July 29, 2022
On the California Zephyr
Climbing up through the Sierras
I'm well early with my check in at Emeryville Amtrak station and so I have to wait a bit before boarding my train. A couple of other cyclists are also boarding and unlike on the Coast Starlight, my bike is stored at the other end of the train in an empty part of an economy car. Well away from my sleeper car. Rather than the closer baggage car.
Just before I flew out of Australia I was able to upgrade for an extra $200 to a sleeper car, which includes all meals. Which will be useful since I won't be in Glenwood Springs until lunchtime tomorrow, assuming the train is on time.
My roomette sleeper compartment is small but all I plan on doing is sleeping here, as most of my time I'm hoping to be in the observation car.
Initially the train follows the shoreline before heading inland through a flat landscape to Sacramento. A city I cycle through in 2014, so as we cross the Sacramento River I look out for the old heritage station.
Past Sacramento slowly we being to climb into the Sierras. In the meantime I go to have my first meal, but as I sit at an empty seat, I'm told off by dining staff, that I'm suppose to wait to be seated. Thankfully one of them takes pity on me and helps me with understanding how it all works. While fellow dinners ask me questions about visiting Australia.
While some Amtrak staff swap at certain stops, the dining staff do the 3 days from Chicago and have a night off at Emeryville before travelling all the way back to Chicago. So understandably they get tired. While my waiter explains that she lives in Mississippi and has to travel to Chicago, so they don't have much time at home.
When not in the dining car, all I do is spend the day watching the landscape from the observation car, while chatting to a few fellow travellers.
We are travelling on the first Transcontinental route, which I knew about from documentaries and TV shows. It's amazing to realise how much effort must have gone into building this line, as it curves its way up a mountain.
Once we go through a long tunnel under Donner Pass, we begin following the Truckee River all the way into Nevada.
After a brief stop in Reno, the landscape is a lot drier. As I eat my Salmon dinner, the sun is setting over an open dry landscape.
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