For our 15th Anniversary, we embarked on another cross-country trip. We decided to go to the Grand Canyon and the wife wanted to go back to California to a beach. Perfect, I thought. We rode the Califonia Zephyr and the Empire Builder last trip, we can ride the Southwest Chief and the Coast Starlight this trip.
Things went so smoothly last trip that I kind of had a feeling something would come along. Well, I didn't have to wait more than 15 minutes or so.
Day 1
We we boarding the Lakeshore Limited from Cleveland. It is scheduled to get in around 3:45 AM. I knew it was an hour down at Buffalo, so I wasn't in a hurry to get up there. We arrived around 3:55 and we asked the agent when he thought the train would be in. Before he could say "Any minute", I saw the headlights coming.
I was happy, but very surprised that it made up the time. We only had a few minutes to spare. So we boarded and took off. About 15 minutes later, I felt the train brake very hard. I was by the window and looked straight down, seeing headlights and a vehicle about a foot from the train. We stopped and the train staff got off to look around. Most people were sleeping and probably never woke up the whole time. I never felt a thing, so I thought maybe it was a close call. After 2 hours, it started to get light outside and we could see what happenned. We hit a pickup truck or an SUV. The front was perfect, the back was about 1 foot wide. It also ended up wedged under the car behind the one we were in. After the tow trucks came to yank it out and the police were done, we left after a nice 3 hour "layover". This is all I could find about it, it doesn't even mention that it was an Amtrak train. http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2013/03/train_rams_unoccupied_car_in_o.html
I guess they are too common to get much press anymore. Good thing we had a 5 hour layover in Chicago. We got to the lounge and had about a half hour before they started boarding for the Chief, heading to Flagstaff.
Day 2
This section of the trip was great. We had Cyndy as our SCA, and she was probably one of the best that we have had. By the time we got to Flagstaff, she was worn out, though. The train was pretty full, and lots of people wanted meals in their rooms. She was also helping in the dining car to serve. After seeing the great scenery, we arrived in Flagstaff a few minutes late (we had been early basically the whole day, though). We walked down to the motel and crashed.
Day 3
I went back to the station to the Hertz desk to get our car. The lady there was very stressed out. There were 3 or 4 other groups from the train there to get their cars, but they hadn't been brought up from the airport yet. She had one there that she let me have, since I got there first. I happily took it and got the luggage and checked out of the motel. We drove up to the Grand Canyon and spent the day up there. It was awesome, I can't even describe it, so I won't. After leaving, we drove on the section of Route 66 between Seligman and Kingman. We found a radio station playing oldies that we jammed out as we drove along. ^_^ There isn't much left, but it was still neat to try to picture what it used to look like. We got back on the highway and stopped for the night in Needles.
Day 4
We spent most of the day driving from Needles, CA to Oceanside, CA. I picked Oceanside because I didn't want to go all the way into San Diego and they were the only other station with checked baggage service. We actually liked it there, it was a beautiful beach and lots of things to look at. We walked out on the pier and ate at Ruby's. We had never heard of them before, but it was very good, like an old-time soda shop. (If you can't tell by now, we kind of like the old nostalgic kind of stuff). After eating and spending some time at the beach, we went back to the room.
Day 5
We had to turn the car in today, so we thought we would go do something. We went up to the Mission at San Juan Capistrano. It was very beautiful. The swallows had returned a day or two before we got there, so that was neat also. We walked around for a long time, but then eventually there were bus-loads of school kids and it became difficult to move around anymore. We drove back "home" and walked on the beach for a while. It was too cold to swim, but we at least stuck our feet in. We found some nice rocks and just listened to the waves. It came time to take the car back, so we packed up a bag to check home and took it with us. After dropping the car off, we were going to catch a bus back to the transit center (since the Sprinters are down right now). We had to wait about an hour for it to come back, since we just missed the previous one by about 2 minutes. So we got back to the transit center and checked our bag back to Cleveland. The agent was very nice and took it no problem. After one more look at the beach, we grabbed a bite at a Thai restaurant, I can't remember the name, but it was great. Then back to the room to pack and get ready to go bright and early in the morning.
Day 6
I think yesterday was the day my wife was most looking forward to, but today is the day that I am most looking forward to. Our day on the Coast Starlight. :wub: We boarded the Surfliner in Oceanside and headed for LA. It was a pretty un-eventful trip up. When we got to the station, my wife wanted to go to the check-in line for the Starlight. I said No, we have our own lounge here somewhere. It took me a few minutes to find it, clear in the back, but we made our way back there. She should know by now that I am always right. When we went to board the Starlight, I was glad to see a PPC on it, the Santa Lucia Highlands. That would be my home for the next 12 hours. We had both meals in there, and sat in the cushy chairs. We watched part of a movie, but we had to get off in Emeryville for the next day's adventure. I booked a room at the Hyatt, so we wouldn't have to walk so far. Wow, that is probably the best room I have ever stayed in. Too bad we only had it long enough to sleep in.
