I've been spotted! The conductor stops by my seat and asks if my name is Mark Watson. At first I'm thinking.. Who would know my name on a train?! Well it's fellow TrainBoard member Kevin Anderson! It was pleasant to meet him. *shhh don't tell him about the two window pictures* :zip: :zip: (I really do need to stop doing that.. bad Mark!) :tb-embarrassed:
Made doubly beautiful when shot through a train window at speed. I envy you your trip, Mark, though not two nights in coach at my age.....:tb-wink:
Well, tell Kevin hi from all of us, following your journey Yep - a real nice one, though I'm still partial to the sunsets when I lived in the Berkeley hills, and we could see the Golden Gate Bridge out the front window.
Yeah, its been over ten years since I tried a stunt like that. Houston to LA and back. I would feel it a challenge for even my bones these days. I did do a one nighter from San Antonio to Houston about three years ago. That about did me in. My most recent trip on Amtrak was by coach but I did not spend the night on board. My last overnight train trip was in a fully restored antique sleeping car. That kind of spoils you.
Mark - I heard your train passing through Grand Junction today. Had I known you were on board I would have ran down the street to send you a friendly wave. Ben
No sooner did we stop in Provo and we were moving again! That entire stop could not have been any longer than 20 seconds!
Mark, When my wife and I first started going to Denver by train, we took a coach on #5 - probably about 1985. We knew we had to furnish our own food, so we picked up a big bucket of KFC and some chips in Galesburg Illinois. We got on the train, as I recollect, about 5PM. About 1030PM, several young guys came through our car, scrounging for food. Since we had pretty eaten up the KFC bucket, we gave up the cold, greasy chicken to them. They said they were maybe going to the lounge car and "howl with the coyotes"! About 1AM, the Conducter made an announcement something to this effect (I think it's pretty close to his exact words). "Some riders are smoking weed in the lounge car - we know who you are, and if you refuse to desist, the train will make an unscheduled stop at the next town, and you'll be escorted off the train." My wife and I looked at each other and howled with laughter. And the train did not stop. It brings back good memories, and now that it's over, you can laugh too.
So in case anyone was wondering why no updates today, last night I exited the train in Salt Lake City to visit a friend. Today we went up to the Canyons Ski Resort and spendt some time on the slopes. Tomorrow I'll be touring around SLC before reboarding train number 5 tomorrow night.
In an hour and a half the journey aboard the California Zephyr will continue. I had a great time skiing with an old fried yesterday and enjoyed the night life of Park City, home of the Sundance Film Festival! It just so happens that the festival starts this weekend! Unfortunately, I must return for the new semester otherwise I'd stay for the festival because one of the movies I worked on this past year is being premiered there! Today we went around Salt Lake City and explored the history.
So today's train arrived into Salt Lake City 45 minutes early. I'm boreded now and ready to go. We're just waiting on a few more passengers, but they made it sound like once they arrive, well take off.
My goodness. We're back up to speed and these rails are rough!! And I'm even in the center of the car. I can't imagine how annoying this is for those directly above the trucks. Hopefully we get some smoother rails soon!
