Chasing Trucks

Today was Day 2 of my Amtrak adventure! I went to bed last night sometime before we reached Salt Lake City and woke up this morning shortly before reaching Reno. The bed in my sleeper cabin was comfortable but Amtrak trains are very bumpy and I couldn’t get the temperature quite right, so I didn’t have as good a night as I’d hoped, but I didn’t mind too much! Showering was also very interesting on a bumpy train!

Before breakfast I went to the observation car and watched the sunrise and some more beautiful scenery. On much of this journey we have been close to either I-70 or I-80 - both long distance highways crossing the US. So sometimes it felt if we were in a race with the trucks on their own long distance journeys. Amtrak trains are not known for speed compared with trains around the world but we normally WERE going faster than the trucks and cars.

I had both breakfast and lunch during today’s part of the journey and had some very pleasant conversations with other travellers. The rest of the time I enjoyed the scenery as we went through Nevada and California, crossing over the Sierras in California. We took a delay at one point when one of our locomotives failed and it was switched out with a freight locomotive. There was no way we’d get over the Sierras with only one.

There are some more scenes in my Extra photo. I’ve had so many people ask what the sleeping cabin was like so I’ve also included 2 views of my cabin - the chairs both before and after they were dropped down and made into a bed. There was also a top bunk that folded down if I had been travelling with someone. I was in the most basic sleeping cabin but there are others that are larger and have a toilet and shower - and more expensive, of course.

I finally reached San Francisco just before 530pm. I was very sad to leave the train. I’ve loved this trip so much and can’t wait to find another long distance train to go on. Once in the city I took the BART commuter train to the airport and by 9pm I was on a plane heading back to London. What a great adventure this has been!