NIGHTTIME on Jan30th.
Some Random Musings first:
The PPC did appear to have 3 or 4 people go downstairs to watch the movie. That seems like a very poor waste of space for that car. But that's just me.
The PPC emptied out at nightfall (naturally). I wish that someone would really turn the lights down in there, but understand that there are limits due to safety.
There were a few squeaks and moans in the compartments. I think anything moving down an uneven surface will have that. Overall, the
outside noise is quite limited. We could hear the wailing of the horn..but that is a very nice touch. Some on here have recommended duct tape to stop squeaks, etc. Not a bad idea. I'd recommend ear plugs. Why? Not for the car, but for the rude patrons, in this case roomette folks, who slammed the upstairs bathroom door throughout the night....and the attendant who thought that there was only one way to shut the vestibule door...firmly.
Also, when we traveled previously, seemed like there was room to access the sink when the lower bed was made. That was not the case this time. For future reference, I would ask the attendant to make the bed just before I was ready to go to bed!
I think that the condition of these cars is pretty spectacular considering the age and mileage that has been put on them. I tend to overlook small things where others would have "their whole trip ruined" over something as nitpicky as a little soap running out of the dispenser.
Okay....on with the trip report.
It is quite easy to see well at night simply by pulling the curtain over the bedroom door and leaving the window drapes open. You can pretty much see the whole city / scenes go by. I strongly recommend it. Turn out all of the lights and let the world go by.
My wife took the top bunk and I took the bottom. It was just a little warm in the room and the ventilation system was not cooling it off. I had mentioned to the attendant (who was hard to find) earlier that it seemed a little warmer in the car than it had been. I don't like sleeping hot at all. Air conditioning is only half cooling..the other half is removing humidity. Being from Louisiana, I know a thing or two about humidity.
He nicely explained to me that the folks downstairs thought it was just a little cool earlier. As always when this topic comes up I am reminded that you can put more clothes (or in this case more blankets on) to warm up, but you can only take so much off to get cool. Humidity is the key to this. Sometimes you have to run the A/C to remove humidity (which makes things cooler), but more importantly it makes things more comfortable.
Speaking of the attendant, other than bringing a few bags up, making out a bed (had to find him), and taking a couple of bags down (had to remind him of that as well)...he was non existent. He wasn't coarse or rude at all. He was taking a hands off approach. I know Disney has a corporate training program. I think all Amtrak staff would do well to go through the Disney program of customer service. I realize that many people in our society now think we are all entitled to something and we shouldn't have to "work" at our jobs. I bust my chops every day to try and provide exemplary customer service. Not because I might get more money, it's just that I'm supposed to give it my best.
There was actually room on the lower bunk for both my wife and myself. She is petite and I am not. About 3 am she finally got cold (the car had cooled off) and came down below.
Leaving Emeryville, I knew that we went along the bay for a while. You could definitely feel the rocking and swaying of the train as it went through the curves at what felt like a pretty good clip. Between the curtain on the door and the window drapes, the room was plenty dark. I woke up at 1114 when we were sitting still and the door downstairs slammed shut. I drifted back off to sleep and had a pretty restful sleep for the next 4 hours.
I knew about the trip through Northern California and had secretly hoped we would fall 3 or 4 hours behind so I could take it in. However, at 4 am I could tell we were making many twists and turns. Sure enough, a quick peak out of the window and I could see the river down below and a canyon like experience above us. Very few horn blasts were being sounded. The track was smoother here and the slower speed probably contributed quite a bit to the overall more comfortable ride.
I figured that our stop at 5am was mostly likely Dunsmuir....and by 630am I was ready to get up. I rousted the missus out of bed enough to get ready. For future reference, if you just grab the bar under the sofa section nearest the door...you can give yourself room at the wash basin to prep for the morning. It is a tight space...but try doing that on an airplane.
I joined my dad in the PPC for a beautiful sunrise south of Klamath Falls. There was a signficant frost this morning. Deer along the tracks and a few coyotes were present. Mountain peaks were clearly visible. It was quite beautiful. A few more yellow flags (slow order sections) were encountered. They seemed to be relatively short. Again with what appeared to be very little freight traffic, we arrived into Klamath Falls quite early. we had 50 minutes to sit and wait.
I voted that we try the PPC breakfast. It was okay. Again, they get close, but just miss the mark. Don't get me wrong. You'll get full. But you won't leave your trip thinking "I can't wait to eat such and such on Amtrak again". Also the tables in the PPC are extremely tight. Even my petite wife thought that they were a tight fit. For the wine tasting we had sat four together and did fine, but they serve meals with only 2 to a table.
We ate breakfast while at the Klamath Falls station stop.
(I failed to mention dinner in the diner the night before. Had I to do it over again, I probably would have chose the PPC dinner...it's just that for me, the PPC needs 2 meat choices, not one. 2 of us had the flat iron steak..not memorable. one had the fish special .. Mahi Mahi...wasn't fishy...but needed a sauce badly. Also, a different salad blend would have been nice to distinguish the lunch salad from the dinner salad. I can only imagine the CZ/SL/SC/TE folks get BORED with that menu! The service was very fast and efficient. Not bad at all. The desserts were good.)
Okay..next post I'll talk about Willamette Pass, etc.
BTW (Is this the kind of trip reporting people want to read???)
