So - my trip is over. I started off by taking BART to the Richmond station. I left really early and thought maybe I could catch the earlier Capitol Corridor train to Sac. 522 was a little bit late, but I could see it leaving as soon as I got on the BART platform. I ended up waiting with a few people on the Amtrak platform, but most were going on southbound CC or on the SJ. 524 was also running a bit late, but we got into Sac on schedule.
The bus ride was pretty smooth although the driver said it was a different bus and that it didn't have WiFi. It's not an Amtrak-marked bus but a contracted service. I think we had about 16 people. Also the outlets didn't work, but that was another matter. Kind of cramped, but it had seatbelts. I was trying to watch the WWC US-France soccer match and burned through some of my cellular data watching it. When I got in I just went to Harvey's and watched it from their pizza place/sports bar which had some cheap specials.
I tried checking in early, where they said that they didn't have my room ready (I booked the 8 bunk dorm). I didn't quite understand how it all worked, and later when I got my room card upgraded the clerk changed it to a 4 bunk dorm. I didn't quite understand that it was a former motel where there were a dozen or so 4 person rooms and a single 8 person room So I went to the common area/kitchen to get a lay of the land there. It seemed that almost everyone staying there was a Pacific Crest Trail thru-hiker. There was one guy who just got a delivery from a relative who was looking to move all that stuff into boxes to pick up at different post offices along his route. I'm guessing around winter it's a lot of skiers and snowboarders.
Since I had time before I could enter the room I just went to Raley's to get something to cook - just microwaveable meals and pasta. I already had instant coffee, soft drinks, and beer. I finally had my room but the common area was more interesting and I hung out there after taking a walk. A lot of people were telling stories. I had a few interesting bear stories myself although I've never done long-distance backpacking.
On the way back the bus was a bit late, but it was the same driver from the day before. He said it was another bus. The outlets didn't work, so I figured I'd just use my own power packs. Then at the SLT Y we took on more passengers and when someone asked, he asked them to plug something in and when he was told it wasn't operating he pushed/flipped something and the outlets and USB power were working. I'm not sure why they schedule it for about 3.5 hours to Sac, but we got in about a good 50 minutes early - enough to take an earlier Capitol Corridor train.
Not sure I'd do this again, because normally I would have my family and we would drive. However, this was a good overnight just to kill time and meet people.