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| A view of the beach somewhere north of Santa Barbara |
One thing I can say for my current unemployment: It has allowed me to take long trips via train. When I am working, I have a limited number of vacation hours, and I generally find I can't afford to spend 24+ hours in transportation. This is a shame, because I love the train.
Well, unemployment changes that. I recently took the train from Tucson, AZ to Sacramento, CA - a distance of about 900 miles and 25 hours. This is the second time in my adult life I took an overnight in coach-class Amtrak, the first being the Coast Starlight from Sacramento to Portland, a trip I plan on taking again in a month.
I enjoyed my overnight on the Texas Eagle much more than my previous overnight experience. I believe this is due in part to the time of departure, which was 8:30 pm, giving me a couple hours to acclimate to my surroundings. But mostly I think it is due to traveling alone, and having no one in the seat next to me. I was able to put the leg rests up and spread out pretty effectively. I got a few solid hours of sleep, and was pretty comfortable, all things considered.
The next day I rode the Coast Starlight from LA to Sacramento. This line is legendary, and I was thrilled to give it a look. I have to admit that the results were a little underwhelming. It is lovely to look out at the beach, and equally if not more beautiful to view the rolling hills between Monterey and the SF Bay area. I suppose I'm a little bitter that the observation car was always very full and I didn't always get a good seat. I am not much of a photographer, though there were others taking photographs, which I will comb the internet for.
I did have a nice dinner with some very interesting people. I appreciated this experience. I am not normally a social person, but everyone at the table was kind and had interesting stories to tell.
One final bit of information is that there wasn't a WiFi connection on the Coast Starlight. Given the 12 hour length of the Journey (plus another 1.5 hours for delay) I could really have used some Internet. Several of the hours were after dark (though none of the coastal parts). Having an internet connection really helps me feel at home, and the combination of the comfort of the train with access to the world wide web is a match made in heaven. I hope this is something Amtrak can improve.
I would ride both of these lines again, though I admit this is due in large part to my sentimental love of the train.
