Aug 2023 Travel Report - ThruWay-San Joaquins-CZ - Certainly...eventful

[DetroitDave]

*This is a very belated post because of "life" happening since the trip. Also TRIGGER WARNING there is a mention of a death on this trip*


This trip (part of my annual “Planes Trains Automobile” trip I take out to and from Star Trek Las Vegas) started following the Star Trek Convention on August 7th. The entire trip encompasses travel from Las Vegas, spending a few days in the Bay Area, then taking the California Zephyr back home.

1st Leg: Las Vegas, NV -> Emeryville, CA (LVT-BFD via Thru-way, BFD-EMY via San Joaquins)

I booked the Amtrak Thru-way from the South Strip Transfer Terminal to head into California. Usually, I rent a car to head to all points Cali, but I opted to try something different with the Thru-way bus.

The station personnel at the Transfer Terminal were friendly and directed me to wait outside at the corner for the bus (#5612). The bus arrived right on time and we were on our way on a journey that is supposed to take about 6 hours (notice I said “supposed to”. More on this later…) One of the sights along the route was the SCE Ivanpah Substation - concentrated thermal solar plants.

The main food/rest stop at Barstow was much needed after about 3.5 hours. Built in several rail cars, it's a busy waypoint for tourists, to be sure. I was surviving off of an early morning banana so I endured a satisfying, yet gut bomb of poutine which I was certain would put me to sleep in due time. No drinks needed since I had plenty of ice water (thanks to my hotel fridge freezing them all...actually, it helped this time).

A few hrs following Barstow, our bus lost a serpentine belt at 3:20pm PDT so we had to pull over on the side of the expressway! I had a connecting train at 4:12pm, as did others, but "fortune favors fools, little children, and good spirited bus passengers": luckily, we were only 20 min away from our stop and the driver expedited a rescue bus, plus the train was held for 30 min due to another bus having issues, too! Crisis averted.

And the bonus: While waiting outside of the broken bus, I met three awesome fellow con-goers still basking in the afterglow of Star Trek LV! On the San Joaquins (719), we held court in the lower level on the train which was SO much cooler and completely empty (I kept them out of the pic below, save for a leg, but they were all awesome people to meet!)

 

[DetroitDave]

Aug 8th - Rosie the Riveter National Historical Park and Richmond

I'm a National Park/Historical Site nerd, so I planned a visit to the Rosie the Riveter NHP. I also wanted to visit the Port Chicago Naval Magazine (more down below), but this worked out perfectly.
I took the Emery-Go-Round, BART and AC Transit bus out to the site (and reverse coming back).

I started at the memorial sculpture which was located in what was Kaiser Shipyard #2. The space features a walkway that's the length of a ship's keel pointing toward Golden Gate Bridge and includes a timeline in the path marking major pints in the war effort and quotes from the women who worked tirelessly toward the wartime needs.

Afterward was visit to the main historical site co-located with the Ford Assembly Plant (the largest plant on the west coast retooled for the war effort and a great example of 20th-century industrial architecture designed by architect Albert Kahn). The data about the massive manufacturing during that time was second only to the personal stories and quotes from the women who made personal sacrifices and, ultimately, challenged the antiquated ideas of what women could do when given the chance. The follow-up was postwar movements for social justice reforms for women, people of color, and unions.

The final part of this site was a 30 min walk to the Maritime Child Development Center which was opened to provide childcare for working families and various POI around Shipyard No. 3 (the SS Red Oak Victory only opens on Sunday so no tour there).

The sites I didn't get to visit were the Port Chicago/John Muir Historical Sites. I contacted Port Chicago to reserve access, but unfortunately, they are performing military exercises on site until October. Port Chicago Navel Magazine was the site of an incredible explosion that leveled the pier and surrounding town, sending debris, ordnance and a fireball over 2 miles high. All 320 men in the area died instantly and with 202 of them being African American it represented 15% of all African Amer. deaths in WWII. Their deaths and the subsequent charges of mutiny levied against Black soldiers refusing to work in unsafe work conditions days later, shed light on the racial inequalities, segregation and safety issues in the Navy.

 

[DetroitDave]

Aug 9th - USS Hornet and meet with old friend

A trolley and two buses brought me to Alameda and the USS Hornet Sea, Air, and Space Museum. I opted for the docent tour of the “Island”, Captain’s Bridge, navigation/Quartermaster, Sickbay, Pilot House, Radio Central, and Radar Room and lots of interior to explore.

Interesting notes:

The Hornet’s service record was known for WWII (specifically pivotal in the planning of Operation Downfall and the Battle of Okinawa), NASA’s Apollo 11 and Apollo 12 missions as recovery vessel for the astronauts.

--Two months into its construction, the carrier (originally designated Kearsarge) was renamed Hornet in honor of CV-8. With a hint and help from the docent, I was able to track down one of two remaining nameplates with the USS Kearsarge in navigation (I think the other way far deeper in the hull near the keel).

