America!

So, MathWorks sends everyone to Natick for Big Picture Orientation. I went too, in March 2015. It lasted for about 2 weeks, including all the meetings with my teammates over there. The most interesting part began after the BPO. 2 weeks of almost-solitary roaming, spanning the breadth of the US. This blog post is about what happened after March 21st and is dedicated to all those kind Americans who helped me throughout the journey.

I travelled to the US with just one bag. No check-in luggage. Only cabin. No toothpaste, as that wouldn't be allowed onboad. I had no clothes packed, as I planned on buying souvenir tees wherever I went. And indeed I did! It was planned to move around arbitrarily on foot and hitchhike wherever possible. 

The second weekend of March was spent in NYC and Washington DC. I visited the Times Square on foot at 3AM, accompanied by a just-befriended local. Reached Washington DC the next day and spent the whole of Saturday walking around the National Mall. Lincoln memorial, the Monument, Smithsonian Institute of Natural History, Air and Space Institute, river Potomac, Capitol and the White House. The next morning I visited the Smithsonian museum near Fairfax, VA and did a photoshoot outside the Washington Dulles airport. Returned to Boston and then to Natick the next morning.

I took a 5000 Km long train the following weekend. The most interesting part of the journey. It was the 449 Northeastern Limited from Boston South to Chicago Union station. Passed through the frozen landscapes of the US-Canada border. Most of Massachusetts was frozen, as was most of New York. Syracuse, Buffalo and other cities whizzed by. The train went parallel to the great lakes in Indiana, before entering the central time zone in Illinois. Chicago wasn't frozen, but was still cold. There was a slight spell of snow, but nothing significant. The lady who sat beside me showed me the way to Willis Tower when I got down. Got all the way up to SkyDeck in the 103rd floor. Great views of Lake Michigan and the city itself. I made my way to Grant Park from there for a ground level view of Lake Michigan. I was always a big fan of Ulysses Grant! Headed to a Chipotle near Willis Tower for lunch and returned to the Union Station. The next leg of the journey was on the 5 California Zephyr, touted to be the most scenic route in the US.

The rest of the day was spent in chugging across Illinois and Indiana. Due to a derailment, the train was rerouted to Wyoming, instead of going straight to Lincoln, Nebraska from Omaha. The next morning greeted me with the great plains of southern Wyoming. Unending plains with herds of buffalo. The sort of America that one sees in the Wild West movies (and in AOE 3). A very marked change from the New England area. As we entered Cheyenne, the last stop in Wyoming, the Rockies could be seen as a white ghost on the horizon. In a couple of hours, the train pulled into Denver, Colorado. Chuck Hilsenbeck from Natick told me that the route gets very exciting from this point. I made my way into the observation deck of the train.

The train pulled out of Denver and into the Rockies. An additional engine was attached to take the load into the heights of the Rockies. The landscape suddenly changed from an arid land to ice and snow. The route followed river Colorado into its numerous canyons. All the way to Grand Junction, after which it takes a southward turn. The most scenic stretches were near Glenwood Springs until the Grand Junction. The interstate I70, touted to be an architectural marvel runs parallel to the track. I saw Canadian geese and bald eagles on the banks of the river. At Dave's Depot in Grand Junction, I bought my train souvenir, a train whistle. 

Was already dusk by then and the night was spent in chugging though Utah. The next morning greeted me with a sunrise from behind the Ruby mountains in Nevada. It was nearly nonstop till Reno. Ruby mountains and other highlands continued all the way to Reno, where I was questioned by the police for shooting too many photos. The Sierra Nevada climb starts after Reno and the next few hours were spent in the hills of Sierra Nevada and winding around the gold mining communities which sparked the Gold Rush. It was a dew-filled rainy afternoon. The route then descended onto Colfax, CA. The journey to Sacramento and then to Richmond was pretty uninteresting, except for the short stretches which go alongside the Pacific. The sunset over the Bay was especially beautiful. 

I caught a BART train from Richmond to Fremont. My family came to pick me up at Fremont and the next one week was spent in roaming the Silicon Valley. Visited my grandpa's company, Exponent, and drove around in his FordGT. Went to San Francisco and Monterey Bay aquarium. Got lost in the sleepy town of Salinas and had to figure a way to get back home, when there was none. Finally had to take an Amtrak train to San Jose and then an Uber cab. It was eventful fun in the Bay Area with family.

The return flight from SFO to Bangalore was scary. I had a 45 minute layover at London and the security caught my pressurized CO2 cylinders and started questioning me about them. They got scanned for shrapnel and then let through and landed in Bangalore on the wee hours of 2nd April. It was quite an exciting trip, especially the solo journey across America and I hope I'd do it again!