Author: william.mchone

Hard to know where to begin when well over a half century of memories come into my head at all manner of places and times. Stories from the early years need to wait, my 3 full days on this Amtrak trip with John and Mary Stec need to be recalled now, while fresh in my mind.

Mary has been affectionately called Mare for as long as I can recall. I wish I had photos from those early years. If you weren’t told, you might have a hard time recognizing John and me in those late ‘60’s photos, but not Mare. She won the Vermont State individual gymnastics championship in high school. She was a very attractive and athletic young woman who has grown into a beautiful woman in every sense of the word.

I wish I could say I helped Mary prepare some of the meals. I tried to offer, but she has that under complete control. Our first night she prepared the best halibut I have ever eaten [no picture], along with a scallop and mushroom soup, fresh asparagus, potatoes and salad. The chicken parmigiana, spaghetti with homemade sauce and salad, pictured, was on my last night. I had that again for lunch before heading into Portland for my train.

Mary became a professional florist working at a top Burlington, Vermont shop. Beautiful flowering plants are all throughout the house year round and outside in season.

I wasn’t able to capture how warm and inviting Mary has made every single room in the house. That even goes for the guest bathroom, with tiny lights that are magical after sunset.

Everyday Mare and I walked around the neighborhood or in a park along the Columbia River. I slowed her down, but every one of the walks was special.

John has always been a great lover of the outdoors. Somehow, I suppose as recognition of his outdoorsmanship, he became Trapper John, although I never recall ever hearing of him setting a trap for any animal — perhaps some mental traps for me. He spent many years off on wilderness trails, on lakes, streams and the ocean. That’s become physically impossible to do in the manner to which he became accustomed.

He replaced the outdoors with his current pursuit, carving. I hope he doesn’t mind, I snuck some photos. He is very skilled, with fine details. I wish I could have captured his carving studio, full of fine tools. John’s become a true craftsman.

In the evenings we found some excellent films to watch. I brought up Martin Scorsese’s ”Killers of the Flower Moon” from my Apple TV+ account. We watched the entire 3h 36m, start to finish, maybe just one quick bathroom break. Mare and John surprised me and brought up “The Holdovers”, staring Paul Giamatti. Mare remembered how much I enjoyed it from a Facebook post.

I’ll try to get some of the early times we spent. There were weekends at Mary’s family camp in Barton, XC skiing, parties, bridge games, a camping trip to The Maritime Provinces… the list is long.

A beautiful early morning ride through the Cascades as I head for a 3 night layover near Seattle. I hope to post a gallery of photos soon. This featured image was snapped somewhere along the Amtrak line shown east of Everett.

I should have included a little more north of map to include Vancouver, Canada. I was chatting yesterday with Eric [on left across table from me]in the observation car. I met Eric the night before at dinner. We got to talking and he may add Vancouver as a stop on his USA Rail Pass. I am considering it.

That’s it for now. Looking forward to the next few days with Jo and Bill.

The morning routine has evolved. Sleep was far better on this train, the seats are more comfortable, the one next to me empty.

Around 6:00 am, still dark, I headed to the restroom. A washcloth and small towel doesn’t compare to a hot shower, but after I felt a whole lot better being in my own company. Clean underwear, t-shirt and socks, my hair combed, teeth brushed and deodorant applied… a fresh start for the day.

The dining car still wasn’t open, but I just needed a hot coffee. They kindly provided me a complimentary cup. Back at my seat, using just the available light, my the morning breakfast items might be hard to make out. Next to the coffee is an organic carrot juice from Trader Joe’s, it’s good. I really like the Norwegian Crispbread, also from TJ’s. This morning I had Cabot cheddar, but I also like having crunchy NuttZo on it — that’s a healthy snack any time of day. I had another hard steamed egg, one more left for tomorrow.

Last night I decided, for the first time, to try the Amtrak dining car for dinner. They have everyone sign up and you pay ahead, prix fix, $45 for an appetizer, main meal, one alcoholics beer or wine, coffee or soda and a dessert.

They decided the seating and it turned out to be a great group. None of us had met ahead of time. Turns out all these guys have done Amtrak travels in various parts of the country. They had great stories, glad I went. Plus, the food was quite good.

As I am about to post this, about 2:20 pm local time, I am passing through Montana. There are patches of snow and it is obviously well below freezing. I have gone to the observation car, but not a lot to see so far.

When I pushed aside my curtain around 6:00 am, from my first overnight on Amtrak, we were stopped in Toledo, Ohio.

Leaving Penn Station yesterday at 3:40 pm, on time to the minute, the car I was placed in became very nearly full, I was pre-boarded by a Red Cap. A nice guy, probably late 30’s, took the seat next to me, politely first asking if I would mind. Of course I didn’t, turns out he is also going to Chicago.

