Oregon and Northern California Hybrid Road Trip-Day 4

California Zephyr paralleling the Colorado River in north central
Colorado.  

Another quick comment about the photography gear I brought before I get on to the narrative about today's activities.

As I wrote yesterday, I brought my Olympus O-MD E-M5 and several lenses.  I brought all Panasonic lenses as it just happened to work out that way.  I brought a 7-14mm F/4, 12-35mm F/2.8, 35-100mm F/2.8, 100-300 F/3.5-5.6 and the 20mm F/1.7.  So far, I have used the the first three lenses mentioned but not had the opportunity to use the other two.

Believe it or not, I brought all that, with extra batteries, charger, ND and polarizing filters, cleaning cloths, etc. in a Think Tank City Walker 20 bag, which is not really big.  I tried putting my Nikon gear in this same back and it would not fit.  That is exactly the point.  Half the size, half the weight, half the price and, for all practical purposes, almost all of the quality.

Phase I; Virginia to California Via Amtrak-Day 3; Winnemucca, Nevada to Sacramento, CA

I awoke as we pulled into the station in Winnemucca, Nevada. I looked at the time on my GPS and we had arrived about 25 minutes early.  We stayed parked at the station until we were back in line with the Amtrak published timetable for the trip.  Seems as though we made up some time overnight.

When my wife awoke, she mentioned that during the night, the ride had been extremely rough.  Evidently, I slept through it.  Later, I checked my GPS, as I did periodically.  From my understanding, the speed limit for trains on our trip is 79 mph.  My GPS records the top speed attained until reset and it had previously recorded 82 mph, which is pretty much in keeping with the speed limit.  When I checked it this morning, the top speed read an incredible 144 miles per hour!  Could that be? Could this relatively new GPS be wrong?  I don't know.  When I mentioned it to a crew member, he said the GPS MUST be wrong! I'm not so sure.

However, after thinking about my wife saying that the train was really rocking and rolling overnight, and coupling that with our getting to Winnemucca at least 25 minutes early, maybe it was correct.  I don't know, but that is what is still recorded on my GPS.  When I went to be, the speed was 82.

Shortly after leaving Winnemucca, the sun rose and our view was desert.  Desert to the left, desert to the right, desert in front of us and desert behind us!  Flat!  Flatland all around.  What an enormous difference from the previous day's vistas.

Sandstone formations along the route in Utah.

As we crossed the desert, the train came to a slow stop.  What now?  I asked the conductor and it seems the track split.  Cracked.  He indicated that situations like this were not unusual as winter approached in the desert and the nights got very cold.  In fact, I saw some ice on some water we passed. He said there was already a crew on scene and were working on the track.  I suspect, since it is all welded rail, they were connecting the two separated parts with a good strong weld.  We were stopped about 40 minutes, then we were on our way.

We arrived in Reno about 50 minutes late.  Quite a few passengers got off the train there, including our next door compartment neighbor, with whom we had some nice engaging conversations during the trip.  The day was very crisp and very cool.  Very refreshing.

The train rolled westward and headed toward the famed Donner Pass.  This part of the trip was second only to the Colorado Front Range.  As we climbed the Sierras, the speed restriction was 30 mph, which was fine as the views, again, were spectacular.  We passed through several tunnels as we climbed up, up, up and over and then down the Sierras.  We pretty much paralleled I-80 but at times broke away and were many hundreds of feet above it.

Curtis, our car attendant, did a great job
taking care of our needs!

The colors were vivid as the cottonwoods and aspens gave way to the conifers.  I spotted at least 4 different kinds of conifers.  We viewed Donner Lake from several hundred feet above and got a good view of its entirety.  This part of the trip was a great way to wrap up our cross country train excursion.

The ride between Reno and Sacramento was topped off by a young woman who "mooned" the train as it passed a remote grade crossing.  Her male friend sat in the small pickup truck while she got out and dropped her drawers!  Not the kind of girl you would bring home to mom.  It was a pleasant distraction from the foliage, however.

As we slowly rode toward Sacramento, which is where we would depart the train, we continued at 30 mph. It seemed like an eternity, but I sat and gazed out at the fall foliage which surrounded us in every direction through out the mountain forest. It was really a sight.

We approached and arrived in Sacramento only 3 minutes behind schedule for a train ride that covered approximately 3200 miles over 4 days.  I congratulate them on their efficiency, despite working around the freight railroads, track malfunctions, equipment issues and 3 time changes.

The Amtrak personnel made the trip pleasant, ensuring we had much comfort and anything we needed from coffee 24 hours a day, to extra blankets, to washing the train's windows before going through the scenic Rockies, to good food and just a wonderful experience.  Bravo!

Thirty minute stop in Glenwood Springs, Colorado

We took a cab to our hotel in Sacramento.  At the hotel, we met up with my cousin and her husband, who are full-time RVers. I haven't seen them in about 23 months and we had a splendid visit. It turned out that it was the birthday of my cousin's husband, who is really a great guy, and we celebrated another successful and fulfilling year for both of them.  We had dinner, ice cream and some good conversation. Sadly, it may be sometime before we see them again.  I wish it were sooner as I truly enjoy their company.

In the morning, we take the hotel's airport shuttle to the Sacramento airport to pick up a rental car, then we head up to Oregon to start Phase II or our hybrid road trip.

Planes, trains and automobiles.  I'll take the automobiles first, trains second and, reluctantly, use air travel.  I'm glad you came along on our little excursion across this great country.

Thanks for looking.  Dennis Mook


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