Day 1 of the Salt Lake City Safari 2010 had its inauspicious aspects - 3 bus rides, for starters - but overall went well and was pretty fun.
Bus ride one was Gold Coast Transit (nee SCAT) 6A from La Casa de Whooz to OXN and bus ride two, OXN-BFD. Ambus 4615's driver told us right off the bat that the vehicle's wheelchair lift wasn't working, making Amtrak 0-for-3 on Alice Ambus lifts. No big deal; Alice's wheelchair was fed into the undercarriage baggage maw and we clambered aboard. Luckily grabbing the first set of seats after it was vacated, the new laptop was cranked up to check out the connection situation on this bus labeled as wi-fi equipped. Our driver noticed right away, and asked if the wi-fi was working. It was too soon to tell, as I was just booting up, and the driver volunteered that sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. On this day it doesn't - I mean didn't. It was the first time I'd tried wi-fi with the new rig, and some tinkering around got me connected to the Amtrak system, but there was no internet access after several tries. Oh well, but kind of a drag cuz I'd been looking forward to starting this trip report from the bus.
Our arrival at Bakersfield was about 20 minutes early. We'd forgotten the sandwiches Alice made for consumption aboard the train, and with no eateries nearby it was gonna be a cafe car lunch.
San Joaquin 715 departed on time and I headed to the cafe car. Finally getting to the head of the long line, the available sandwich of choice was the Texas BBQ roast beef (rubbery bun, good meat and sauce). A sign near the counter said to ask for a receipt, and if there's a red star on it the order is FREE. No such luck this time, though.
The San Joaquin route is mostly straight shot fast running, and the ride was thoroughly enjoyable. Some have said SJ rides are nice if you like looking at farmland, which in fact Team Whooz does like. Fun to watch and discuss the various crops parading past the windows, including far more corn than I recall seeing in the past, as well as miles and miles of almond, pistachio, walnut, and stone fruit orchards/groves.
Though it was noted in announcements during departure from Bakersfield that there were no smoke stops on the route, in practice there were three: Corcoran (arrived 4 minutes early), Fresno (heavy passenger load coming aboard), and Merced (engineer change at crew base).
Arriving at Stockton more or less on time, Amtrak reached 0-for-4 in Alice Ambus lifts. The lift was tried (see photos), but ultimately unsucessfully. After it wouldn't work to get Alice and wheelchair aboard, it also wouldn't work to be restowed. Once again the wheelchair rode with the baggage, and the the mucking around with the balky contraption resulted in a 30-minute-late Sacramento arrival.
Amtrak Unlimited member tp49 (Tom) greeted us at SAC. Knew him from AU weekly chat, but this was the first time I had the pleasure of meeting him in person. He joined Team Whooz as we checked into the Vagabond hotel across the street from the station and dumped our bags, then led the way to dinner at the nearby Pyramid Alehouse. Following fine food and conversation in an al fresco setting - with light rail trains passing nearby - tp49 escorted us back to the hotel before heading home, which he said is also close by in downtown Sacramento. Good meeting you, and thanks, Tom!
In a couple hours we'll be on our way to Salt Lake City aboard the California Zephyr - H-room sleeper - and even now I'm getting all fezzed - I mean jazzed - in anticipation of that great ride over the Sierras.
Photos:
Watch On The Wasatch, Day 1
Video:
Ambus Window Water Wonderland (Condensation buildup between window panes on Ambus 3715 from Stockton to Sacramento on 6-26-10 made for an entertaining ride. It was like watching one of those old oil-and-water wave machine toys!)
Bus ride one was Gold Coast Transit (nee SCAT) 6A from La Casa de Whooz to OXN and bus ride two, OXN-BFD. Ambus 4615's driver told us right off the bat that the vehicle's wheelchair lift wasn't working, making Amtrak 0-for-3 on Alice Ambus lifts. No big deal; Alice's wheelchair was fed into the undercarriage baggage maw and we clambered aboard. Luckily grabbing the first set of seats after it was vacated, the new laptop was cranked up to check out the connection situation on this bus labeled as wi-fi equipped. Our driver noticed right away, and asked if the wi-fi was working. It was too soon to tell, as I was just booting up, and the driver volunteered that sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. On this day it doesn't - I mean didn't. It was the first time I'd tried wi-fi with the new rig, and some tinkering around got me connected to the Amtrak system, but there was no internet access after several tries. Oh well, but kind of a drag cuz I'd been looking forward to starting this trip report from the bus.
Our arrival at Bakersfield was about 20 minutes early. We'd forgotten the sandwiches Alice made for consumption aboard the train, and with no eateries nearby it was gonna be a cafe car lunch.
San Joaquin 715 departed on time and I headed to the cafe car. Finally getting to the head of the long line, the available sandwich of choice was the Texas BBQ roast beef (rubbery bun, good meat and sauce). A sign near the counter said to ask for a receipt, and if there's a red star on it the order is FREE. No such luck this time, though.
The San Joaquin route is mostly straight shot fast running, and the ride was thoroughly enjoyable. Some have said SJ rides are nice if you like looking at farmland, which in fact Team Whooz does like. Fun to watch and discuss the various crops parading past the windows, including far more corn than I recall seeing in the past, as well as miles and miles of almond, pistachio, walnut, and stone fruit orchards/groves.
Though it was noted in announcements during departure from Bakersfield that there were no smoke stops on the route, in practice there were three: Corcoran (arrived 4 minutes early), Fresno (heavy passenger load coming aboard), and Merced (engineer change at crew base).
Arriving at Stockton more or less on time, Amtrak reached 0-for-4 in Alice Ambus lifts. The lift was tried (see photos), but ultimately unsucessfully. After it wouldn't work to get Alice and wheelchair aboard, it also wouldn't work to be restowed. Once again the wheelchair rode with the baggage, and the the mucking around with the balky contraption resulted in a 30-minute-late Sacramento arrival.
Amtrak Unlimited member tp49 (Tom) greeted us at SAC. Knew him from AU weekly chat, but this was the first time I had the pleasure of meeting him in person. He joined Team Whooz as we checked into the Vagabond hotel across the street from the station and dumped our bags, then led the way to dinner at the nearby Pyramid Alehouse. Following fine food and conversation in an al fresco setting - with light rail trains passing nearby - tp49 escorted us back to the hotel before heading home, which he said is also close by in downtown Sacramento. Good meeting you, and thanks, Tom!
In a couple hours we'll be on our way to Salt Lake City aboard the California Zephyr - H-room sleeper - and even now I'm getting all fezzed - I mean jazzed - in anticipation of that great ride over the Sierras.
Photos:
Watch On The Wasatch, Day 1
Video:
Ambus Window Water Wonderland (Condensation buildup between window panes on Ambus 3715 from Stockton to Sacramento on 6-26-10 made for an entertaining ride. It was like watching one of those old oil-and-water wave machine toys!)
Seriuously, hope the rest of the trip goes great, I thought the other pics looked pretty good, have always enjoyed Alice's posts and pics, so perhaps the stress level might be bearable if you grin enough! 
