That’s right, we’re taking the Amtrak Auto Train! Yes, we are a bit nuts. Who leaves Florida (The Sunshine State) to go north into where record-breaking Winter Storm Jonah just dumped all it’s fury? We do. It will be fine. The storm is over and the cleanup has begun. We are on our way to see our kids in Connecticut and in New Hampshire for a few days and have had our tickets for some time. The storm had caused Amtrak to cancel the daily Auto Train service for the last four days. Our tickets were for Monday, which is the 4th day cancelled. But a call to Amtrak got our reservation moved over to Tuesday, so here we go.

This is a new adventure for us. Last year around this time we took a multi-day day Amtrak passenger train from Benson, Arizona, to Boston, Massachusetts, and back; and we loved that. This time we have the opportunity to put our car on the train and take it with us! How cool is that? This Auto Train is the only one in the United States, and if you include the car carriers it is the longest passenger train in the world at about 3/4 of a mile in length.

#52 Auto Train leaves Sanford FL on Tuesday at 4:00PM, and arrives in Lorton VA at 9:00AM Wednesday. It takes 17 hours and will knock 900 miles off our drive. We will be in a sleeper car so will have our own private bedroom for the overnight trip. Dinner and breakfast are included.

After visiting the kids for a few days we will return to Florida, but have no reservations yet.

• Amtrak Auto Train, one way:  $742
• Amtrak Arizona to Massachusetts