Last of the pictures

California Zephyr Train

Vail, Colorado

Breckenridge, Colorado

Home sweet home.

Ended up catching a ride back home in Mike's Avalanche. We made the trip in exactly 15 hours, it would have been nearly twice that on the rails. I drove the shift from Kearney, Nebraska to about 150 miles west of Davenport, Iowa. Ron finished it up the rest of the way to East Troy. No one fell asleep behind the wheel and we arrived back in Milwaukee about seven.

Milwaukee: Gears and farmin' and Indians and smokestacks and stuff. Since 1846.

Prohose and coogs

We made it into Vail about 3:30pm. Mike & Ron were having an extended ski weekend in from Milwaukee, and Marty was with them for the day. We had drinks and chips & salsa at a Mexican restaurant at the base of Chair 16.

I always liked Vail but the snow is almost gone. I bet they were shoveling under the lifts at base today. MV says much fog and slop on top. Vertigo city. So I am off the hook as far as going skiing is concerned. Next year I will start again, maybe.

East to Breckenridge and MLHS alum Greg G's pad. Thanks again Greg. Ron went back to his condo in town with Mike in tow. Alex, Marty and I went over there for cocktails in the hot tub and pool. Since the families at poolside became appalled at our blatant alcohol consumption and heavy use of profane language we ended up getting the facilities all to ourselves.

Out on the town we went. I managed to get way more drunk than I like, even though I was pouring my Jameson shots into my finished soup (again, I am sorry Marty, don't take it personally) instead of into my belly.

Got up early to have breakfast with Kuhl, who happened to be in Breck on vacation too. I went back to the same restaurant with everyone else later on. Columbine Cafe on Main in Breckenridge, CO - highly recommended for breakfast.

Your daughter's car

We rented a Chevrolet Cobalt at the SLC airport AVIS counter. Rigo set us up quickly and we were driving away at 6:30AM. Absolutely the fastest time I've ever been able to rent a car.

It is very cute. Fire engine red and two little doors and a tiny motor that goes vroom-vroom: any small-town 16-year-old girl would be proud as hell to own this thing. I really miss the Monte right now, the extra two cylinders would be handy.

Very good scenery all around. We follow the railroad tracks we are supposed to be taking, but are ahead of train #6 by several hundred miles in a couple hours.

No CD's and no charger for the laptop mean no tunes. Should have replaced my wrecked iPod instead of blowing the money Weber gave me on whoknowswhat. It's pretty much just AM radio for awhile, and only Rush Limbaugh at that. Haven't listened to him in years. He still isn't doing conservatives any favors.

Trestles, trenches, and travesty: Last stop - Salt Lake City, UT

After a long restless night rocking on rolling through the bad UP track in Nevada and Utah, the fact that we were now three hours behind schedule with the climb up the Rockies still before us, and with mounting problems on the train including our oven-like environment and institutionalized service crew, I had enough of the choo-choo train.

We detrained early at Salt Lake City, precisely 6AM, and hopped in a cab to the airport.

Trestles, trenches, and travesty: Stop #3 - Winnemucca, NV

Sat in the Union Pacific yard at Sparks, NV for about an hour. Watched the engineer get off and let some water out of our sleeper car. We overhear that there are water issues on the entire car.

It is still roasting on this thing. Props to the "Greatest Generation". I guess they never heard of blankets.

Dinner was better than expected. We ate at the early sitting and sat with a gent from South Africa. Roasted chicken can apparently be prepared adequately in a convection / microwave oven. Frozen cheesecake for desert, choice of chocolate or strawberry topping. I chose the strawberry option.

Where else are you going to get to see a pile of railroad crossing gates, signals, and gantries than on the train?

Trestles, trenches, and travesty: Stop #2 - Reno, NV

Wow, there are numerous problems with this train. It apparently left Chicago with one bad refrigerator in the Diner, the other broke along the way. So food service in the Diner Car will consist of three choices of microwave dinners, we are told. We are also informed not to go "number 2" in the upstairs toilet, since there are problems with it as well.

I have pizza for lunch, it is about as good as you'd expect from microwave from pizza.

We have no power in lower-level Room 13, we are moved to less-desirable upper-level Room 9 after initial resistance from our Conductor and Attendant.

