A review, and a few photos, from my recent trip to California and return. On Friday January 24th, I boarded a Pacific Crest Amtrak connector bus at Bend's Hawthorn Station. There are restrooms and a warm place to sit at the station. The regional bus platform is on the north side of the building. The bus no longer guarantees a connection with the Coast Starlight, so if you book as a through trip on Amtrak, they will deliver you to the station at Klamath Falls. The bus was a comfortable 32-passenger model, but had no wi-fi. I used phone data, and found the route is well covered by cellular service. There was one rest stop, at the Pilot truck stop in Chemult (same place they used to take you to wait for the train). I stopped at the Laughing Planet Cafe across the street from the bus stop, to pick up a "Bollywood Bowl" for the ride. This was a healthier, tastier alternative than the fare available at the truck stop.
The majority of passengers on my two trips on this bus were NOT connecting to the train. After a few stops around K Falls, the bus deposits the remainder of its passengers at KFS to wait for the train. The driver lives in Klamath Falls. He just parks the bus at the station, and goes home. I got on the train when it arrived, passed a restful night, and was pleased to awaken in the morning at Sacramento - right on time. The morning light going around the Bay was gorgeous. After breakfast, I prepared to alight at Oakland. The overpass in the photo below was closed. It was a quick ten-minute walk on surface roads and trails along the edge of the Bay to the San Francisco Ferry dock. Since I did not have the app, I paid for my round trip ticket by going up-front as soon as I boarded the ferry.
After a few days visiting friends and relatives in the Bay area, I returned via Golden Gate and San Francisco Bay ferries to the same dock, and proceeded south on the San Joaquins to Fresno, where I spent the night in order to do all my traveling by daylight. I've never been this way, so I wanted to make the most of it. The amount of agriculture along the way is just amazing. I think California produces 25% of the country's food.
The next day, I boarded a late morning San Joaquins to Bakersfield and then the connecting bus "over the Grapevine" on I-5. When you get off the train, the buses are all lined up by their side of the platform. You just look for your bus number, and verify the destination. Drivers are all standing by the front of their bus and helping everyone who needs it. I was interested to see that the recent rain on LA had been snow on the mountains, and that is still stuck in the shadows on the north slopes. As we descended the south side, and arrived at the edge of the city, I looked to my left and spotted the tail of the Hughes Fie that burned near Castaic. My bus stopped at a few other stations before it pulled up in front of Van Nuys, my destination.
A few days later, I began coming down with the same crud that was going around (everyone I saw claimed to have "just gotten over it"). I tried to "modify" my trip online, but was unable to figure out how to change the origin station from LAX to VNC. I called "Julie," asked for an "agent," and received my callback quite quickly. Less than 30 minutes after I started the process at 7am, I had a new ticket to leave Van Nuys at 10am. I didn't mind the $40 upcharge, because it was cheaper than staying just one more day.
The Van Nuys station is a delight! It is clean and bright, and there are restrooms. The staff (agent and security person) are super friendly. When the train leaves LAX, the agent loads up the passengers in his cart and takes everyone down the ramp, under the tracks, and up to the platform (you can walk, and I would next time). The trip back north was wonderful, because I had a roomette. I went to the diner for lunch, but for the first time in my Amtrak travels, I had the SCA bring my dinner to my room (salmon, no sauce. the chocolate dessert). At 8pm, he came to make up my bed and I slept for nine hours. Nothing like a train to rock you to a restful sleep! By morning, I was re-energized, ready for breakfast and my bus ride from K Falls back to BND.
I asked the bus driver about the protocol if the arriving train is late: there's plenty of padding built into the bus schedule for a late train, in fact my hour-late arrival just cut down the amount of time waiting in the station for the bus to leave but by no means eliminated it. He said if the train is more than three hours late, the bus will leave and Amtrak will get a taxi to ferry the passengers to points north (as well as west - there's another bus connecting to the Medford airport, and folks may have a plane to catch). So the final photo is heading north on a lightly-loaded Pacific Crest bus from Klamath Falls. Folks got off and on, but we averaged five passengers on the trip to Bend.
The majority of passengers on my two trips on this bus were NOT connecting to the train. After a few stops around K Falls, the bus deposits the remainder of its passengers at KFS to wait for the train. The driver lives in Klamath Falls. He just parks the bus at the station, and goes home. I got on the train when it arrived, passed a restful night, and was pleased to awaken in the morning at Sacramento - right on time. The morning light going around the Bay was gorgeous. After breakfast, I prepared to alight at Oakland. The overpass in the photo below was closed. It was a quick ten-minute walk on surface roads and trails along the edge of the Bay to the San Francisco Ferry dock. Since I did not have the app, I paid for my round trip ticket by going up-front as soon as I boarded the ferry.
After a few days visiting friends and relatives in the Bay area, I returned via Golden Gate and San Francisco Bay ferries to the same dock, and proceeded south on the San Joaquins to Fresno, where I spent the night in order to do all my traveling by daylight. I've never been this way, so I wanted to make the most of it. The amount of agriculture along the way is just amazing. I think California produces 25% of the country's food.
The next day, I boarded a late morning San Joaquins to Bakersfield and then the connecting bus "over the Grapevine" on I-5. When you get off the train, the buses are all lined up by their side of the platform. You just look for your bus number, and verify the destination. Drivers are all standing by the front of their bus and helping everyone who needs it. I was interested to see that the recent rain on LA had been snow on the mountains, and that is still stuck in the shadows on the north slopes. As we descended the south side, and arrived at the edge of the city, I looked to my left and spotted the tail of the Hughes Fie that burned near Castaic. My bus stopped at a few other stations before it pulled up in front of Van Nuys, my destination.
A few days later, I began coming down with the same crud that was going around (everyone I saw claimed to have "just gotten over it"). I tried to "modify" my trip online, but was unable to figure out how to change the origin station from LAX to VNC. I called "Julie," asked for an "agent," and received my callback quite quickly. Less than 30 minutes after I started the process at 7am, I had a new ticket to leave Van Nuys at 10am. I didn't mind the $40 upcharge, because it was cheaper than staying just one more day.
The Van Nuys station is a delight! It is clean and bright, and there are restrooms. The staff (agent and security person) are super friendly. When the train leaves LAX, the agent loads up the passengers in his cart and takes everyone down the ramp, under the tracks, and up to the platform (you can walk, and I would next time). The trip back north was wonderful, because I had a roomette. I went to the diner for lunch, but for the first time in my Amtrak travels, I had the SCA bring my dinner to my room (salmon, no sauce. the chocolate dessert). At 8pm, he came to make up my bed and I slept for nine hours. Nothing like a train to rock you to a restful sleep! By morning, I was re-energized, ready for breakfast and my bus ride from K Falls back to BND.
I asked the bus driver about the protocol if the arriving train is late: there's plenty of padding built into the bus schedule for a late train, in fact my hour-late arrival just cut down the amount of time waiting in the station for the bus to leave but by no means eliminated it. He said if the train is more than three hours late, the bus will leave and Amtrak will get a taxi to ferry the passengers to points north (as well as west - there's another bus connecting to the Medford airport, and folks may have a plane to catch). So the final photo is heading north on a lightly-loaded Pacific Crest bus from Klamath Falls. Folks got off and on, but we averaged five passengers on the trip to Bend.
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