# My Annual Fall Trip - The Return



## BeckysBarn (Dec 3, 2009)

11/29/2009

I gave my son the choice of taking me to the California Zephyr from SJC (San Jose, CA) station at 4am or EMY (Emeryville, CA) at 9am. Guess which he preferred? 

We arrived in plenty of time at EMY. I picked up my tickets at the QT. Even though I prefer to talk to a live agent face to face, the line had at least 30 peple. The train pulled up about 9:30 for boarding. I was greeted by William at car 0631. Found my room with no problem & returned outdoors to walk some more & take pictures. Tried making small talk with William, but he was not being as chatty as I.

This trip was fairly uneventful. So uneventful that I quit taking notes like I had on the way out. My notes are written on the time table.

We were either early or less than 10 minutes late until we got to Truckee, CA. Something about "meet & greet" (?) passengers had held us up. That caused no problems - by the time we reached Elko, NV we were 30 minutes ahead.

For lunch, I had the hamburger and ice cream - for lunch ice cream was the only desert choice.

Dinner consisted of steak, baked potato and key lime cake. Steak & cake were great. Baked potato was so well done, the skin was crispy.

I slept through SLC stop. But I had woken several times because I was cold. Not cold from touching a cold wall; the room was freezing (or at least that's the way it felt while half asleep) I adjusted the heat all the way up. William had given all his pax extra blankets. I had both blankets & even put my winter coat on top.

11/30/2009

After a breakfast of French Toast & pork sausage, I took a good look at the air conditioner vent. Guess what? Wide open & can't get the lever to move the louvers <sigh>. Having read through this forum for months (and months) I had my trusty duct tape wrapped ink pen. And I knew what the solution was:







(Yes, the duct tape is pink) Much, much better! Now I could lay in the bed, get out my small binoculars & read the route map!

FYI, the cold wall wasn't a problem on this train because the wall had upholstery / carpet.

I purchased a Garmin Nuvi 250 before I left CA. As expected, the train ran at about 70 - 80 mph when it could. At one point we were going 88! What a great toy. I didn't know what I'd been missing!

Lunch was pork stew over rice. Doesn't sound that great nor does it look very good, but it was very, very good. Like pork roast with a thick gravy over rice.

I suppose many of you know the old station at Grand Junction is for sale. I walked around & found some workmen on the street side. Asked if I could go in & take pictures. Yes!! What a wonderful building. I'm not sure what all will be left with the building. I looked like they were taking some of the benches out. The owner was there. The bank is about to foreclose & the building went on the auction block (Dec 2). I hope it has good, caring owners.

I sat down to dinner at 7:15, just before we arrived at DEN (Denver) 45 minutes early. (Lamb shank, mashed & veggies) While in DEN, we picked up an engine deadheading to CHI and an additional coach car. Naturally the power went out when they added the engine. We were eating in the dark. I jokingly asked if we could have some candles. Well, they came close. They broke out the glow sticks; putting one at each dining table. :lol:

We had lots of time at DEN; arrived early & left 13 minutes late.

We never did make up much of the lost time. Arriving at all other stations 15 - 30 minutes late.

12/01/2009

Breakfast - scrambled eggs & pork sausage

Lunch - grilled cheese with pesto - not bad.

I decided to get off at GBB (Galesburg, IL) rather than go to CHI then to SPI (Springfield, IL). Hubby picked me up & I was home probably before the train pulled into CUS.

This was an international train - Australian family here for business in Toledo, OH; Japanese couple & and English couple. Had dinner with an older couple (possibly mid-80s) who didn't like to fly & felt they should no longer drive to visit the "kids" I gave my 2010 time table to them.

The SCA, William, was like the stereotypical [insert ethnic background] mother. "I'll do this for you, but I'm gonna let you know how hard it is & you should feel guilty & grateful" He made the coffee, set up the rooms, had extra blankets, answered calls BUT he also let you know that he was doing his job & how hard it was. He also let you know he was off duty at 10:30pm 9:30pm

The real kicker was when some pax got on a day early. The train had left the station. Room 7 had been at lunch. Someone put their coats in #7. SCA was notified; he was scurrying trying to figure out who they belonged to. He was talking to Jesus (SCA in 0632) in the hall way. "Who were they? How did they get on? Were they coach pax?" At this time William was trying to get rooms set for daytime. Jesus said something I couldn't hear clearly, then William said "Tell them I only have 2 arms - not 10" :huh: The end of the story is William did not check the date on the new pax tickets. Luckily Room 12 was empty.