Day 7
Crossed the bridge and boarded the California Zephyr, heading for home. My wife wanted to "consolidate" all of our supplements and medications into a smaller container. After taking my multi, she asked if I wanted a Vitamin D. Sure, I'll have one, and she had one too. We slept through most of day 7. After getting home, she found out that those were not Vitamin D, but melatonin. So much for day 7. :unsure:
Day 8
This was probably the coolest day the I had. The scenery was beautiful. We had a nice SCA and the Diner staff was nice. We were in the last sleeper on the train, and the roomettes were towards the back. We had Room 3, so we had a nice view of the railfan window. Coming into Denver, we heard the conductor come to the back door and open it. He was guiding the train during it's backup into the station. Another guy and I went back there by him, staying back a little at first, but he invited us right up to the door. He was communicating with the Engineer, telling him how far was clear, etc. Then he asked if we wanted to blow the whistle. Umm, yeah. :lol: I didn't know that hose on the back of the train was actually used as a whistle during backups. I though it was just hanging there to keep it out of the way. So he let everyone that wanted to come back there blow the whistle. The people that work the platform probably wondered what in the world was going on. :wacko: The Conductor had to hop out to manually throw a switch, so we stayed at the back door while he guided it from the platform. Once we parked, he got down to business, though. There was word that we might have to switch out an engine, so we got out of the way on the platform and got some fresh air. They we able to repair whatever was wrong, so we left soon after. I mentioned to our SCA about how nice the Conductor was and she said that a lot on the Zephyr route are nice, but most wouldn't have let us do that stuff. So that is a day to remember for me.
Day 9
We got into Chicago about 1 1/2 hours down, so we only had 1/2 hour before boarding of the Capitol. I saw a flyer in the lounge about double points. I was hoping it was an automatic enrollment, instead of having to sign up, since we wouldn't be home until tomorrow and we had already done basically our whole trip. We got on the Cap and headed to dinner. It was very nice. After that, we headed to our room and tried to sleep a little bit. We were ready to get off the train, my wife especially. She enjoyed the trip, she was just ready to get home and back to normal. We got back to Cleveland about 1 hour late, got our checked bag, and headed home. We spent the next day catching up on sleep.
Everything didn't work out perfectly, but it worked out. We had some awesome experiences. I registered us with the double points promo, and only lost out on coach tickets from Cleveland-Toledo. All the other trips posted the day after I registered. And our Hertz points were there. I signed up through AGR and they gave us 200 points per day, along with the discount. So even though there were a few bumps in the road, it was a memorable trip.
Things went so smoothly last trip that I kind of had a feeling something would come along. Well, I didn't have to wait more than 15 minutes or so.
Day 1
We we boarding the Lakeshore Limited from Cleveland. It is scheduled to get in around 3:45 AM. I knew it was an hour down at Buffalo, so I wasn't in a hurry to get up there. We arrived around 3:55 and we asked the agent when he thought the train would be in. Before he could say "Any minute", I saw the headlights coming.
I was happy, but very surprised that it made up the time. We only had a few minutes to spare. So we boarded and took off. About 15 minutes later, I felt the train brake very hard. I was by the window and looked straight down, seeing headlights and a vehicle about a foot from the train. We stopped and the train staff got off to look around. Most people were sleeping and probably never woke up the whole time. I never felt a thing, so I thought maybe it was a close call. After 2 hours, it started to get light outside and we could see what happenned. We hit a pickup truck or an SUV. The front was perfect, the back was about 1 foot wide. It also ended up wedged under the car behind the one we were in. After the tow trucks came to yank it out and the police were done, we left after a nice 3 hour "layover". This is all I could find about it, it doesn't even mention that it was an Amtrak train. http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2013/03/train_rams_unoccupied_car_in_o.htmlI guess they are too common to get much press anymore. Good thing we had a 5 hour layover in Chicago. We got to the lounge and had about a half hour before they started boarding for the Chief, heading to Flagstaff.
Day 2
This section of the trip was great. We had Cyndy as our SCA, and she was probably one of the best that we have had. By the time we got to Flagstaff, she was worn out, though. The train was pretty full, and lots of people wanted meals in their rooms. She was also helping in the dining car to serve. After seeing the great scenery, we arrived in Flagstaff a few minutes late (we had been early basically the whole day, though). We walked down to the motel and crashed.
Day 3
I went back to the station to the Hertz desk to get our car. The lady there was very stressed out. There were 3 or 4 other groups from the train there to get their cars, but they hadn't been brought up from the airport yet. She had one there that she let me have, since I got there first. I happily took it and got the luggage and checked out of the motel. We drove up to the Grand Canyon and spent the day up there. It was awesome, I can't even describe it, so I won't. After leaving, we drove on the section of Route 66 between Seligman and Kingman. We found a radio station playing oldies that we jammed out as we drove along. ^_^ There isn't much left, but it was still neat to try to picture what it used to look like. We got back on the highway and stopped for the night in Needles.
