The train had a short stop at Izaak Walton Inn.  I heard about the cabooses which are rooms at the inn.  Unfortunately they were not visible.  I had been invited to have dinner on board the Beech Grove and when I returned into the car, Mr. Gunn was almost finished with dinner, alone.  I asked Lou what was available, and he fixed me up with cornish game hen, which was delicious.

Late in the evening, we made the station stop at Whitefish, Montana.  At this point, June Tarpley and Mr. Gunn detrained to catch the number 8 Empire Builder eastbound the next day.  I thanked both of them and said goodbye.  Larry and Lynda Vielluex of Izaak Walton also exited.  I chattted with Lynda for a moment and asked her if she knew Chris Guenzler, another TrainWeb associate, to which she replied "yes!"  She also stated that I should come and stay at Izaak Walton in the future. After passing the property located on Marias Pass and also checking out their website, I plan to visit in the future.

After Whitefish, I made my way back to my sleeping accomodations, but was still restless.  I just sat there and pondered the amazing journey up to that point.  The Empire Builder entered what I found out later to be the 8 mile long Flathead Tunnel. Every quarter mile, I noticed a light marking safety locations for railroad personnel should the need arise.  After about 2 miles, I returned to the rear end of the dome car and cupped my hands against the glass window.  The lights at the end of Beech Grove were still illuminated and gave me a view of the interior of Flathead Tunnel which was very interesting, especially at track speed of about 50 miles per hour!  This tunnel is a gauntlet on the route, needing 15-30 minutes to evacuate the diesel exhaust.  After exiting the tunnel, I once again returned to my sleeper and could occasionally see trees nearby the railroad right-of-way.  The sound of the engineer whistling at crossings was fabulous.  This night, I was able to get some sleep.  The only time I woke up was the stop at Spokane.  I looked outside and just as quickly fell back asleep.  They say the breakup of the train takes an hour.  The crew did this flawlessly, since I was completely unaware until daybreak.

Again, I had no idea of what to expect at dawn.  I was just as delighted at first light as the crossing of Marias Pass.  Sunrise this day was even more beautiful than North Dakota.  I quickly dressed, grabbed the camera and got to the dome car to find a new conductor named Paula.  I apologized for the way I looked and started taking pictures and finding out about Paula and where the Empire Builder was located which was were somewhere in eastern Washington.



Another person, Randall Wallenberg, an Amtrak baggage agent from Seattle pointed out to me this interesting sight of an ancient passenger car on blocks near the tracks.  He said he had worked his way from Seattle to Spokane to catch the number 8 75th Anniversary Empire Builder back to Seattle.


Again, other eyes helped catch this caboose in Ephrata.
   

There was a little bit of civilization and a lot of agricultural business.



Page 12 of Amtrak 75th Anniversary Empire Builder