Truckin to Truckee

A guest post by my Bride (Originally posted by my Bride on Amtrak forums as our trip progressed.

Frequent friendly comments by readers have been excised):

Truckin’ to Truckee on the CZ
Just arrived at our hometown station (DWT) to catch the Lincoln Service northbound to
Chicago. This regional train is currently estimated to arrive 6 minutes late here, but will
arrive in Chicago 12 minutes early. More time for lunch before boarding the California
Zephyr!

Got a dumb text from Amtrak this morning, advising how to enter CUS from outside the
building. Irrelevant, since we will be arriving by train. I would prefer to be told how to get
Red Cap assistance from the Lincoln Service platform to the food court or the Metropolitan
Lounge.

Boarded the train a few minutes late. It had made good time from Pontiac, over the IL HSR
tracks. We are in a Venture business class car, being used as coach seating -much more
comfortable than coach had been on the Missouri River Runner 2 years ago! No one has
checked our ticket yet, however. And we weren’t able to get 2 seats together; single seats
across the aisle from each other, and with strangers in facing seats, was the best we could
do. Our carry on luggage is in the overhead rack, but a ways down from our current seats,
because the hubby had originally sat in a seat where another passenger had left her bag
under the seat in front of her. (Didn’t notice it until she returned to her seat and pointed it
out.)

Several passengers got off at Joliet, so we now have 2 seats facing each other, with a small
table in between, and our bags moved to the overhead rack above our seats. 1 more stop
before Chicago!

We have waited for 2 freight trains to get out of the way since Summit. Arrival in Chicago
has gone from 12 minutes early to 7 minutes late. Should hopefully still have plenty of time
for a food court lunch before boarding the CZ.

We finally got off the Lincoln Service train at about 11:55am. In the hour since, we had
Sbarro’s for lunch in the food court, and relied upon signage to find the Metropolitan
Lounge. (The food court map was useful, but the main station map was useless for figuring
out how to get from track side to the Metropolitan Lounge.) Lots of Old Order Amish? in the
lounge; don’t know if they will be on our train.
We were called to queue up for Train 5 at about 1:30PM. Lots of admonitions about “single
file line”. Claims that “it’s not that long a walk” underestimated the distance for “seasoned
citizens” like us, as we were both quite winded by the time we boarded.

Departure was on time at 2PM. We have 2 lower level roomettes across the aisle from each

other, close enough to pass stuff to each other without rising from our seats. Antoine is our

Colorado, which damaged its engine. Since they are already 11 hours behind, they get dibs

on Ottumwa’s single track.

The eastbound CZ just went by. I will be petitioning St. Christopher in our prayers tonight for

a safe journey for our train!

We moved from Central Time to Mountain Time while I got dressed this morning. We have

the older Superliner roomettes with the miniature closets, so my backpack and the hubby’s

duffle bag had to go in the luggage storage rack down the aisle. I thought I had packed light,

but I wish I could have shrunk the trip’s supplies down to daypack size!

Too warm for the blanket in bed, so that just covered my legs. Left one side of the window

curtains open, so I could see where we were if I was awake at stops.

We walked to the dining car for breakfast, which apparently had started at 6am, not 6:30.

We both ordered the French toast (hubby’s with bacon, mine with sausage). Forgot to take

a picture, but you’ve surely seen pictures of the Signature French Toast elsewhere! Backing

into the Denver station now at sunrise.

We arrived 40 minutes early to Denver, so there is a very long fresh air break here. We won’t

be leaving for another hour yet, so I tried connecting to Wi-Fi; might download another e-

book to my Fire tablet while we are here.

Lousy cell signal in the mountains, but lots to see: elk and moose herds, snow, and oodles

of tunnels. Currently at Winter Park, the highest elevation station on Amtrak.

No cell signal at all for a few hours in the Rockies. Took some pictures of the scenery for

Son#1 at the hubby’s request.

The patty melt I had ordered for lunch turned into a duplicate of the hubby’s artisan grilled

cheese sandwich! It still tasted good, though. On the eastbound CZ, I will have to try again

to get the Patty Melt, and the hubby will have to remember to order the grilled cheese

sandwich from the kids’ menu, because he doesn’t like ham.

We will try the dining car for supper tonight. Rest and food have allowed us to recover the

energy we were lacking yesterday, and the views should be great!

The dining car was quite crowded, but our tablemates were a lovely older couple from

Nebraska, with their very well behaved Maltipoo service dog. They were great

conversationalists throughout the meal. The hubby and I both had the salad, chicken

breast and cheesecake. (Sorry for no pictures of the food; it was just too crowded.) We got

dinner rolls, ice cubes for our sodas, and whipped cream on our desserts, all of which had

been missing from last night’s room service meal. An enjoyable meal overall!

We were the first passengers in the dining car for breakfast this morning. We watched the

sunrise at Winnemuca NV while we waited for our food. The hubby had a repeat of

yesterday’s French toast, while I tried the scrambled eggs, which came with potatoes and

bacon, but no croissant. An OK meal, although I make crispier bacon at home. (At least I

didn’t have to cook it today, though!)

