A little trial run

To Sacramento CA. By train. We thought it might be a good idea to try out alternative transportation in this country before venturing forth to less understood parts of the world. Also, Francie's cousin invited us to his 40th birthday - that made it a plan.

The much maligned, neglected, American passenger rail system puts on a good front. You can go to a web site, find the train, schedule, price and make reservations. You can either have your tickets mailed or pick them up from a kiosk at the station.

Unfortunately, you also can find out how late the train is. You can even get some history, see how late it's been over the last week or so. Just type in the arrival city and either the train number or a departure city in the train status section. Change the date to the past to see some actual arrival times. Pretty sad. Apparently the poor schedule performance has to do with the companies that own the tracks. They grant priority to the freight trains over Amtrak. That's a hell of a way to run a railroad.

The southbound train out of Albany was on time all the way. That was pleasant. We were supposed to catch the train back north at 11:59 PM. Not thinking, we went right down to the station, only to hear train 14 announced as 2 hours late. The Sacramento train station was not the most comfortable place to hang for a couple hours in the middle of the night with a couple kids. Although right downtown Sacramento, there was nothing open, and no place that looked like it would be interesting to visit. So we hung on the hardwood benches and admired the mural about the first transcontinental rail line high on one wall.

We opted for "sleeping" in the coaches since the sleeper is pretty expensive (an extra $432 for us 4). The seat areas are incredibly roomy if you're used to buses or planes (or even SUV's). Plenty of room to sit up with a laptop, or stretch out, with foot bars and lower leg rests. It got dark about the time we topped out of Willamette pass, so the rest of the scenery consisted of occasional town lights. Too bad. The return trip, 6 hours late by the time we got to Dunsmir was in daylight, so we got to see the spectacular palisades near Lake Shasta, and Mt Shasta itself. Also the river canyon is truly beautiful. The train moves slowly thru here, so it's not hard to get a few pictures. See? It's not all bad!

Train dining has always held a bit of romance for me. Communal tables with real table cloths, elegant waiters in black and white, extraordinary food, well served. Well, all the above is true, except for the food. It was OK, but not extraordinary, except for the prices. We opted for the cantina for dinner, a mistake. It cost as much as the diner dinner would have cost. Packing your own food is a good option. But you would have to sweet talk the cantina person to use their microwave.

One thing missing from most of the cars was 110v outlets. Given a 14 hour marathon, it would be nice to plug in computing or entertainment devices. We found one up in the observation lounge. Of course wireless internet access would be cool too. I understand some other trains have these.

I took a new bivy sack from RedEsupply. It packs into a 4x8" sack and weighs almost nothing. It is cloth-like but a little crinkly. Thicker than the classic space blanket, I suspect it will survive several dozen uses. It was quite warm on the train, in fact on the return trip, I didn't need the sack at all. But it worked well and was easy to repack. I'll have to try it in a little more adverse conditions before I can recommend it for outdoor use. The rest of the family had light blankets or fleece. Mom was the only one who was cold. I gave her my vest.

Coming soon, a short tour of Costa Rica.

-robertw