Your story brought back some really good memories for me. Around 2010 my ex spouse and I took an Amtrak from Orlando FL to Charleston SC for our anniversary trip. It was a bucket list trip for me, I've always wanted to see what it was like to "ride the rails." We also had a sleeper car, but that bed situation was more than strange to me, neither of us wanted to climb up a wall to sleep. We slept sitting up. We had our meals in the dining car, the food was not great , but palatable. All in all it was a fun trip, though I agree with you the train was so fast that I got motion sickness a couple of times. So actually seeing the sights along the way was kind of a bust. Thanks for the memories!