The train had been running about an hour late, but made up some of that time by breakfast.

A good chance of on time arrival in Truckee today!

Arrived in Truckee pretty much on time. A short hike to the station/Welcome Center, which

had benches inside and free Truckee Visitors Guides in a rack on the street side of the

building. The 0.2 mile walk to the River Street Inn was a bit much for us, and we were quite

winded by the time we got there. The owners, however, are super, and let us check in

immediately. We are resting in our room, and will have lunch in the attached restaurant.

The hubby wants to chill in the room after lunch, but I plan to shop at a yarn store I spotted

across the street from the station.

The picture is of the view from our hotel room window. You can see the deck, and the

Truckee River beyond it.

(In response to questions about the altitude of Truckee, CA and the name of our hotel:

The River Street Inn staff claimed that Truckee is at approximately 6,000 feet. They warned

us to stay hydrated while we are here, to mitigate the adjustment to the high altitude.

The 1882 Bar and Grill is in the same building as the River Street Inn. We stayed in the inn

and ate a meal in the restaurant.

Had a nice long sleep in our room at the River Street Inn, and hot showers this morning. We

may have been the only guests at this B&B last night. A free Continental breakfast is

provided, and we will go downstairs for that in a couple of hours.

I found some luxury cotton blend yarn in the sale bin at the yarn store across the street

from the station yesterday afternoon, and started crocheting a shawl last night. Picked up

cold sandwiches and Cokes from a convenience store on the way back to the hotel, as we

were too full from lunch for a restaurant meal for dinner. Relaxing in our hotel room with

movies and Doctor Who on TV was a great way to spend the evening!

Breakfast was some very nice blueberry muffins and orange juice in the guest lounge at the

front of the River Street Inn. (We could have also had instant oatmeal and coffee brewed

from K-cups, had we wished.) We are currently planning to walk back to the train station

right after the westbound CZ leaves (assuming it’s as close to on time as it was yesterday),

as the station seems very quiet then. Lunch will probably be whatever we can find at one of

the gas station convenience stores nearby.

Change of lunch plans. The hubby had not realized just how close Jax on the Tracks was, so

we ate brunch there, and watched the westbound CZ go through from an outside table. I

had their house made corned beef hash way better than the canned supermarket version.

The eastbound CZ finally arrived at about 2:20pm. We were the only sleeping car

passengers boarding at Truckee, so they didn’t bother scanning our ticket (although I did

have it out). Our roomette had just been vacated by a passenger who got off the train at

Truckee, so we put our large bags in the downstairs rack while the attendant tidied the

room. Sleeping car attendant Ricardo has the roomette across from us, and told us to just

give him a holler if we need something, because the call button isn’t working.

Had to wait on a siding for a freight train to pass almost immediately after leaving Truckee,

and now we are backing up to get back on track.

We have just 1 roomette this time, but it is a newer Superliner, with a hanging bar instead of

a closet, and a little more room between the seats. Still only the one outlet, though, and my

4-port charger brick doesn’t fit, so we will have to take turns charging devices.

Unfortunately, the outlet in our roomette is loose, so the wall charger kept falling out.

Attendant Ricardo used a strip of duct tape to secure the charger to the outlet, which helps

a bit – but the tape has gotten loose once or twice. We are getting one device recharged at a

time, and it’s the phone’s turn next.

We had supper in the dining car as the train approached Winnemuca NV. (Sorry, no

pictures!) I tried the salmon (tasty) and the hubby had the vegetarian pasta primavera (a must miss for

him). Our table companion was a young woman from Reno on her way to visit nephews in

Denver, and we had a nice chat with her.

The hubby slept well sitting in his roomette seat (as he often does in chairs at home), but I

had a lousy night’s sleep, with a pillow under my head on one armrest, my drawstring

rucksack supporting my lower back, the hubby’s pillow either also supporting my back or

serving as a pillow substitute, and my feet on the floor, shifting occasionally to alleviate the

cramps in my knees. I will want a blanket tonight, whether the hubby wants the beds made

or not!

And the paper printout of our ticket fell out of my hoodie pocket sometime last night,

possibly at supper in the diner! The ticket is also in the Amtrak app on my phone,

fortunately, so as long as the phone is fully charged when we reach Chicago, we should be

OK.

I had the Continental breakfast this morning (no pictures, because the phone was

recharging), and it was more elaborate than the flex dining version I had on the Texas Eagle

last year. If I had a “doggy bag”, I would have taken most of my bowl of sliced strawberries

back to our room!

(In response to a question about why we didn’t have our roomette seats made up as a bed)

Because the hubby didn’t think he could climb into the top bunk. He also claimed that he

slept better sitting up in the roomette than he had lying down on the lower bunk on the

westbound CZ.

We ate lunch in our roomette, so we could enjoy the scenery in the Rockies this afternoon. I

finally got to try the patty melt, and it was delicious! We also got ice cubes for our sodas,

but no flex dining style dessert. (A couple of the Nutrigrain bars from our snack stash made

a reasonable substitute.) Dozed a bit more this afternoon. Running about 50 minutes late

currently; hopefully we can make up that time once we are out of the mountains.