It is fricken hot as hell on this car. Apparently the heater is running in spite of the 80 degree outside temperature and the fact that we are travelling through the daytime deserts of Nevada. I am told by the attendant that he cannot switch the air on because it is not yet officially springtime, and his elderly passengers are still frigid even with the heat on. Cold old people, really.

The crew on this train has a lot of time in with Amtrak... and the UTU union. The are professional but unaccommodating. Much like the post office used to be before UPS and FedEx came around, much like the phone company used to be before cell phones and the Internet took away their customers. This is about the service quality I originally expected from Amtrak when I stepped on the Empire Builder the first time on Christmas Eve. Harrumph.

We leave Reno and it's "trench". The city and casinos paid to trench the mainline through to eliminate the many grade crossings that disrupted the flow of gamblers. It's kind of cool, and a neat engineering project to read about. Bah, should have got a pic of the trench.

Shout out to Vopal. Sorry Lisa, we were only there for 15 minutes.

The California Zephyr, #6, at Roseville, CA.

Trestles, trenches, and travesty: Stop #1 - Roseville, CA

Got the call last evening about 5pm: Amtrak would be starting the California Zephyr east of Sacramento at Roseville due to the trestle fire. We are being bussed about 100 miles, the coach is clean and only has the 11 passengers that were supposed to board at Martinez.

Spirits are high in spite of the detour.

Photo of empty mainline we are supposed to be on, taken from bus.

Pictures to date

Victoria

Coast Starlight Train

Sunny California

It is nice to be in the sun and warm air. Alex picked me up at the McDonald's I was at and we headed into Walnut Grove to grab a couple beers and watch girls and basketball. Lots of beautiful people there, but many average folks as well - so I didn't stick out as a fat Midwesterner so much like I did in Scottsdale last fall.

We helped this Joe guy pick up his new Harley at the dealer - Al had to shuttle it over to his house because Joe doesn't have an endorsement. We saw Joe riding around the next day, excitement got to him. Cops pulled him over and ticketed him for no helmet. Let him go for no insurance or license since they were just as excited for him.

The house was nice, just Alex and his friend Jen whom I've met in the past out there. Shot the shit over beers outside on the patio, played with her cats, did laundry, and wasted the day away.

Go '90.

Hi-ball through the hills: Last stop - Martinez, CA

Martinez California is about 30 miles east of San Fransisco and only about 10 miles from Alex's house.

It was about 70 degrees and sunny when I stepped off. A short two block walk to coffee and an outdoor patio to drink it on. I nabbed a Wi-Fi signal from the library down the street. Tried to go to the library when my battery was dying but it didn't open until noon. No one in CA gets up before noon unless they have to work so I suppose that's why it's closed mornings.

Al was delayed in picking me up so I went to McDonald's for breakfast and to get a power outlet for my laptop. I am ashamed and embarrassed that I ate there but no one makes breakfast sausage like Mickey D's.

Hi-ball through the hills: Stop #3 - Sacramento, CA

Hmmm. Smoke on the horizon.

The sun is rising as we pull into Sacramento station a bit late. I took a hot shower (sort of challenging on a moving vehicle) and got some coffee and a muffin for breakfast in the parlour car.

Fred, our attendant, dropped off a copy of the Bee this morning. Front page: Union Pacific railroad trestle through town is burning down as we speak. That's what the smoke was from.

Hi-ball through the hills: Stop #2 - Klamath Falls, OR

The sleeper cars on the Coast Starlight were nice, but not the upgraded type I saw on the Empire Builder or later trains. This is a picture of the larger bedroom version, I had the smaller "Roomette".

While the sleeper accommodations are nice... it was very nice being able to sleep in a bed... I missed the environment of coach class and the people in it.

Hi-ball through the hills: Stop #1 - Portland, OR

Didn't find much open Wi-Fi on this route - west coasters are more concentrated so they secure their routers. Posting after the fact.


March 15, 2007 12:30pm


"Hi-ball" is the go-ahead that the conductor gives the engineer to get the train moving. Think it has something to do with the old semaphore style signals that were changed out when Edison invented the light bulb. Not sure, read a lot of railroad stuff lately.

Train #11, the Coast Starlight, has an additional bi-level lounge car for first-class passengers: The Pacific Parlour. These lounges were built in the early 50's and were inherited by Amtrak when they took over in 1971. They are well kept and are quite fancy by Amtrak standards. We were greeted with a rolls, coffee and juice when I boarded in Seattle.

We arrived in Portland roughly on time.