Why we went
Amtrak's newest route might not last. We wanted to ride it while we could.
The Floridian was put together because of tunnel repair work in New York, and no one is sure how long it will run. So we booked a bedroom from Miami to Chicago and scored it on reliability, comfort, experience and value, along with every meal on board.
We also gave ourselves a job. Cole's brother lives in Chicago and had just come through a brutal winter storm, so we squeezed a jug of orange juice at Showcase of Citrus, where he worked in high school and college, and tried to keep it cold for two days. The rule was a Polaroid at every major stop, taken by a stranger, with the station sign in the shot.
