We would love to see you! If you could extend after (into Halloween weekend), that would give us time to hang out. I would offer our guest room, but there's a good possibility our renovation will be in process at that point, so I don't want to promise what may not be available.

Minus-t Tour 2026 will be 4/16-5/16!

Current Plan - hop on the Coast Starlight on Thursday night, get to Portland or Seattle on Friday; maybe stay overnight, Empire Builder to Chicago, another possible overnight, City of New Orleans to NOLA hoping to arrive Wednesday 4/22

I have a room at Maison St Charles with 2 beds if anyone wants to come down and share a room

Lineup highlights include Jon Batiste, Big Freedia, Ani DiFranco, David Byrne, Stevie Nicks, Bruce Hornsby, Kermit Ruffins, Irma Thomas, Leftover Salmon and the New Orleans Klezmer All Stars (I decided on weekend 1 mostly because the timing is easier for me but I think I like the lineup better than weekend 2 also)

Leaving Monday morning 4/27 probably on the Crescent bound for New York, whether I will go the whole way or not, who knows? Passes through Atlanta, Spartanburg, Charlotte, DC, Baltimore, Philly, various other places.

I think I need to take this opportunity to ride an Acela to Boston, where I have never been

Which still leaves 5 or 6 segments to sort out, ideally getting home on or about 5/16. Maybe Montreal for bagels?

OK, Montreal not actually included in US pass, so probably not. Perhaps Maine where I have also never been? Savannah? San Antonio? Somewhere where I actually know people?

If you are near a train station and would let me crash on a couch for a night we can probably make that happen

Chicago, you say? Exxxcellent.

Looking like a couple of times through Chicago! I’m thinking the first one may just be a layover, but I think it’s several hours so maybe time to get out of the station and meet people or see sights, and I have a lot more room to maneuver for the second one so maybe stay for a night or two…

I have requested the time off. I assume it will be approved, but not actually booking the first leg until it is

Tentative plans add up to 200 hours on trains, which is 28% of the 30 days the pass is good for. The four days of Jazzfest will eat up some of that off train time (17% if my notes are correct, leaving 55% unaccounted for! But some of that will be transfers and layovers regardless), hopefully I can scatter the rest effectively

But I have decided, I think, on what the first leg should be, which is Coast Starlight to PDX ETA 4/17 3:40 PM (Friday). I have family there who I would like to see, and also, I think, Buffistas? SA, erin_obscure? Who I would also like to see! Looks like I can be there for about 3 hours or overnight. If anyone has suggestions of where to go and what to do in that time I will take them happily!

And next stop Seattle, either getting in at 11 pm or 10 am on 4/18 (Saturday). The Empire Builder leaves at 5PM, so that's basically a day to hang out. I know I want to go here because I missed it at the F2F, but other than that just seeing as many of y'all as I can is the goal there, possibly being a tourist if that fits in

Which gets me into Chicago 4:45 pm Monday + whatever delays arise

And then I want to catch the City of New Orleans at 8:05pm on Tuesday to make it to said city on Wednesday. So already I might have a spare day to not be on a train somewhere along the line

I’d to see you and host you on any stop you make through NY/CT! I’m about 35 min from the Stamford Amtrak station. Have a guest room for you and a guest room for anyone who’d want to come see you while at my place.

Definitely let me know when and for how long you’ll be in NYC!

We should definitely do an NYC thing.

OK! I had halfway thought I might not get to NYC but I'll rethink. And javachik I will definitely take you up on that, thank you!