Seaboard92
Engineer
Planning
For a work trip that involves familiarizing myself with multiple products you would think the plans would be pretty stable. But in all honesty they aren’t stable at all. The initial plan was for Malcolm and I to fly to Alaska ride the Alaska Railroad before taking VIA’s Skeena to Jasper. Then getting Rocky Mountaineer via BC Rail to the Canadian. But because of issues at my full time job as a vet tech. With us losing three of eight employees I was told I had to cut my trip short. Which basically left my trip as the Canadian.
Things ended up getting better at work and I was able to take more time which was right about when a friend tipped me off about the Tehachapi Reroute of the Coast Starlight. And on the same day I was invited to ride the Royal Canadian Pacific. So my plans significantly changed to have me flying to LAX instead of Portland. And getting off the Canadian at Winnipeg instead of Toronto.
The friend I was sharing my room with on the starlight backed out due to work so I had to find a backup and I found it in a different type of PV owner. So I made all sorts of new arrangements for the new trip.
The reason I’m titling it Crossing the Line is because I crossed the line between Amtrak corridor trains, and a national network, cross the national border line with Canada, the line between VIA long distance, and the line into luxury with the Royal Canadian Pacific.
Day 0: Packing at a sane hour
I know something that most of you familiar with my trip reports will be surprised by this. But I had my suitcase packed by 12 PM the day before departure instead of at one AM day of departure. Partially this was because I was stage managing Hello Dolly for a local community theater. So I had to take care of that which meant I didn’t return home till midnight day of departure.
Day 1: Knot’s Berry Farm and PTC issues.
So my dad started driving me to the Charlotte airport at 3 AM for my early morning Frontier flight from Charlotte, NC to Denver, CO. Again the one thing him and I can talk about is war strategy. This time specifically talking about the protests between the proud boys and anti fascists in Portland. And how if that developed into a hot situation how the army or National Guard would handle a close quarters urban fight in our country. What can I say my dad and I have interesting conversations. But I do think I’m the better strategist.
Once at the airport I checked my bag and went to security. Where the TSA managed to let someone’s cat go. Using someone’s belt from the luggage scanner I made a slip leash rapidly and caught the animal as it flew by. To a very relieved owner. Afterwards my flight to Denver on Scarlett the Tanger wasn’t bad. It might have been shorter than previous times I’ve flown the route. I had breakfast at McDonalds in DIA where they still have the Southern Style Chicken Biscuit which has disappeared from the south.
After that connection I took Skye the Blue Jay into Los Angeles where we arrived significantly early. I caught the fly away bus to Union Station instead of an Uber to my hotel. Mostly because Uber wanted $100 for the ride. And between Amtrak, Uber, and the Fly Away Bus I could get there for $30 instead. So I took the bus on to the station. Where I bought a ticket for the next Pacific Surfliner to depart south for Fullerton. The train was scheduled to depart at 12:33 PM but it also wasn’t running its full route due to track work.
On the same platform was another Surfliner set that sat there for the duration while a late running Southwest Chief idled two tracks over behind a BNSF GE. The train didn’t show up till 12:55 PM because they were using an equipment set that was late arriving from San Diego. Once that set arrived we were further delayed because of a locomotive issue. The train had a P42DC on one end and a Charger on the other end. By the time they fixed the engine issue and initialized PTC we left about an hour late.
The ride itself was nice I was in one of the Superliner coaches painted for the Surfliner and south we went. I detrained at Fullerton and caught an Uber for my hotel next to the park. Checked in and dropped my items off for six hours of park time. I rode the Silver Bullet first with an overly enthusiastic father. Who’s daughter looked at him with the “Dad get real look” and discussed photography with him. The ride it self was really nice.
The next ride I managed to ride was the river rapids with my phone and DSLR stowed in my camera bag with its rain shield partially deployed. Knot’s really has a fantastic river rapid attraction. I then texted the guy riding the Starlight with me to make sure he made his flight. As he often times misses flights and trains because it slips his mind. And with his convoluted routing of DTW-LAS on Spirit then Megabus.com to LAX overnight it behooved me to check.
After that I rode Hang Time with its 95 degree drop being unique. However the vertical chain lift felt like a dentist office chair. Fantastic ride that was worth the hour wait. After that ride I rode the Log Flume for which Knot’s is known for. Also a very high quality ride. Then I settled into their narrow gauge Railway for a loop around the park.
Afterwards I just rode random rides again. I did manage to hit my top two right before closing which were the water rides. After the park closed I walked Over to Mrs. Knots Chicken Dinner. For those who don’t know the story the amusement park was started to entertain people waiting for a table at this restaurant. So I felt I should see what all of the fuss was about. I’ve never spent that much for Fried Chicken before in my life. It was good and I had food for breakfast the other day between three breasts and twelve rolls.
Would I eat there again probably not. But was it worth it for the first time yes. Then I walked back to the hotel. Determined the pool water was too cold and went to bed by ten.
