Yesterday, I had an excellent day seeing the tourist sites of Yosemite, the night not so good. We lack camping equipment and the Germans have been spending their trip arguing about sleeping in their car or not. We end up running into a few folks who they met in San Francisco (staying the Fisherman’s Wharf hostel a few days before me) they have a campsite and we head out their for the night. I sleep in the new friends car, they sleep in their car.
We nearly freeze that night, the temperature gets down to 32 degrees and I only have a light sweater since I wasn’t planning to go camping. Half frozen we drive off around 7:00am, their heading back north and were taking the northern way out of Yosemite so Stockton it is. We stop at In-n-Out when it opens at 10:30 for some food.
I get dropped off at 11:20 for my 11:50 train. My phone is dying, I go up to the ticket window with my ID, AGR card and credit card. The goal is to see if a ticket agent would regonize my Select+ status. He does not say anything and enters my middle name and last name as one name before I complained and he re-issues my ticket with my correct name. I assumed my AGR card would be swiped but no, my number was entered manually. I should have just used the Quick Track machine. I recognize an Amtrak employee directing the buses from my time at the Sacramento Station.
I see train #701 switching off in the distance from the BNSF Line to the UP Line to stop at the Stockton-ACE station and head up to Sacramento, its running a little bit late.
The agent handling checked baggage lets people check it up till nearly the trains arrival, including some bags cart side.
My train #714 arrives 10 minutes late at 11:57. It has a Superliner as the last car behind the locomotive so I head back their for its quietness.
We leave at 11:59 and the start of the trip is a bit of a blur as I try to get some blogging done but realize a nap is much more important. I totally zone out for Modesto and Denair-Turlock.
- 1:10 – Arrive Merced I get off for a quick walk to try and wake up (at least until another nap on the bus through the Grapevine where I can’t be productive). I walk to the other end of the train and reboard. We pull up for luggage serving briefly (using the lower-level of my Superliner) and leave. As we leave I see the next northbound train pass.
- 1:43 – Madera, the tiny platform hasn’t changed
- Our conductor clearly doesn’t want people spending time in the cafe car and makes an announcement that all the outlets, all the wifi, you-fi, my-fi are all in the coaches and not the cafe car. He’s made a similar announcement earlier.
- 2:07 – Fresno, we are told we have 4 minutes. The conductor makes an announcement again to basically not touch the seating in the cafe car (then what’s the point of it)
- 2:12 – The assistant conductor is by my seat and I hear “714 Highball” over her radio. He then does the table seats are for 3 or more spiel.
- 2:17 – Calwa Yard. I see a BNSF business train on a far track.
- 2:19 – Junkyard (cars) of the day
- 2:41 – Arrive Hanford on the platform farther away from the station house. It’s the only stop on the San Joaquin that can handle two trains at once. We pull up waiting for the next northbound to pass.
- 3:05 – stop at Corcoran
- 3:12 – I see a billboard for join water and high speed rail cuts.
- 3:41 – Leave Wasco, 30 minutes to Bakersfield.
- 3:49 – Shaftner with a nice old depot.
- 4:02 – As we enter Bakersfield we pass oil wells and a northbound train.
- 4:04 – Pass a bunch of oil horses as we come into Bakersfield. Then Donee freight yard, the BNSF team base. There is even a shelter over a former platform.
- 4:09 – We get the arrival announcements for buses 1 through 5 and their destinations. We arrive on the bus side platform, not the island. I’m on Bus 3 not going to LA Union Station I hope it’s less crowded. There is one disadvantage to the Superliner. It takes longer to get off since we have to funnel into the next California Car since the Superliner doors aren’t manually opened anywhere.
I find bus 3. My line isn’t moving, the bus driver isn’t competent with his phone. I bored the random white charter bus after a few photos (4:15). Legroom isn’t as good as my Amtrak buses on Monday or the San Francisco thruway buses. I sit on the left, generally more interesting on a bus for passing traffic but hear the luggage getting loaded. I always get nervous that my bag is going to be left bus side.
- 4:23 – the baggage cart visits us since Van Nuys offers checked luggage under my bus. I notice a few people seeing others off on the bus connecting to trains in LA. I see the baggage cart drive off empty. There is an Amtrak employee overseeing the careful orchestration of the bus connections.
- 4:28 – The driver boards, were off. I think the first to leave! He announces the stops with what I think are too long travel times. It is rush hour in LA though. The bus is about half-full, crowded but no stranger double-ups.
- 4:38 – On CA-99
- 4:54 – Heading south towards the southern end of the San Joaquin valley
- 5:38 – Start going down the Grapevine and go under the northbound lanes for opposite direction running with them off to the left.
- 5:41 – See a subdivision perched off in the distance.
- 5:42 – cross over the northbound lanes and become a normal highway again
- 5:47 – Magic Mountain and see its roller coasters
- 5:50 – The nearly empty Pasadena/Indio bus passes us. We get off the highway and wade our way through traffic to the Metrolink Station.
- 6:01 – Outside the Jan Hadt Metrolink Station, the downside to not taking a bus to Union Station. I’m the second stop.
We pass the historic station I never got to. Then were on 24, the Antelope Valley Freeway to corine down to the San Fernando Valley where Burbank is. We get in the HOV Lane.
At 6:26 I arrive across the street from the Metrolink Station, one other person gets off with me.
My ride to a friends house in the San Fernando Valley arrives a few minutes later, I have dinner their and crash quite early, exhausted from the day.