--In the radio room, they had working teletype, one which printed out the infamous “the world wonders” decoded message from Fleet Admiral Nimitz to Admiral Halsey (pic below) from the Battle of Leyte Gulf. Halsey fell for a ruse by the Imperial Japanese Navy and moved his naval forces northward, leaving the landing beaches and Admiral Kinkaid with reduced coverage. Halsey did not acknowledge Kincaid’s desperate calls. Nimitz sent the message for clarification on location and at the time random phrases/words were meant to be padding to prevent Japanese decryption and later removed; but Halsey’s radio officer left “the world wonders” phrase in (instead of removing it as irrelevant) so the message to Halsey whittled down read: “Where is, repeat, where is Task Force Thirty Four? The world wonders.” Halsey took as a personal affront and had an emotional outburst, swearing and throwing down his hat since it seemed to show Nimitz’s criticism of Halsey pursuing the decoy. Eventually, Halsey proceeded south but was too late to assist.

--From the mouths of every service person volunteering, the Essex-class Hornet was considered lucky, having been attacked 59 times, but never being hit by a bomb, torpedo, or kamikaze (there was one near-miss within 30 feet of the Island). However, extensive damage of 25ft of flight deck resulted from Typhoon Cobra and Halsey ordering his fleet into the storm.

--The operation of the dead reckoning table and sonobuoys are pretty interesting!!

 

[DetroitDave]

Aug 10th - CZ EMY-CHI (#6)


I thoroughly enjoyed the Oakland/Emeryville area, its cool breezes, friendly people, and ease of getting around on transit!

Part of tradition with my "Planes, Trains, Automobile" trips is picking up a unique or otherwise tasty dessert to take along. This time it was Nothing Bundt Cakes (cute name!). Flavors: Carrot cake, Red Velvet, and Lemon Raspberry, and a stop at Trader Joes and another market for Tillamook cheese for a snack and for the leg home without meal service!

Luckily, I always call and check my Amtrak schedule a couple months prior to and even in the weeks leading up to a trip (I also found a similar posts on here about this...). There was track work being performed during the time I'd be on the CZ, necessitating a delay in departure from EMY, as well as other changes down the line. So, CZ #6 departed at 12:10pm instead of 9:10am.

Boarding was smooth and officials grouped passengers based on ticket and had us line up before the train arrived.

I settled into my roomette and lunch was served quickly as we headed east toward the Sierra Nevada. Lunch: Monte Cristo and butter cake.
Then, a few hours into the trip around Emigrant Gap....awful, horrible news on our train. A passenger was found deceased. Details were slow to come but our train ended up stopping in a hilly, forested area. I spoke with my SCA after some time and learned a police investigation was to happen, as well as notification to the family, and coroner. Our train was stopped for about 3 hours.

News was eventually updated: it was fentanyl overdose of a young man. Apparently, he did not know how to operate the bathroom lock, so instead of his body remaining unnoticed for some time, an unfortunate passenger found him, but obviously not in time for anything to be done.

Since we were out in the middle of nowhere, the police and HAZMAT would rendezvous at next stop (Reno) for investigation and cleaning of the bathroom.

By the time we resumed, we were about 5 hrs behind and would end up in Reno during the night/early morning. It was just heartbreaking...everyone was on edge.

The rest of the trek went well. Dining service was good, too: caprese skewers, salmon over ancient grains, chardonnay (in a stemless glass ), and blueberry cobbler cheesecake for dinner, with interesting conversations with other passengers!

At the end of the night we passed through Truckee, CA which had some type of fair/music fest.

Rail nerd bonus: I managed to catch our train "knockdown" a signal and it's pretty tricky to spot, yet alone record while riding the train.

 

[DetroitDave]

Aug 11th - CZ

Day 2

Last night I spent some time in the Observation Car grabbing the final bits of daylight on the scenery speeding by. As it got darker, I went back to my cabin and doused the lights and listened to more of my audiobook for about an hour. I knew that timing for seeing most of California Zephyr's scenery was becoming less than ideal on this trip, but there was one event that lined up perfectly: the Perseid meteor shower! With the moon waning crescent, it was perfectly black outside my windows to see the shower off and on for the next couple of hours. For a while I listened to music, but eventually let the background sound of the railcars riding smoothly over the rails form the soundtrack to the celestial show.

Through Nevada and the beautiful states of Utah and Colorado (and caught the border sign on the rock face!), we move on. Amtrak winds around the Uintah and Ouray Reservation and through the topography bound by the canyons and valleys. Utah is next on my list to visit the their National Parks and Historical Sites since some of my friends have already visited - I cannot wait!

Breakfast: Amtrak Signature Railroad French Toast w/ pork sausage, apple juice and LOTS of coffee; sat with three other people all taking shorter legs of the route, ending in Salt Lake City and outside of Denver

Lunch: Loaded Baked Potato w/ chili (and had my second Nothing Bundt Cake - Red Velvet - back in my cabin); had a fabulous lunch with Tim and Wanda and later a woman named Sheryl joined us. Tim and I bonded over the love of rail travel and Wanda over baking recipes. While eating we spotted deer running up and back from the train in a daring way and several fields being mowed by a herd of goats.

