Arrive in Los Angeles

We were early! We arrived at Union Station almost an hour early. This points out, again, one of our economic problems. No freight traffic. On the way in to LA, we passed an intermodal yard with hundreds and hundreds of empty cars for carrying containerized freight. Last time we made this journey, the yard was busy with containers being loaded and unloaded from rail cars.

Waiting for the Sunset Limited

We arrived in San Antonio at about 10 PM. Now, we had to wait for the Sunset Limited. Since there was no space available on the Texas Eagle coach car bound for Los Angeles, we had to wait in the San Antonio station waiting room. It is one of the most depressing railroad waiting rooms I have ever been in. It reminds me of a high school or community college lounge, replete with plastic-and-steel furniture and vending machines.

If my wife had been feeling well, this could have been fun, as the station is right near the entertainment district of San Antonio. We had plenty of time. The Sunset Limited does not leave until after 5 AM.

It's Time to Leave on Vacation

We headed to our nearest Amtrak station to catch the Texas Eagle. We stopped at the home of our part-time ranch hand and my wife's best friend, to pick her up. We also stopped at Subway to grab one of their "foot-long" sandwiches for us to split.

When we got to the station, we said our good-byes and my wife's best friend drove away in our truck. She would be keeping it for us while we were in California.

The train arrived only a few minutes late.

Unfortunately, because we could not reserve a roomette on the Texas Eagle, we were riding in coach until we reached San Antonio. There, we would transfer to the Sunset Limited and have a roomette for the rest of the journey to California.

Since my wife was not feeling well, riding in coach was not very pleasant. Although the seats are wide and very comfortable, she could not adjust her seat to be able to lay down, stretch out and go to sleep.

Vacation

We are actually taking a vacation!

I will try to post about our vacation. To get a good start, I will create a bunch of dummy entries, with the goal of filling them in later.