But, hey, that was the only bad thing on this trip - which wasn't horrible. We didn't have tainted water or get hit with a boulder!

Of course, the scenery was indescribable.

Cheers for the other OBS. Who makes the announcements for landmarks? This guy was great! As we approached Moffitt Tunnel he did the usual "sit tight for 10 minutes; don't move between cars", but also added that we would have some "scenic darkness"  While we are in the tunnel, he told this story:

"According to an old trainman, there is an energy vortex in the tunnel. To feel this energy, take a paper towel or a Kleenex; hold it on the window. Now rub it slowly in a clockwise motion. Do you feel the energy? Ooops! Sorry folks, just a little railroad humor to pass the time while going through the tunnel!" :lol:

I wish I had been in the SSL or coach to see how many were cleaning the windows! 

That's the trips for this year. I'm already devising ways to earn more points so I can have a bedroom next year.


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## Long Train Runnin' (Dec 3, 2009)

Glad you enjoyed your trip. When you say year do you mean until jan 1? :lol:


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## Bob Dylan (Dec 3, 2009)

Great report, thanks! Love the pink duct tape, how was taking a shower on this train, was the water hot, rest of the car warm or cold? Sounds like the SCA needs a vacation, the manifest must have frozen shut when he was boarding the new pax that were a day early! :lol:

Hope next year comes early for you, as the _traveler says it's always time for a trip!!


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## the_traveler (Dec 3, 2009)

Good report!

I hope you reported William!



> "I'll do this for you, but I'm gonna let you know how hard it is & you should feel guilty & grateful" He made the coffee, set up the rooms, had extra blankets, answered calls BUT he also let you know that he was doing his job & how hard it was.


I'd hate to tell him, but that's his *JOB* that he gets paid to do! 



Long Train Runnin said:


> When you say year do you mean until jan 1? :lol:


That's about 1 month too long for me - I couldn't survive that long! 

:lol:


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## pennyk (Dec 3, 2009)

Good report. Thanks. I, too, love the pink duct tape. Where did you buy it?


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## BeckysBarn (Dec 3, 2009)

Long Train Runnin said:


> Glad you enjoyed your trip. When you say year do you mean until jan 1? :lol:



Oh, I wish! No the next _planned_ trip will be next Thanksgiving


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## BeckysBarn (Dec 3, 2009)

pennyk said:


> Good report. Thanks. I, too, love the pink duct tape. Where did you buy it?


I'm not sure where I got it. Wally World or the hardware store. If you don't care for pink, I've seen several shades of green, red, blue, yellow & orange. I originally bought it to put on my black luggage to distinguish it from all the other black luggage on the airport carousel.


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## BeckysBarn (Dec 3, 2009)

jimhudson said:


> Great report, thanks! Love the pink duct tape, how was taking a shower on this train, was the water hot, rest of the car warm or cold? Sounds like the SCA needs a vacation, the manifest must have frozen shut when he was boarding the new pax that were a day early! :lol:
> Hope next year comes early for you, as the _traveler says it's always time for a trip!!


The shower was perfect - because I learned to take one during the longer stops. The water was hot. I heard others complain about their rooms being cold. Anyone I heard, I offered the duct tape solution. Some looked at me like I was nuts and/or defacing public property.  The rest were very greatful.


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## GG-1 (Dec 3, 2009)

BeckysBarn said:


> pennyk said:
> 
> 
> > Good report. Thanks. I, too, love the pink duct tape. Where did you buy it?
> ...


Aloha

When I worked the tour of Ice Capades we would buy a full year supply of all 16 colors from New York Hardware. They were within Walking distance of Madison Square Garden in 1976. Think the number of rolls we bought was 100 with multiple rolls of some colors. This is how we fixed small rips in the scenery during a performance until the flats or curtains could be repaired properly.

One Scenery piece that ripped so often got some of the duck tape sown on because this piece ripped almost every show in the same place. the following year after my tour the same piece of scenery had the patch still sown on and it was still flexible.

There is a book about 101 uses of duck tape, in theater there are at least 500 uses But I think a warning is in order, the cheep Duck tapes leave a residue behind, and may damage the surface they are applied to. The Cheap tape is usually shiny, while the good cloth tapes are usually flat, non reflective.

Unfortunately the only suppliers of the good stuff I know about, wont sell in quantities less than case quantities. If there is a theatrical supply house near you they frequently sell by rolls. In quantity the good stuff runs about 6 dollars and by the roll about 10 dollars.


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## Chi_Train_Fan (Dec 8, 2009)

I enjoyed your trip report and was interested by passengers boarding the CZ one day early. Thank you for sharing!


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