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Finishing CA to an AGR Roomette

Day 1 on the Coast Starlight Pacific Parlour Car: Luxury Up the California Coast With Amtrak Provided Wine and Champaign

I get to LA and find the TRAX Lounge getting set up. I head over and don’t find wifi. I head back and sit on the ground outside Starbucks, the busy terminal moving all around me to upload some more blog posts. Then I go for a walk and return to TRAX around 9:00. The […]

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Finishing CA to an AGR Roomette

A Short Night Sleeping Better than in Coach on the Chief from Flagstaff to Los Angeles

I return to the Flagstaff Train Station at the stroke of 8:30 as I’ve checked that the trains late. The reason I returned at 8:30 is because the friendly ticket agent asked me to return at that time. She immediately says that as she expected the train has encountered some freight traffic and is running […]

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Finishing CA to an AGR Roomette

The Thruway Shuttle Van from the Phoenix Airport to Start My AGR Reward of 4 Nights to St. Paul

Introduction: I originally booked my AGR award only from Flagstaff to Columbus, Wisconsin (with the idea that I would get off in MSP, and my friend would get on in L.A.) I told the agent this and her response was get off the train wherever you want. The plan was to go back to Greyhound […]

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Finishing CA to an AGR Roomette

Greyhound Cancels a bus: A 4½ hour trip from Tucson to Phoenix

Yet again Greyhound is a Nightmare! I have a nice relaxing morning hanging out at the house of some friends, the perfect, post lack of sleep overnight train activity. At about 1:30 I get dropped off at the Greyhound station for the 2:00pm bus I booked yesterday getting the cheapest $13 fare by paying at 7/11. […]

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Finishing CA to an AGR Roomette

Stuck in the Worst Aslie Seat (Flashing my S+ Card does Nothing!) on the Sunset Limited to Tucson, noticing a non-Metrolink Route out of Los Angeles

The Red Line for the Short Ride to Union Station comes immediately and at 9:05 I head up to the Metro Center exit, it has tons of signs dividing entering and exit passengers through its locked faregates but no staff. I walk through the tunnel and find the desk in the lobby where coach passengers […]

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Finishing CA to an AGR Roomette

Stowaways on the Pacific Surfliner and Metrolink from San Diego to L.A. (with 2 stops) and doing the Expo Line

After two days attending the wedding up at Lake Arrowhead and then driving down to San Diego to attend a Padres Game. On Sunday in San Diego I am off to resume my major Amtrak adventure who’s main attraction would be four nights in sleepers on my AGR points from Phoenix, Arizona to St. Paul, […]

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Finishing CA to an AGR Roomette

The LA Metro to the Red, Blue to Green Lines to LAX to meet my Brother to Metrolink out to San Bernardino to a MARTA minibus up to Lake Arrowhead

The main reason for this trip is to attend a wedding of a cousin out in the Mountains just south of San Bernardino. my parents have gone out a day earlier, and my brother is arriving this morning. Being me I’ve figured out we can take Metrolink to San Bernardino to Mountain Area Regional Transit […]

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Finishing CA to an AGR Roomette

A Sleepy San Joaquin Ride from Stockton to Bakersfield to the Thruway Bus to Burbank Airport

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 […]

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Finishing CA to an AGR Roomette

A Mostly bus Trip to Auburn via Roseville and Rocklin, Finishing the Capital Corridor

I have two goals for my full day in Sacramento, going up to Auburn, the commuter oriented destination of the Capital Corridor with one train (and many buses) per day north of Sacramento and riding the new green line out to its terminus at 7th/Richards Township. I know I can finally take a morning really […]

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Finishing CA to an AGR Roomette

The Capital Corridor up to Sacramento from Berkeley via OKJ, OAC, and SUI

I spend the morning with the relative I’m staying with in the Berkeley Hills. We have a near catastrophe after her dryer fails and I’m stuck bringing damp laundry with me to Sacramento. The goal of the day is to get an Amtrak AGR points quafecta using the last two segments of my ticket from […]