For a work trip that involves familiarizing myself with multiple products you would think the plans would be pretty stable. But in all honesty they aren’t stable at all. The initial plan was for Malcolm and I to fly to Alaska ride the Alaska Railroad before taking VIA’s Skeena to Jasper. Then getting Rocky Mountaineer via BC Rail to the Canadian. But because of issues at my full time job as a vet tech. With us losing three of eight employees I was told I had to cut my trip short. Which basically left my trip as the Canadian.
Things ended up getting better at work and I was able to take more time which was right about when a friend tipped me off about the Tehachapi Reroute of the Coast Starlight. And on the same day I was invited to ride the Royal Canadian Pacific. So my plans significantly changed to have me flying to LAX instead of Portland. And getting off the Canadian at Winnipeg instead of Toronto.
The friend I was sharing my room with on the starlight backed out due to work so I had to find a backup and I found it in a different type of PV owner. So I made all sorts of new arrangements for the new trip.
The reason I’m titling it Crossing the Line is because I crossed the line between Amtrak corridor trains, and a national network, cross the national border line with Canada, the line between VIA long distance, and the line into luxury with the Royal Canadian Pacific.
Day 0: Packing at a sane hour
I know something that most of you familiar with my trip reports will be surprised by this. But I had my suitcase packed by 12 PM the day before departure instead of at one AM day of departure. Partially this was because I was stage managing Hello Dolly for a local community theater. So I had to take care of that which meant I didn’t return home till midnight day of departure.
Day 1: Knot’s Berry Farm and PTC issues.
So my dad started driving me to the Charlotte airport at 3 AM for my early morning Frontier flight from Charlotte, NC to Denver, CO. Again the one thing him and I can talk about is war strategy. This time specifically talking about the protests between the proud boys and anti fascists in Portland. And how if that developed into a hot situation how the army or National Guard would handle a close quarters urban fight in our country. What can I say my dad and I have interesting conversations. But I do think I’m the better strategist.
Once at the airport I checked my bag and went to security. Where the TSA managed to let someone’s cat go. Using someone’s belt from the luggage scanner I made a slip leash rapidly and caught the animal as it flew by. To a very relieved owner. Afterwards my flight to Denver on Scarlett the Tanger wasn’t bad. It might have been shorter than previous times I’ve flown the route. I had breakfast at McDonalds in DIA where they still have the Southern Style Chicken Biscuit which has disappeared from the south.
After that connection I took Skye the Blue Jay into Los Angeles where we arrived significantly early. I caught the fly away bus to Union Station instead of an Uber to my hotel. Mostly because Uber wanted $100 for the ride. And between Amtrak, Uber, and the Fly Away Bus I could get there for $30 instead. So I took the bus on to the station. Where I bought a ticket for the next Pacific Surfliner to depart south for Fullerton. The train was scheduled to depart at 12:33 PM but it also wasn’t running its full route due to track work.
On the same platform was another Surfliner set that sat there for the duration while a late running Southwest Chief idled two tracks over behind a BNSF GE. The train didn’t show up till 12:55 PM because they were using an equipment set that was late arriving from San Diego. Once that set arrived we were further delayed because of a locomotive issue. The train had a P42DC on one end and a Charger on the other end. By the time they fixed the engine issue and initialized PTC we left about an hour late.
The ride itself was nice I was in one of the Superliner coaches painted for the Surfliner and south we went. I detrained at Fullerton and caught an Uber for my hotel next to the park. Checked in and dropped my items off for six hours of park time. I rode the Silver Bullet first with an overly enthusiastic father. Who’s daughter looked at him with the “Dad get real look” and discussed photography with him. The ride it self was really nice.
The next ride I managed to ride was the river rapids with my phone and DSLR stowed in my camera bag with its rain shield partially deployed. Knot’s really has a fantastic river rapid attraction. I then texted the guy riding the Starlight with me to make sure he made his flight. As he often times misses flights and trains because it slips his mind. And with his convoluted routing of DTW-LAS on Spirit then Megabus.com to LAX overnight it behooved me to check.
After that I rode Hang Time with its 95 degree drop being unique. However the vertical chain lift felt like a dentist office chair. Fantastic ride that was worth the hour wait. After that ride I rode the Log Flume for which Knot’s is known for. Also a very high quality ride. Then I settled into their narrow gauge Railway for a loop around the park.
Afterwards I just rode random rides again. I did manage to hit my top two right before closing which were the water rides. After the park closed I walked Over to Mrs. Knots Chicken Dinner. For those who don’t know the story the amusement park was started to entertain people waiting for a table at this restaurant. So I felt I should see what all of the fuss was about. I’ve never spent that much for Fried Chicken before in my life. It was good and I had food for breakfast the other day between three breasts and twelve rolls.
Would I eat there again probably not. But was it worth it for the first time yes. Then I walked back to the hotel. Determined the pool water was too cold and went to bed by ten.