I've done this twice and I'm still jealous! And yeah, not many people you tell can see the appeal. On the other hand, train!

> economy ... gets you no access to the observation car

This wasn't true many years ago. Is this a recent change? Maybe Covid related to keep the amount of contacts down?

Also if you're in coach, you can still reserve a spot in the dining car and pay for your meal (or at least you could). I did that a few times over the course of a trip. Lots of weird characters in coach, for better and for worse. But at least you know why the train is stopped in a crossing to let Amtrak police board, or who the FBI agents are looking for.

I'd describe taking the train as like a condensed driving trip. If you've got a few days to spare getting to your destination, but not the month required for a full cross country road trip, it's definitely worth doing!