Day 4 was our "tourist" day. We enjoyed walking around San Francisco, but this entry talks more about getting there and back. Click below to see the entire posting.
Day four and we’re somewhere between Chico and Sacramento California. It’s about 6:30AM and we’re still about an hour behind schedule. We actually made up some of the time that we lost yesterday while going through the fog. I don’t remember the exact details but we were well over an hour late when I went to sleep last night.
Scenery is different today. Lots of agriculture along the way today… some vineyards, rice paddies, and other crops. For the most part, it’s about as flat as North Dakota on the right hand side of the train (the west side,) and there are some mountains in the distance on the other side. We’re moving along pretty good, staying right at 80 MPH. We should be able to make up a few more minutes before we get to Emeryville. I grabbed a cup I had with me, found my immersion heater and some oatmeal packets and went to the observation car and fixed some instant oatmeal for breakfast. It was still early. The other guys were still sleeping. There were only a few people in the observation car when I got there. That hot oatmeal tasted pretty good this morning. As a matter of fact, it was so good I fixed a second cup of it. Dennis and Kirk joined me about the time I finished the second cup of oatmeal. Kirk started off with some Pop-tarts. That boy is a real eating machine. He had to go downstairs (the sales area is in the lower level of the observation car) and pick up some additional donuts for his breakfast.
We arrived at Sacramento and we’re still about an hour late. Any time we had made up in the previous hour was lost again at Sacramento. The stop was not announced as a smoke break. As a matter of fact, I don’t think any of the stops we mad that morning were designated smoke stops. There must have been some problem with something or somebody because we were there several minutes longer than most stops. Eventually, we got underway again. Next stop, Davis. The depot at Davis was very characteristic of building from the era when California was settled. It resembled the Mexican style architecture. We continued south west along our route, speeding through a few small or medium towns. We noticed some ships on the left side of the train. As we got closer someone told us that it was the West Coast Mothball Fleet. We could tell that they were Navy ships. There must have been over fifty large ships and a bunch of smaller craft. A few minutes later we would be in Martinez, California. Martinez was the hometown of the “Yankee Clipper,” Joe DiMaggio. The street right next to the railroad depot was Joe DiMaggio Drive. We didn’t linger long. The next and final stop for us would be Emeryville, only 28 miles from Martinez. Almost immediately after pulling out of the station we were next to the channel that leads to the lake where the mothball fleet was. I had pretty much packed all of my stuff away and was ready for our arrival. I’m glad I had put everything away early because this segment was one of the nicest parts of the trip this morning. We traveled right next to the shore line and there was always something interesting around the next curve. The Bay Bridge, Golden Gate Bridge, and San Francisco were just some of the sights. But finally we reach Emeryville. We’re a little over an hour late. The Emeryville station was the most modern that we encountered on our entire trip. It was about four year old. Compare that to some of the stations that were over a hundred years old. We picked up or baggage and departed the train. It felt good to stretch a little. We went into the terminal and ask one of the agents for directions to our hotel.
Posted by john at June 9, 2006 11:57 PM