AU Friends take the Tehachapi Detour

[Amtrak Cajun]

That sounds like a fun trip. I wish I could have been there.

 

[KurtisB]

Hello. I was on the detoured Starlight on March 25, but in coach and thus in the SSL car. With my travelling group (a ticket clerk from MTZ Amtrak and another Volunteer Station Host at MTZ Amtrak), I did the trip from MTZ and came back up on the first bus to BFD and the #711 the next day. It was great fun, though I didn't get any sleep for around 28 hours (had to drive to MTZ from Modesto to make it lol). Also, I'm not sure if you guys knew, but there were some Amtrak retirees in the SSL with us -- Bill Cotton (who apparently is rather a celebrity in the California Amtrak crew-bases), among others.

About the Dining Car LSA, she didn't seem so nice to my party, despite us all wearing our IDs (Employee ID in the case of the ticket clerk in our group, volunteer IDs in myself and the host's case). We asked for 12 PM lunch reservations, and the 3 of us swear she never made the announcement, but we heard, if just, the 12:30. We went to the diner then and she told us in not the politest way that she did make the 12 announcement, but thankfully she let us dine then anyway. However, she did seem quite nice when she was taking the money for our food and saying good bye... which to me makes it seem she might have been just happy to see us leave. Who knows.

Lastly, we did have a "Kamikaze" (in the word of one of my partners) bus driver from LA to BFD, which suffice to say, made my travelling partners too nervous to sleep on the bus... I couldn't sleep anyway, but that's a different matter altogether. lol

Glad you all had a good time, and we sure did, too, despite those side notes I mentioned.

- Kurtis Boyer,

Volunteer Station Host, MTZ Amtrak