Trip Report: The Great “Rail” Journey of April 2008

by Ted & Sylvia Blishak

Day 5 of 26, Friday April 11, 2008

Little River to Oakland, CA

Coombs Cottage at the Little River Inn is that perfect little place that makes one wish to move in for a few days, or a few years.   But our next goal it to reach Oakland, CA, tonight, for at 730am the next morning the “Domes Down the Valley” trip would leave from the Amtrak Jack London Square Station.   An early start is required, as we still have 170 miles to go, and as you may recall, Sylvia wants to spend as little time on freeways as possible.  The drive down the Shoreline Highway presents a constantly changing vista of seascapes, forests, and meadows, if you don’t mind thousands of degrees of curvature.

Our Ford Expedition is a comfortable vehicle, though maybe not the ideal vehicle for such a journey.   Seating is high, with a good view ahead, and plenty of legroom. But its steering requires more diligence than that of our 2004 Ford F-150 pickup truck, its ride is not as smooth as I would have expected with its independent rear suspension, and it admits more road and wind noise into the cabin compared with the F-150.   Apparently the design features introduced into the 2004 truck were not carried over into the Expedition, like Quiet Steel in the dashboard, and thicker glass in the cabin.

Our drive takes us through open meadows and dairy farms until we reach Point Reyes Station, a bustling jumping off point for drivers to the north along the Shoreline Highway and southwest into Point Reyes National Seashore.   At Olema, we turn east on Francis Drake Boulevard,  which appears to lead directly onto the San Rafael Richmond Bridge with an easy shot to  downtown Oakland.   Fortunately, I had Microsoft Streets & Trips print out the complex directions from Sir Francisco Drake Blvd, to US 101, to I-580, to I-880, to I-980 (hmm, never heard of that one before) to 18th Street to Telegraph to Broadway to the Marriott Hotel, where we were returning our Hertz Rental.   Without those detailed instructions we could still be wandering around the East Bay, trapped in its perpetual traffic jams.

Hertz very efficiently checked us in and drove us and our carload of impedimenta to the Jack London Inn (not to be confused with The Inn at Jack London Square, a dump that we had stayed at some years ago).   As we waited to check in at the Jack London Inn, we learned that the person ahead of us had a reservation at the other Inn.  Perhaps he was the lucky one, for the appearance of the lobby of our Inn was somewhat depressing.  But I rationalized that all we needed was a clean comfortable room with air-conditioning for two short night stays.  After all Motel-6 and Super-8 provide rooms like this every night all across America, and for a lot less than the $90.00 we were paying here.

Thus it was very disappointing to find out upon entering our room that it was not clean and comfortable, nor did the A/C work.  They offered to change us to another room, but one which suffered the same deficiencies.   I asked Sylvia for a glass (actually a plastic cup) of ice, and then filled it with Kesslers bourbon.    I know that the only other choice at Jack London Square was the Waterfront Plaza, and I knew they were quite expensive, but I called them to find out they were offering a weekend special, city side rooms for $99.00 and waterside rooms for $129.00.   I booked two waterside rooms, checked out of the Jack London Inn, and were picked up by the Waterfront Plaza shuttle and transported to our new digs.   The rooms were clean and comfortable, with views of the marina, and had powerful A/C systems and king beds.

I quickly phoned my nephew, Greg, who was driving up from Templeton, CA, to join us, and advised him of the change of venue.  He and his wife Tonia arrived 30 minutes later, just in time to join us for complimentary wine and cheese in the lobby.

The weather in Oakland was balmy and we strolled over to Scott’s Seafood next door and enjoyed an excellent dinner on their outdoor deck.

Tomorrow we look forward to boarding former California Zephyr dome-lounge-observation sleeper, Silver Solarium, for a fast ride to Bakersfield and back.