Day 4
We spent most of the day driving from Needles, CA to Oceanside, CA. I picked Oceanside because I didn't want to go all the way into San Diego and they were the only other station with checked baggage service. We actually liked it there, it was a beautiful beach and lots of things to look at. We walked out on the pier and ate at Ruby's. We had never heard of them before, but it was very good, like an old-time soda shop. (If you can't tell by now, we kind of like the old nostalgic kind of stuff). After eating and spending some time at the beach, we went back to the room.
Day 5
We had to turn the car in today, so we thought we would go do something. We went up to the Mission at San Juan Capistrano. It was very beautiful. The swallows had returned a day or two before we got there, so that was neat also. We walked around for a long time, but then eventually there were bus-loads of school kids and it became difficult to move around anymore. We drove back "home" and walked on the beach for a while. It was too cold to swim, but we at least stuck our feet in. We found some nice rocks and just listened to the waves. It came time to take the car back, so we packed up a bag to check home and took it with us. After dropping the car off, we were going to catch a bus back to the transit center (since the Sprinters are down right now). We had to wait about an hour for it to come back, since we just missed the previous one by about 2 minutes. So we got back to the transit center and checked our bag back to Cleveland. The agent was very nice and took it no problem. After one more look at the beach, we grabbed a bite at a Thai restaurant, I can't remember the name, but it was great. Then back to the room to pack and get ready to go bright and early in the morning.
Day 6
I think yesterday was the day my wife was most looking forward to, but today is the day that I am most looking forward to. Our day on the Coast Starlight. :wub: We boarded the Surfliner in Oceanside and headed for LA. It was a pretty un-eventful trip up. When we got to the station, my wife wanted to go to the check-in line for the Starlight. I said No, we have our own lounge here somewhere. It took me a few minutes to find it, clear in the back, but we made our way back there. She should know by now that I am always right.
When we went to board the Starlight, I was glad to see a PPC on it, the Santa Lucia Highlands. That would be my home for the next 12 hours. We had both meals in there, and sat in the cushy chairs. We watched part of a movie, but we had to get off in Emeryville for the next day's adventure. I booked a room at the Hyatt, so we wouldn't have to walk so far. Wow, that is probably the best room I have ever stayed in. Too bad we only had it long enough to sleep in.Day 7
Crossed the bridge and boarded the California Zephyr, heading for home. My wife wanted to "consolidate" all of our supplements and medications into a smaller container. After taking my multi, she asked if I wanted a Vitamin D. Sure, I'll have one, and she had one too. We slept through most of day 7. After getting home, she found out that those were not Vitamin D, but melatonin. So much for day 7. :unsure:
Day 8
This was probably the coolest day the I had. The scenery was beautiful. We had a nice SCA and the Diner staff was nice. We were in the last sleeper on the train, and the roomettes were towards the back. We had Room 3, so we had a nice view of the railfan window. Coming into Denver, we heard the conductor come to the back door and open it. He was guiding the train during it's backup into the station. Another guy and I went back there by him, staying back a little at first, but he invited us right up to the door. He was communicating with the Engineer, telling him how far was clear, etc. Then he asked if we wanted to blow the whistle. Umm, yeah. :lol: I didn't know that hose on the back of the train was actually used as a whistle during backups. I though it was just hanging there to keep it out of the way. So he let everyone that wanted to come back there blow the whistle. The people that work the platform probably wondered what in the world was going on. :wacko: The Conductor had to hop out to manually throw a switch, so we stayed at the back door while he guided it from the platform. Once we parked, he got down to business, though. There was word that we might have to switch out an engine, so we got out of the way on the platform and got some fresh air. They we able to repair whatever was wrong, so we left soon after. I mentioned to our SCA about how nice the Conductor was and she said that a lot on the Zephyr route are nice, but most wouldn't have let us do that stuff. So that is a day to remember for me.
Day 9
We got into Chicago about 1 1/2 hours down, so we only had 1/2 hour before boarding of the Capitol. I saw a flyer in the lounge about double points. I was hoping it was an automatic enrollment, instead of having to sign up, since we wouldn't be home until tomorrow and we had already done basically our whole trip.
We got on the Cap and headed to dinner. It was very nice. After that, we headed to our room and tried to sleep a little bit. We were ready to get off the train, my wife especially. She enjoyed the trip, she was just ready to get home and back to normal. We got back to Cleveland about 1 hour late, got our checked bag, and headed home. We spent the next day catching up on sleep.Everything didn't work out perfectly, but it worked out. We had some awesome experiences. I registered us with the double points promo, and only lost out on coach tickets from Cleveland-Toledo. All the other trips posted the day after I registered. And our Hertz points were there. I signed up through AGR and they gave us 200 points per day, along with the discount. So even though there were a few bumps in the road, it was a memorable trip.
