Journey from California to Boston. 5 days on trains Updated on pg2

Only 15 hours till the bus comes, then the trains......

42!

Your first leg will be bus from Eureka to Emeryville? That's about 275 miles. Some pretty spectacular scenery coming down the 101, especially the section from about Garberville to Leggett. I think it's Richardson Grove where the road is two lanes and there are huge redwoods right up to the road.

My daughter just took the Amtrak from L.A. up the coast, through the Salinas Valley to Emeryville. That's just a one day trip. She loved it. Right down by the ocean for the first big chunk of the trip.

There used to be something called a Club Car on trains. Full bar. Things could get crazy on long rides. I could tell stories....

It's gonna be eureka to Martinez then back north to portland.

The routes have fancy names like coast starlight, empire builder, lakeshore limited... Idk it's just trains.

Hopefully there will be pretty women on this thing.

They do have an observation deck, I'm guessing that's where the cool people hangout?

People kind of stake out those seats too. I've heard that quite a few people from coach end up sleeping on the floor in the observation car overnight. If you have trouble sleeping sitting up, you may want to bring a large beach towel or small tarp (shower curtain?) to put on the floor to lay on. I'd bet that carpet is NASTY! But four to five nights is a long time to be sleeping in a seat.

:) Know what, I'm a wizard so I pack a cloak for travel... It's kind of all purpose and has the added benefit of shielding me from negative vibes or any of "dat ghey shit". Sigils. Yea I'm good to go!

Only thing now is to try and sleep a few hours

Next update will probably be once I get on the first connection bus....

You couldn't pay me to go to Boston.

have a nice trip, though, OP.

Ok I'm on the first bus going to san francisco, not much to report... lot of trees... talk to you guys soon! Not a ton of service up here in the redwoods

Whoohoo SHOW TIME

I was afraid you might miss the bus. I thought all that weed might make you over sleep.

I like this little ditty thread, what a great idea to post about ur travels on a train, waitin' on pics

asking for a pin just for the hell of it 'cause it's unique.
and besides, want to see those pics

Haha! No way I barely slept at all, too nervous. Just got to Martinez CA where the first train to Portland comes at 11pm pacific time. Had some dinner now waiting till 11pm Pacific for the train to portland

Not many good photo ops today but I keep looking for anything interesting.

Thru the humboldt and Sonoma county it was just redwoods then grape vineyards. Tmrw should be cool, see some new stuff.

For the pics it may be a couple days, soon as I have wifi and some actual pics to share haha

Why the hell would you want to go to either. Stop off halfway and be a person.

Hey, plato..

I've done to LA-to-Chicago thing twice, and also did the LA-to-Seattle thing once, R-T each time.

Had fun mostly, although a crying baby in '85 caused me to lose sleep in AZ and NM on the SW Chief (via coach).

I took 2 lbs of pistachios and a 6-pack of Coors with me back to Cali from Chicago.

I have a hard time sleeping in coach because the damn seats don't go far enough down to allow me to sleep (fully-reclined). So i slept in the Observation car from 12 midnight to 6 AM each morning (they wake you up at 6 AM there).

The food was expensive then in coach, but in 2003 I went to Seattle for $450 roundtrip (with 3 meals and wine n cheese) and had a sleeper car with my ski-buddy. Wayy better sleep compared to coach-sleeping which was $275 to Chicago in 1985.

Uh. Because, the midwest is terrifying -have you ever been there? Nothing but corn fields and plenty of places to get dissapeared and never heard from again. Big open spaces no oceans and only white people. Yeah I'm good thanks!

Good times! Empire builder right??
3 days of fun! Lol hey thanks for the reply my good bud

The scenery over Willamette Pass, past Odell Lake, and then down thru the tunnels past Oakridge and into Eugene, OR was pretty cool.

Too bad you couldn't find someone you know to get a sleeper berth with and get alot better sleep on that cross-country journey.

The food was okay in the diner car ... but that was in 2003 and 1985 and 1986. Wonder if that has changed today ... ?

In '85 I did the SW Chief to Chitown, and then took the CA Zephyr back home to Denver, SLC, and thru Las Vegas into LA.

Same in '86 i think.

In 2003 I did it all on the Coast Starlight to Portland, and then got on another train to Seattle and rented a car and headed into Canada from there (Vancouver, Whistler, Pemberton, etc).

You won't get the Seattle train, but will have to wait for the Empire Builder to arrive to take you to Chicago/Boston.

I've never ridden the Empire Builder myself, but my MT buddy has a few times, and he often complained of having to get a motel in Portland while waiting for the eastbound Empire Builder train.

Not sure if Amtrak's schedules are still fucked-up like that now...

are you stopping long in chicago?

How's it going? Tired yet?

I know I was and my trip was only one night! If it gets to be too much, ask the conductor if you can upgrade to a roomette for a night. Who knows - they might give you a break if they have a bunch of empties. It doesn't hurt to ask.

Hope all is well.

cute freight attendant selfie?

Hey guys just checkin in- yes I'm fricken extremely worn out...haven't slept much so far. Just boarded in Pee-land and just arrived at Vancouver... also, haven't got a chance to upload pics yet but might do that in Chicago. Gonna be honest... I'm apparently Shyte at photography.....


Assuming we remain on schedule the layover in Chitown will be 4.5 hrs.

(Definitely do not plan on staying a single minute longer!)

Thanks for the moral support folks, really appreciate you guys checkin in :)

I'm loving this thread, Plato.

Stay safe, have fun, and smoke a big blunt for us when you get to Beantown! (They don't really call it Beantown, but I do :)

I call it beantown... to be funny... you nailed it don't worry :) thanks wharf glad its somewhat entertaining for people

I know you're probably exhausted, but thanks for doing this thread. I get to live vicariously through somebody cool for 5 days. I must have missed the part about why you're going back east (except that NorCal wasn't so great). Do you have friends or family in New England?

I sincerely wish you the best. Take care, and good luck on your new journey, my friend.

Sheet, I think Trans Siberia soviet trains were faster