# NOL/LAX/NOL - Great Trip



## Hytec (May 20, 2010)

Had a really enjoyable and relaxing round trip on the Sunset to attend my grandson's graduation and celebrate my 75th birthday, all on the same day.

In NOL I met Jim Hudson who was on his way to SAS from National Train Day in Philly. We enjoyed viewing the Huey Long Bridge over the Mississippi, and many other interesting sites through Bayou and Cajun Country. Then in HOS we met up with Varnish (Claude) who was on his way through LAX back home to Vancouver, BC. Great fun talking with them about their experiences and knowledge of Amtrak policies, procedures, and travel. Also we enjoyed laughing about Claude giving me a cardiac stress test by claiming he was scheduled to occupy my roomette on #1. Fortunately it turned out that his memory was becoming as faulty as mine already is..... :lol: Oh yeh, I also passed the stress test...just barely. 

On the way out, #1 was early into every station, making us wait up to an hour for each scheduled departure, then we were about 45 minutes early into LAX. On the other hand, #2 was 3 hours down into Yuma for a number of reasons, too confusing and detailed to discuss here. However, we were on schedule out of SAS, then 1-1/2 hours early into NOL....talk about excessive schedule padding. 

I had not been through the desert southwest since 1947 when I was 12, and obviously had forgotten how much same-ness there is in the ~1000 miles between west TX and southeast CA. Though it was interesting to see the little differences in vegetation and geology, but still it is miles and miles of nothing but miles and miles. Couple of things, however. I saw an antelope in west TX browsing about a hundred yards from the tracks. It looked up, appeared to say "Oh, it's just you", and went back to browsing. Also we picked up a couple of National Park Service folks in Del Rio (I think), and a volunteer from the local area. I was able to talk with the volunteer at length, which added interesting local color to the trip. Turns out he had never seen his property from the tracks and felt this was a good opportunity. The tracks went right through his property which turned out to be a 35,000 acre (  ) ranch on which he raised sheep. He said his small pastures were about 8000 acres each, which is unimaginable to this New Englander where BIG pastures are about 40 acres.

All in all it was a great round trip, made even better by our SCAs, Ken in 0130, and Brian in 0230, also Diego, a Trainee on his first trip and being mentored by Brian.


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## Bob Dylan (May 20, 2010)

Good report Hank!  (Also thanks for the PM with the details of the return trip snafus!)You did get two of the best SCAs in Brian and Ken, Ive had the pleasure of riding their cars and they are in my top 5 HOF SCAs! You sure are correct about the miles and miles of miles in the SW!If there was a trainee on the Sunset Amtrak must be gearing up for the daily CHI-LAX train to come, whenever that may be, probably next Spring!(This route has lots of Senior OBS, Ken and Brian are both oldtimers!)


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## Hytec (May 20, 2010)

jimhudson said:


> Good report Hank!  (Also thanks for the PM with the details of the return trip snafus!)You did get two of the best SCAs in Brian and Ken, Ive had the pleasure of riding their cars and they are in my top 5 HOF SCAs! You sure are correct about the miles and miles of miles in the SW!If there was a trainee on the Sunset Amtrak must be gearing up for the daily CHI-LAX train to come, whenever that may be, probably next Spring!(This route has lots of Senior OBS, Ken and Brian are both oldtimers!)


Jim, Brian said he was training Diego so that he (Brian) could retire in 2 years, but that was said with a smirk. It's possible that you are correct about training extra SCAs to staff daily trains in the spring....dunno?


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## Hytec (May 20, 2010)

I forgot to add that I had lunch at Phillipe's near LAX before boarding #2 on Sunday. The French Dip (lamb) was excellent. In fact, another of my grandson's relatives who was with us said it was the best French Dip (pork) she had ever tasted. She grew up in Germany and lived throughout Europe before coming to the States a few years ago, so I assume she knew what she was talking about. At any rate, thanks to all AU members who recommended Phillipe's, it was wonderful.


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