Kelsey Silver
- Kelsey Silver and her cousin dreamed of crossing the US by train.
- Starting in California, they took two Amtrak trains - the California Zephyr and the Lakeshore Limited - to make their dream a reality.
- Along the way, Silver documented the trip with photos and TikTok videos.
- $4.
Kelsey Silver and her cousin dreamed of a $4 ever since they saw a blog post that described how to do the trip for $4
Four years later, they finally decided to take the trip in December 2019, although they opted to spend more for a more comfortable journey.
The two flew into San Francisco to catch the $4 and start a three day trip to Chicago, where they spent the night before taking the Lakeshore Limited train the rest of the way to New York City. With private rooms on both trains, Silver told Business Insider that travel costs were about $2,000 total for her and her cousin.
"If you really want to see America, this is the way to do it," Silver said.
Amtrak offers a few routes for train enthusiasts looking for a trip across the country. In November, Business Insider transportation reporter $4 spent 96 hours traveling from New York to Seattle. He said he'd "do it again in a heartbeat."