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Trip Report: April 23 to May 8, 2003
by Ted & Sylvia Blishak
TO PITTSBURGH AND GREENVILLE, SC
Arriving in Winnemucca: Thursday May 8, 2003
Our Amtrak trip ends here
We stayed up late last night to finish our next-to-last report. But the bonus was that we were able to set our watches back from 11 PM to 10 PM; Thursday morning we'd be back on Pacific Time. Traveling westbound is great if you've always wanted 25 hours in your day!
PS: Sylvia's comments on Amtrak's most scenic route, through Colorado aboard California Zephyr #5 on May 7:
There is so much unusual scenery here that it always seems new and fresh. I'll do my best to paint a word picture.
First, we zig-zagged up the verdant Front Range of the Rockies just west of Denver; at 49 miles we were near the summit of about 9000 feet, at the Moffat Tunnel, where unusual rock formations hinted at the name of these special mountains. To our right we could see where the old roadbed curves away from our route, climbing up another 2600 feet over Corona Pass, also called Rollins Pass, abandoned in 1928 when the tunnel was completed. The adventurer can still make it over the pass, partly by vehicle, the rest on foot or mountain bike, on the 32 mile route which the 6.2 mile tunnel bypassed.
We follow the Colorado River for many miles, including through the magnificent Glenwood Canyon. Rocky walls with strata layers of gray, tan, brick-red, and brown some with a conglomeration of rocks rounded smooth by a river, or the beaches of some ancient sea, eons ago rose up beside the tracks. Sometimes the strata was horizontal, but more often it bore evidence of mighty forces pushing up from under the ground; some of the layers are tilted in a vertical position.
Colors of the soil and the rock walls towering above us varied from olive green to sand to brilliant red, striped with various shadings. The rocks themselves assumed odd shapes and textures.
Geology is in progress all the time, and evidence of the many rock slides that had closed the track a couple of weeks ago were here. Many of them were being attended to by dozens of maintenance-of-way equipment and hardhats who stopped to wave as we passed.
END OF OUR FOURTH CONSECUTIVE NIGHT ON THE RAILS.
We set our alarm for 5:15 AM for scheduled detraining in Winnemucca at 6:01 Thursday morning. Although we'd been running late the night before, we couldn't be sure the Zephyr hadn't made up time.
We got dressed and our car attendant came by to announce that we were two hours behind schedule. While it was tempting to lie down and go back to sleep, Ted was excited by the prospect of seeing the Elko to Winnemucca scenery along the Humboldt River from the train, as this is usually covered after dark. So we walked through the dining car and found seats in the nearly-empty Sightseer Lounge.
The Ruby Mountains south of Elko, one of our favorite hiking spots, were covered with fresh snow and wreathed in clouds. Rain and hail squalls were all around us, and instead of getting lighter as the sun rose, it was getting darker by the minute.
To our left, Ted spotted an abandoned roadbed which curved along the base of the hills. Evidence of very old rock fills, cuts, and bridges led us to believe that this was the original Central Pacific route completed in 1869!
The dining car staff walked through and told us they'd be serving breakfast at 6:30. We asked if we'd have time to eat before Winnemucca.
"We'll serve you first," they promised, and we got extra-fast service from these now-familiar people. We finished and returned to Bedroom A. Phil, our attendant, had already carried all our bags downstairs. The conductor (a new face who had boarded at the last crew-change stop) appeared and asked if he could call a taxi for us.
What service! The taxi wasn't necessary, as we had left our Buick Roadmaster at the Quality Inn Model T Motel and Casino, and their van agreed to be waiting at the platform after a quick cell-phone call.
We detrained into a blizzard. The long Superliner stopped only long enough for us to get off, then whistled away towards sunny California.
The Buick's original Delco battery was dead, lasting only eight years. We called AAA, and it took them at least 15 minutes to get our engine started. By the time we got a new battery installed, picked up some picnic items for the drive home, and got a weather report on the conditions on the very lonesome road and its high mountain passes between Winnemucca and Klamath Falls ("snow, slush, carry chains as a precaution") it was time for Monday morning quarterbacking.
Should we have boarded the Coast Starlight in Klamath Falls and connected to the eastbound train, even though it would have taken an extra day? Should we have driven the Ford F-150 Lariat 4x4 instead of the Buick sedan? What about my promised Basque dinner? But then, who could have predicted a snowstorm in May?
It was time to eat, and two of Winnemucca's Basque restaurants were serving. We chose the San Fermin, where we had an excellent lunch and great service.
So Sylvia got the promised Basque meal after all, and even though it snowed lightly all the way home, it wasn't accumulating, except on the dreaded Doherty Slide, a shelf road dropping more than 2000 feet, without guardrails, down the face of a cliff which is used by hang gliders. But that was downhill, creeping at 20 mph in low range, and we didn't need to use our chains at all.
Sixteen days, wonderful family reunions, the exotic Hotel Hershey, eight nights in Amtrak sleepers, Rocky Mountain scenery, and as a bonus, the new Amtrak dining car menu. All in all, it was a fabulous trip! And much of its success was due to the upbeat morale and the friendly and efficient service of many Amtrak employees, working under the new administration of David Gunn.