That was kind of unlucky, for both of us. Most passengers would be getting off before it was time to try and sleep. Unexplainable to me, Amtrak made announcements at each stop that passengers were NOT allowed to change seats. 

Middle of the night, after a lot of restlessness for both of us, my guy wisely moved across the aisle. We could both stretch out and, at least got a little better chance of sleep.

Yesterday’s post was USA Rail Pass Breakfast, this morning’s actual breakfast worked a bit differently. I did have a hard steamed egg, as I rummaged through my cooler, plus a handful of walnuts, long before the cafe car opened. Forgot to bring my nice blueberries, hopefully Hilary will use them up. Finally had my coffee, actually fairly decent.

This leg terminates in Chicago, my notes say 11:17 am, I am assuming that is Central Time. About a 3-4 hr layover before heading to Seattle, a 2 night ride.

I’ll be looking at improving my sleeping arrangements.

It’s that time of the year, Medicare Annual Enrollment is now open. Time to see if we might find a better prescription drug plan, perhaps save $100 or $200 in 2024. What if I told you I have a plan to save $1,200 instead?

Last year around the start of November I hit the 2nd gap in my Medicare Part D prescription coverage. I discovered, instead of a copay of $120 for a 3 month supply of Eliquis, I would be paying would be paying $462 for a 3 month supply. I shelled out $154 for 1 month and started looking to see if I could find a different plan going into 2023.

Turns out I had an appointment with my cardiologist before that supply ran out. I told him my story, we checked alternatives, none saved me money. Before I left my exam I had 2 months supply of Eliquis samples.

Starting in January I had a new plan with Cigna, it looked to be a little less money and, since I did not need my first prescription of Eliquis filled until the start of February, I naively thought I might stretch my gap to closer to the end of the year. When I went to refill my Eliquis near the start of September, I was dumbfounded to learn I was already in the gap period, almost 2 months earlier. Not only was it not less, if I couldn’t again be gifted samples, I was looking at paying about $400 more than last year.

Checking online, Forbes rated United Healthcare #1 and Cigna #2 for Part D subscription coverage.

If I switch to the Cigna Saver Rx plan for 2024 it would be about $200 cheaper than the Cigna plan I currently have.

Cigna Saver Rx: $2,484

This is how is what switching to the UHC plan would cost me. To get that estimate I entered all the drugs I am currently taking.

Next I looked at Online Pharmacies Canada. I have ordered from them in the past, before getting into any drug plan. I have been really impressed with them. The generic equivalent of Eliquis, Apixaban, was was approved in 2020, available in Canada, not the U.S. These were my totals purchasing the generic equivalents without insurance:

• Eliquis – Apixaban $643
• Furosemide $112
• Sotalol $140
• Atorvastatin $204

Online Pharmacies Canada: $1,099 add shipping ~$1,300

Okay, there’s a saving’s of around $1,200. Not bad for a few hours work.

Next I was reminded to check GoodRx. I’ve used them before, a small pharmacy in Arizona was kind enough to suggest it when I was in shock about some drug I was prescribed. I was already a member, so I signed in and did some checking. They have “coupons” with excellent 1 time savings, but I soon saw that if I were to get all my prescriptions filled through them I needed to become what they call a “Gold Member”. That’s $10/mo and not all pharmacies that honor GoodRx are part of the Gold Membership network. Costco, which I was thinking about joining anyway, is part of the Gold network with some of the best prices. Here’s what I calculated (rounding):

• Gold Membership $10/mo = $120
• Costco $60 (standard 1 yr)
• Atorvastatin $13.33/mo = $160
• Sotalol $39.50/3 mo = $118
• Furosemide $15.20 = $182
• Eliquis $565/mo = $6,950

Let’s forget about Eliquis for the moment – I suspect strongly I know the story on why that’s the way it is – and do the totals without that outlier.

GoodRx: $630
Online Canada: $556 [without Eliquis or shipping]

I call that a tie and, personally, I say the tie goes to GoodRx for convenience and the very high likelihood that my prescription needs are going to change. I’m almost certainly on Eliquis, or an equivalent, for the remainder of my days. I think it will be at least 3 more years before the generic Eliquis, Apixaban, is available in the U.S.

So, unless something changes this is my plan:

• Quit my Part D ripoff prescription drug plan
• Join Costco (they also have some great men’s clothing)
• Make GoodRx my primary prescription drug plan
• Order the generic Apixaban from our neighbors to the north.

GoodRx + Online Pharmacies Canada = $630 + $643 = $1,273

Savings: $2,484 – $1,273 = $1,211

As always, your comments are appreciated and have a healthy new year.