Accent on Travel

TED & SYLVIA BLISHAK'S UPDATES
ON AMTRAK, ROCKY MOUNTAINEER, AND VIA RAIL CANADA

Seattle to Klamath Falls

Note: While we are arriving home today, this series of articles will continue as we compare Rocky Mountaineer with VIA Rail Canada, and also compare VIA Rail with Amtrak – so stay tuned for the next few days.

A sunny Seattle morning finds us taxiing to the Amtrak station. We are using the same taxi company as last night, but there is something new this morning – an orange card announcing a fuel surcharge of $1.00 to be added to the meter. Gasoline is $3.19 here today.

The station shows no signs of further renovation since we were here last week. In fact, we’ve never actually seen anybody working on it, but perhaps they work after hours when the station is closed to the public. What they have done so far is amazing; the elaborate raised designs on the walls and ceiling, and the light fixtures, are going to take passengers back about a century in time once it is finished.

One great improvement here is the relocation of the baggage counter inside the station. One used to have to go outside and walk around the building to the left to enter a tiny and rustic lobby with a counter – not much fun when it was raining.

The station is absolutely mobbed with a line almost out the door. The Coast Starlight will be sold out today, including a tour group scheduled to board in Tacoma. Even with deferred maintenance and alarmingly late schedules, people want to ride this train! Passengers are becoming ever more patient with Amtrak’s problems and we can’t think of the last time we’ve heard a complaint as people’s expectations are lining up with reality.

We are ticketed for the 1132 Sleeper, Deluxe Bedroom A, which puts us as far away from the dining car as possible. This was the last bedroom available when we booked it last month, as the train has been sold out for some time.

We walk along past the sleepers. The car numbers are in a little window next to the door. The car attendant for the 1131 calls and beckons us to come over.

She helps us with luggage, and as we board, we notice that the bedrooms have new upholstery and new blue curtains, and other signs of recent touch-ups.

So it’s just been fixed up, but the number on the outside is stuck, and even when this car runs north as #14, it’s still going to say 1131 instead of 1432. We quickly notice another malfunction, but this one is welcome. We cannot hear the announcements at this end of the car, just a faint voice in the distance. This makes for a much quieter atmosphere, good for working, phoning clients, reading, and napping, but means that we are not hearing station stops or wine tasting or meal seating announced. Oh, Amtrak……..

Today is Monday, a work day, so we quickly set up the laptops and handle email and call for messages while we have a strong signal along the I-5 Corridor. Ted reminds Sylvia that once we leave Eugene, we will be digitally incommunicado for the rest of the run into Klamath Falls.

The new food service is still a curiosity, but Ted’s chicken and cheese hot sandwich, as well as Sylvia’s three-cheese quiche, are good. The side salad, however, is disappointing with only iceberg lettuce and a couple of slices of tomato. Portions are small enough that our waiter’s timeless question, “Did you leave room for dessert?” gets a unanimous yes. The generous portion of chocolate torte is wonderful, and our table companions enjoy their cheese cake. We are near Kelso when we hit the roughest stretch of track imaginable, and silverware and glasses start to rattle, while diners on the aisle grab the edge of the table so they won’t bounce off the seats.

After the smooth rails in Canada, we have become spoiled, but soon have our Groucho Marx bent-kneed strides polished up (the lower center of gravity really helps, and it’s easy to imagine oneself brandishing a cigar and making wisecracks which helps maintain the sense of humor so necessary on Amtrak). And we remember to always hold onto a wall, a chair, or a booth when moving through the rocking and jerking train.

We take turns napping, working, and writing this report, so miss the afternoon wine tasting in the Pacific Parlour Car.

The faint voice over the PA system suggests that there is a waitlist for dinner, and somehow nobody got to the far end of the faraway car we are in to take our reservation, so Sylvia goes to investigate and finds that a table has just become available.

She has the pot roast while Ted tries the Salisbury steak. On a scale of one to ten, they rate about a six or seven. But our waiter, who has worked on the Starlight for years and remembers us, says, “I’ve saved you couple of chocolate tortes [which easily rate a ten] since they are popular and going fast.”

Somehow, we have lost a bit of time by the time we reach Eugene. Sylvia decides to go outside to walk around a bit, and on the way, she can hear the PA.

“Well, we are pretty late, ladies and gentlemen, but it could have been worse – much worse -- without some careful and creative conductoring,” points out the conductor. This gets a chuckle, as everyone knows that the timekeeping is out of Amtrak’s hands and is dictated by the Amtrak-unfriendly Union Pacific dispatcher in Omaha, who never misses a chance to put the Starlight into a siding.

The car attendant suggests that she can pull the sofa down so we can take a nap, which is a good suggestion after a long day. We get about three hours of sleep by the time we reach Klamath Falls.

And I lied when I said we’d be getting home today; it is actually 12:15 am on the 16th by the time we pull into Klamath Falls, 2 hours and 15 minutes late.

Our journey has ended, but not this journal. We’ll be posting some further tips and information on the trip within a couple of days.