End of Journey

The week of the convention was a busy one, sometimes too busy, as we had no time for seeing Portland on our own, thanks to arriving back from our excursions too late to go anywhere. The hotel was on the wrong side of the river, making it necessary to take the tram over to what I call the main part of town. We did do it one night so we could indulge in a dinner at McCormick & Schmitz on the river. It was nearly nine o'clock by the time we got there which made for a late dinner. Most of the excursion departures were correspondingly early so late night dining was not in order.

Some excursions were more interesting than others, either because of the destination or because of the equipment used to transport the riders. The trip to Wishram, Washington, (not a particularly historic or interesting destination) was outstanding because of the locomotives carrying the train, two very historic SP engines, a Daylight in brilliant orange and black and an SP&S in shiny black. It was a very long train and must have looked wonderful to chasers and people on the other side of the Columbia River. Our barbeque lunch at Wishram was an event in itself, quite marvelous as they handled so many people and never ran out of delicious barbeque, salad, dessert and liquid refreshment. There was another excursion that had a lunch as its end point but the ride wasn't as spectacular as the one to Wishram. Some of the private varnish accommodations we had were outstanding, one so-so. But I can honestly say it was overall a fine convention.

Returning home we rode the Empire Builder (noting new lounge car equipment) to Chicago where we caught the Lake Shore Ltd to New York for an overnight stay before taking the Silver Star back to Columbia. The last two sections were not very good, schedule wise. We should have been in New York about 3:30 but didn't get in until 7pm which shot my hopes for dining out somewhere special. We ended up dining in the hotel's restaurant and turning in early. The Star was a little late leaving New York the following morning and lost time all along the way, getting us in Columbia at 4:30am instead of midnight. Good thing we had our taxi waiting for us. Once in the house we just dropped everything and fell into bed.

More of the 9200 mile trip

It's so hard to understand why the administration persists in viewing rail travel or at least the major transcontinental portions of Amtrak as unproductive or that nobody rides these trains. When we went to lunch (before noon, shortly before arriving in Reno) we found it was already full and we had to leave our name on "the list". It meant a wait until 1:30. When we finally were called wouldn't you know our table companions were the non-stop laughing girl and her Dad.

The scenery from Truckee (Lake Tahoe) to Colfax was gorgeous. At one point the train was atop one ridge with a valley far, far below us, and we were traveling under a very slow order. The elevation was enough to kill Ron's hearing, something that is usually attributed to airplane flights. There was a brief stop at Colvas, elevation 2421 ft, 144 miles to San Francisdo--and it will take us 4 hours or so for us to get there. Eventually we were 2 hours late into Emeryville which didn't matter that much as it gave us plenty of time to find something to eat before our departure on the Coast Starlight at 10:12. The station and surroundings look very new but nothing like a restaurant in view. I asked a baggage handler if there was anything nearby and she said there was a food court on the other side of the tracks. Leaving our bags behind the ticket counter, we climbed the stairs to the bridge (elevator out of order) over the tracks and found a great mall with an international food court. We could have had Thai, Chinese, Indian, Vietnamese, any south of the border cuisine, straight American fast food--but we settled for some tasty fish and chips with a couple of beers. With a Borders book store right near by we stopped in for more stuff to read. Then it was back over the bridge to collect our bags---and got the bad news that the Starlight wouldn't arrive until 1:30 or 2 in the morning!!! How much more of this can we take?

Despite such a ridiculously late bedtime I was awake and up at 7:30; Ron was already up. Breakfast and some time in the parlor car lounge. We had an excellent view as we went around the Cantera (?) Loop where you can see the engines and the end of the train at the same time. Next came views of Mt. Shasta, equally spectacular. Got some good pictures, despite the windows. A news announcement said we'd be 5 hours late at Klamath Falls. At one point we passed the Los Angeles to Portland private varnish special off on a siding about 3/4 of an hour out of Dunsmuir. There were ten or more cars. If they follow us, they'll be even later into Portland.

We kept losing time all along the way as we had to pull over to sidings to let #11, heading south, or a local go by or get stuck behind a freight. Lunch and dinner ok, nothing remarkable, good table companions. When we finally got to Portland we collected our large green bag, shipped from Columbia, were met by a convention member and eventually were taken by the hotel bus to the Doubletree. It was 10:30 or later by the time we were in our room. We just showered and fell into bed!