Around the U.S. by Train – Final Part

I awaken the next morning just as the Coast Starlight begins slowing for its arrival in Sacramento. Propped up on an elbow, I peer out of my window as we roll past a homeless village – a dozen or more makeshift shelters fashioned from blue tarps, sheets of plastic and an old carpet. A few of the people in this miserable encampment are up and moving around, but no one looks up as we slowly pass by. A few minutes later, we arrive in California’s capital city.

The stop here is brief and we’re off again just a few minutes later, headed now into the Bay Area where the train stops in Emeryville and Amtrak buses take people across the bay into San Francisco. Today, however, Emeryville is gray and foggy and San Francisco is barely visible in the distance.

Underway again, the Coast Starlight dodges through non-stop light industrial areas, stopping in Oakland (above) and San Jose, then begins a long run down through an amazing stretch of farmland – great broad fields of strawberries, lettuce, broccoli, tomatoes and who knows what else. Oh, yes … artichokes. As we rattle through Castroville, a sign proclaims this town the Artichoke Capital of the World, so that must be what all the low green plants are in all these fields we’re passing.

Seated across from me at lunch today is a rather glamorous woman about 40 and her daughter. The woman is “very L.A.” which, as a matter of fact, is where they’re from. We start talking about travel and she begins a monologue about all the exotic places she has been … evidently a serious world traveler. Then again, maybe not … not when she tells me what she enjoyed most about Paris was her visit to the Bastille. Either she’s making that up or she’s a whole lot older than she looks. The Bastille, you see, was demolished in 1789.

By mid-afternoon, we’re winding our way slowly through a labyrinth of brown hills, twisting left, then right and at one point descending through a horseshoe curve. For a half minute or so, folks in the rear coaches, heading south, could stare out the window at us up front in the sleepers, heading north.

Descending down through these hills, we look down at the California Mens Colony, both a minimum and a medium-security prison. Immediate first impression? It’s big! Ten minutes later, we roll to a stop in San Luis Obispo which, in addition to the prison, is home to California Polytechnic State University.

Soon we’re running along the coast with the Pacific Ocean just off to our right, a bit gray today. We pass Vandenberg Air Force Base, where both military and civilian satellites have been launched. Hills behind the base are partly obscured by low-handing clouds and the very top of a giant gantry a mile or so inland from the train is blurred by mist.

An hour later, we reach our next station stop at Santa Barbara and from here it’s a three-hour run into Los Angeles. Thanks to Union Pacific giving priority to their freight trains, the Coast Starlight has had a pretty awful on-time record for the past year or so.

Happily, that has been improving and today we’re actually on time, coming to a stop with a sigh at Los Angeles Union Station just a few minutes past our scheduled arrival time of 9:00 p.m.

So I’m back where I started. In the past two weeks, I’ve traveled 8200 miles by train, had 20 meals in five dining cars, spent seven nights sleeping in my private roomettes … all on six different Amtrak trains. I’ve met and chatted with interesting people while gazing out at deserts and mountains, oceans and rivers, trailer parks, high-rise apartments and tar-paper shacks. It’s been a rewarding journey and once again I realize that the very best way to truly appreciate the size and scope of this country, the diversity of its landscapes and its people, is to see it all by train.

So whadaya say? Want to go ‘round again?