Sorry for the late continuation, I have been busy enjoying myself without technology. But as day 13 begins, I figure I better catch up.
After leaving Salem Oregon and Eugene Oregon, I took the Coast Starlight down to LAX. We were about 45 minutes late getting into the station, but that just cut my time waiting for the Surfliner. Red Caps were readily available and helpful right at train side. They wisk you off down the narrow ramp to the station and deliver you right where you need to be to wait for the Surfliner.
Surfliner left ontime and we got into SAN at the regular 12:40am time. Right in front of the station there were taxis lined up waiting to take us to hour hotels.
After 3 glorious days in San Deigo, soaking in the ocean views, the San Diego Zoo and Sea World, it was back on the Surfliner at 4pm on Friday. Note to self, NO NOT TAKE THE SURFLINER ON A FRIDAY AFTERNOON. It was packed, standing room only, luckily, being disabled I had a seat, but it was hot and very crowded. We got into LAX on time and again the Red Caps were there to assist.
One of the first people to board the Texas Eagle and with my lower level accommodations, it was a great quiet night of sleep. As we continued on, we had several freight train delays, but that did not put us too late into Tucson. Where there were two arrests. The first was a lady on our car that was smoking CRACK on the train and accidentally dropped her crack pipe on the floor and someone picked it up. It was still warm from use. The second was a man on a different coach that was smoking in the rest rooms.
Amtrak is very diligent when it comes to making sure the trains stay smoke free. After being about an hour late out of Tucson, the snack bar and diner remained close as the staff were all in briefings about the incidents. We arrived into San Antonio about 30 minutes late, having made up time. The split of the TE and the Sunset Limited went normally except for the "witch" who complained because there was no power, we had no air, no one told us we were splitting the train, it is abuse to leave us here with no bathrooms or power. Luckily, she was moved to a different car and we were done with her.
Because of track work between Dallas and Longview, we had to detrain in Fort Worth and board buses. There were three buses and all were crammed full. Very uncomfortable compaired to the train. Once back on the train, we were 45 minutes late getting out of Longview because one of the buses got lost. We have yet to make up that time and are expected to arrive in Chicago at 2:50 close to an hour late.
The car attendants that I had on almost every leg of my trip were wonderful, they went out of their way to assist in providing food, snacks, water, ice, etc. when needed. The lower level seats are wonderful for sleeping, no one walks thru the car and once the door is closed, you don't hear any noise unless one of your car mates gets up and goes out the door. I took the Zephyr in the regular coach, but realized quickly that the stairs were NOT doable with my knee. I swapped the rest of my seats to lower level with no issue or upfees to pay. All in all, the 15 day rail pass has been a wonderful way to ride the train and I will be doing it again several times this year.
Oh I almost forgot. Again last night I had the lamb shank and it was melt-in-your-mouth tender and delicious. I splurged and got the cheese cake for desert last night and it also was wonderful. All food from the diner and snack bar have been great except for the omlet with the mushy red pepper goop inside and undetectable cheese.