Semi-Continental Traveler

Mother Vel-DuRay is 3/4 of the way through her Chemo treatments, and (knock wood) feeling pretty good about things, so I have decided to take an inspection tour back to Iowa the week after next (I need to see Our Little Plumbing Project through to completion, and get a few other things done before I can easily leave town)

If all goes well, I shall be departing on Monday, February 5th via Frontier Airlines, and staying in Council Bluffs until the 18th or thereabouts, when I shall board the California Zephyr to San Francisco, there to meet The Colonel for a little "Roman Holiday" before heading back to Seattle via Alaska. Yes, it's a whirlwind tour, but I really should start thinking about getting a job one of these days. At that time, vacations will most likely become sparse.

The Zephyr is really quite a scenic train: I'll board in Omaha at 10:30pm or thereabouts, and wake up the next morning in Denver. From there, we have a stately climb up the face of the Rockies, before finally going through a tunnel and emerging in Winter Park. Several really fascinating canyons (and hours) later, we have a late evening arrival in Salt Lake City, and then spend the night crossing the more boring parts of Nevada, waking up east of Reno. We then collect our collective breath, and head over the Sierra Nevada’s, before coasting downhill into Sacramento, then the Bay Area.

Of course, Amtrak is at the mercy of the railroads that it runs on, and the poor Zephyr runs on the Brutish and Irresponsible Union Pacific from Denver to the Bay Area. They handle this train poorly, particularly after Salt Lake City, so God Only Knows when we shall actually arrive.

But that's fine with me: As you know, I like me a good train ride. The scenery, the various people who come and go, the miscellaneous camaraderie, etc, etc, etc, all make for a lively and relaxing time. The bar car doesn't hurt either.

But that's why I scheduled two nights in San Fran: If we arrive dreadfully late, we'll still have another day and night in "The City By The Bay" - Alcatraz, The Starlight Roof, Top of the Mark, Tonga Room, Daddy's, the list of diversions goes on and on!


btw, the lovely lady in the illustration at the top is a "zephyrette", which was a sort of hostess that the Burlington Road (the original operator of the Zephyr, and now part of the huge BNSF Railway) employed to make passengers more comfortable. Amtrak, unfortunately, doesn't have the means to offer that kind of service, but it's interesting to note how little things have changed since those days, at least according to article about a one of the ladies, which first appeared in the Saturday Evening Post, December 31, 1955. If you are as much of a drip as I am, you might find it interesting. She sounds just like the Colonel!