Me and my Dad still decided to ski one-day only at Squaw Valley/Alpine Meadows and were very happy with the decision. The extreme draught in the Lake Tahoe area means that the only runs open are those that the ski area can blast with snow making. This equaled about 5 at Squaw Valley (4 lifts) and a few more and Alpine Meadows but we are impressed by the beauty and vastness of the ski areas and hope to return when there is actually snow. We end up skipping lunch on the mountain eating a snack at the ski-in ski-out Starbucks so we will be hungry for an early dinner in Truckee before our 5:40 Amtrak California Bus to Truckee. My Dad is flying home on JetBlue’s red-eye, I am spending two nights in Sacramento with a long San Francisco (via Stockton) day-trip AGR Quafecta planned for tomorrow. Since Amtrak California requires all bus trips to be booked with trains I book my Dad on a throwaway segment from Stockton to Lodi Tomorrow Morning, this seemed to be the cheapest option, and cheaper than calling Amtrak (San Joaquin special fares) to add this leg to our sleeper trip.
We end up finishing skiing (we did every run nearly twice) at about 2:40 as we return are skis. I check NextBus, notice the 2:44 bus is running about ten minutes late and we might be able to catch it. We dash back to the Squaw Valley Inn, reclaim are luggage and make the bus with about two minutes to spare. We get to the Trukee Depot a little before 3:30 and my Dad wants to make a phone call as I begin my photo essay. I immediately hear a train and head outside and realize its the Chicago-bound Zephyr #6 coming into the tiny six-foot long, one door, platform for its station stop. It’s running about 50 minutes late. I see tons of people getting on and off and manage to dash to the other side of the grade crossing north of the station where the light is better to get some photos.
I return to the station, finish my photo essay, find my Dad and we head to a branch new trendy taco restaurant for an early dinner. Eventually we and sit and wait inside the depot which is attached to a California Welcome Center tourist information place:
The bus arrives a few minutes early at 5:37 and the bus driver spends a good two minutes backing onto the curb seeming like a perfectionist. They’re two people on it from Reno/Sparks us and a guy who’s clearly a regular (briefly chatting with the driver) getting on. The bus driver pulls up the bus before getting up to go somewhere unusual . A Greyhound bus to Reno (and beyond) scheduled for 5:50 pulling ahead of us. We finally leave at 6:02 the lights completely off. The reading lights work. We get on I-80 for the 100 mile ride to Sacramento (from the sign).
We get off the highway and get to Colfax at 6:57. There is a train going through the grade-crossing as we pull up to the empty replica depot and platform.
Although we have left Truckee 20 minutes late were still a few minutes early into Colfax where I run off for a few nighttime photos! I’ve now gotten off and on the platform at every stop on the Zephyr between Provo and the end! We leave at 7:07, 7 minutes late. I will definitely write a page for Colfax and supplement it with photos I took out the windows of the Zephyr in daytime.
We continue down through the Sierras seeing signs for elevation 200 feet.
We pull into Auburn at 7:22,and make the ridiculous loop to turn around and get to our stop across from the Amtrak Terminal platform. We get to the stop at 7:27 and leave at 7:30, on time.
The bus gets back on I-80 as we pass the elevation 1000 feet sign, the brakes squeaking again.
We pull off for Rocklin stopping at 7:45 for no one alongside a bus going the other way to Auburn dropping off a few passengers.
The bus then takes local streets for a bit and then gets on I-80 for one exit to stop in Roseville. Looping around to the station I find really disorienting through the residential area around the station. We stop there at 7:58 for no one really much to my surprise, Roseville is a big place. We leave at 8:00, on time I’m surprised no one was getting on. There is one woman on a bench paying no attention to the bus.
8:13-Pass exit 94, a left exit, cars only “Light Rail Stations” it’s for the two exits that serve the end of the Sacramento Light Rail in the median of I-80. The median stays extremely wide and paved, designed for transit although the light rail curves off to ru down local streets.
We switch from I-80 to I-5 and arrive at 8:27, 23 minutes early, after the driver circles around in a turning loop to the bus bays at at the Sacramento Station.
We get off and I walk Dad to the yearest Yolobus stop that makes it basically to the Sacramento Airport in one stop. I leave him there and walk to the Sacramento HI that is actually really crowded with groups and some conventions in town, including some people playing Magic the Gathering. I get assigned a bed that turns out to be above a snorer.