Dinner: Mixed Green salad, Vegan Rigatoni Bolognese, and Lemon Cake with a Stella; ate with a charming Amish gentleman from Wisconsin (Enos or Ennis) and two of his young boys, one a baby. It was fun resurrecting and practicing what German I knew and learning from him Pennsylvania Dutch and differences in pronunciation.

Very full, rewarding day on the rails!

 

[DetroitDave]

Aug 12th - CZ arrival at CHI


Most of the daylight travel was through Iowa and Illinois. A relaxing smooth roll across plains and crossing of the mighty Mississippi (though I missed a chance to catch the train "knocking down" the bridge signal...it would have been a perfect shot!). Later I had railnerd redemption when we stopped at Galesburg, IL and I remembered it's a live camera for Virtual Rail Fan club. Another passenger who's on VRF and I gave our waves on camera and popped online the live chat!

Breakfast: Breakfast quesadilla w/ cheddar chicken sausage and side of grits, coffee and apple juice; ate with Warren from Benton Harbour, MI who taught health and cooking classes and was a personal chef. He was in the middle of writing his memoirs.

Lunch: Angus burger with that oh-so-sweet buttercake; sat with Constance and a woman and her granddaughter. As it turns out, the granddaughter and I nerded out on astronomy - she was watching the Perseid meteor shower the night before, too! We both compared stargazing apps! Constance had a recommendation for a great ice cream place, Leatherby's in California and in Salt Lake City. Jotted down!

Dinner: Due to the late run of the train (currently 6.5 hrs behind), they served a limited dinner. I had Chicken and sat with a man moving from San Franscisco to Chicago to take care of his ailing mother. I had my Lemon Raspberry Bundt back in my cabin as we were crossing the Mississippi River.

The experience on the California Zephyr ranks up there with the other long-distance routes I've taken...the scenery is pretty amazing and I didn't even have the prime viewing times! Also, my SCA, Bouchaib, was very friendly and attentive beyond measure.

Now the tricky business of arranging the last leg of my trip. Amtrak, of course, assisted with the missed connection. Once I entered Union Station in Chicago, a representative called over anyone who had a missed connection (many of us.) They already re-booked a ticket for tomorrow leaving at 9:30pm, connecting to a bus and arriving at my home station at 7:30am the following day. They also booked a suite at Swissotel and bus transport there and back tomorrow at 11am. The hotel is very nice! In the past they booked me right around the corner. I struck up random conversation with the same Amtrak rep which was friendly, then she mentioned there is a train leaving at 6:46 in the morning ...if I found my way back to the station early for that, I'm home by afternoon than the next day. I let her know I intended to do that and I'd let the bus driver know not to expect me in the morning at the hotel. It's 1am CDT...4 hrs sleep then a try for an early ticket. Crossing fingers!

 

[jiml]

Welcome back DD. Presuming the last installment is still to come, I've enjoyed your report (and the history lesson).

 

[Mystic River Dragon]

I second what jiml says. Fascinating trip, and I learned a lot! The meals look good, and you had some great meal companions.

I’m sorry about the sad episode all of you went through, but the rest of the trip sounds good except for the delays.

 

[DetroitDave]

Aug 13th - WOLVERINE CHI-DEA (350)
Homeward bound! I'm glad I napped plenty the day before on the train to get to the station at 5:30am and wait for the ticket office to open at 6 o'clock. There was a moderate line for the ticket office when I arrived. An Amish family was first in line and after getting their tickets rebooked...the agent said an audible "uh oh" and two pax let out a *gasp*. After another few minutes a few pax asked if something was wrong and that they had tickets they needed. The agent gave the bad news: they could not print any tickets, and now the system was down.

I'm glad I had the foresight to have the app already open. I immediately booked the 6:45am ticket, get a refund on the partial travel leg (already booked by Amtrak the night before, and my original tix was BC so I broke even), grab a quick breakfast upstairs and make it in line for the train. Wow...

If I had waited in line or kept the previous ticket, I'd still be waiting for my 9:30pm train and that was a LONG day I did not want to have. The rest of the journey was smooth with the train changing us over to bus in Battle Creek (due to track construction eastward) and I was home by 1pm.

Now I could get back into "work mode" and go over convention pics, autographs, collectibles, and memories!!

Overall, a safe, yet eventful, trip!

 

[DetroitDave]

Welcome back DD. Presuming the last installment is still to come, I've enjoyed your report (and the history lesson).

Oh thanks so much @jiml ! My only regret is not posting this right after the trip, but luckily I kept a travel journal. I love reading other peoples' travel reports!!

 

[OmahaRoad]

Hi DetroitDave, I'm new here but wanted to say how much I enjoyed reading your travel report on this trip! It must have been very unsettling to have that death on-board, and I am glad that was the most eventful part, overall.

Your pictures are great and really helped give me a better idea of how the CZ is, from scenery to food and more (I've not ridden it and am much more familiar with the EB). Just a positive and upbeat travelogue to read! Plus, although I'm not a real Trekkie, I do love Star Trek, so fun to see a fellow fan in the Amtrak world.

 

[Old MM]

Enjoyed your writing style and the way you just roll with the punches...you do such a good job of looking on the bright side... that sense of resilience probably helps you navigate many of the curve balls life throws at us!