Amtrak can be fun but service can be highly variable. A few years ago my wife and I took an Amtrak from Oakland to Chicago with a brief stop in Colorado to vis

Amtrak can be fun but service can be highly variable. A few years ago my wife and I took an Amtrak from Oakland to Chicago with a brief stop in Colorado to visit a hot spring. We weren't impressed with the menu on the first leg of the trip so we bought take-out meals in town before boarding. Boy were we lucky we did - the train didn't get restocked properly and ran out of food a day early. Many onboard got to enjoy some intermittent fasting... Now I tell people to by all means enjoy Amtrak but always make contingency plans.