches, sleep- overs in motels along the way, from the Cape through Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Delaware (if via I-95), Maryland, a sliver of the District of Columbia, Virginia, the Carolinas (2), Georgia and wherever you're headed in the long, long state of Florida.

The route from Lorton, VA to Sanford, FL. Map courtesy of Amtrak.

Or, shipping one's vehicle, and flying, perhaps the quickest and most expensive.

Or, grabbing a bus in the Attleboro area. It brings along your vehicle with you, puts you up in motels along the way in two to three days.

My preference is Amtrak's Auto Train. Take the trip with me, and I'll explain why.

Its departure point is Lorton, Virginia, about 25 miles southeast of Washington, D.C. The terminal is a modern structure with all the necessary services.  You have to be there about 90 minutes before departure.  When you arrive, crew members check the underside of your car with a mirror. Another videos  the car exterior.

At about 3 p.m., you board a shiny passenger train scheduled to depart an hour later for arrival in Sanford, Florida, at about 9:30 the next morning. There you await your vehicle, which is unloaded from auto carrier cars attached to the train. The bulk of your luggage remains in your car. Most passengers carry one bag onto the train.

A near-gourmet meal on china plates, a table cloth and cloth napkins is your prospect for dinner. There are three seatings and a choice of five entrees. Next morning's breakfast  is continental style.  A first-run movie is  shown in the lounge car after the first two meal seatings.

It's not inexpensive. You can sit up in a parlor car for about $125.00 for you and your vehicle.  I take a roomette, which converts from two facing soft chairs into a bed just long enough for me (I'm a little over 6'5"). For me, the bathroom is feet away. ( The fancier units have their own bathrooms). A porter makes up the bed at a time you request, then converts it back  to your chair when you're at breakfast.

The cost varies. When fewer people reserve, in early December, it's about $325.00 north to south. Coming back at the end of April, I've paid $600.00 for the car and me.

It's not easy walking between cars on a moving train. But the narrow corridors hem one in, and limit the chance of stumbling.

Amtrak uses CSX freight rails, so sometimes, your train must stop and roll aside to let a freight go through.

Arrival at Sanford is at a spanking new terminal, similar to Lorton - a glass-and-steel structure. Security at both ends of the line can't compare to airports. But the feeling is friendlier. I've arrived 30 minutes ahead of schedule and  four hours late in 11 trips.

From Route 134 in Dennis, the location of CapeCodToday.com, it's a drive of about 542 miles to Lorton.  I've just two gripes about the Auto Train experience: when the beds are arranged upper and lower for two persons in the roomette, the upper is too close to the ceiling. And the ride could be smoother. But that won't happen until the federal government appreciates the value of AMTRAK, and allocates funds to fix the rail bed.