Eugene to Sacramento. Sacramento to Glenwood Springs, Colorado. Glenwood Springs to Denver.
Tuesday, April 21.
We left Eugene station around 5 and headed east by the I-5 underpass that we walk under so often on our home-base park walks. We were barely acquainted with life in a mini sleeper car and the technically difficulties of taking photos through a window, when we were called to the dining room at 6:30. The food was delicious, much better than expected: tender meat, fresh salad, warm, fragrant rolls. Our dining companions were a young couple who had just got married the day before. It happens that our 30th wedding anniversary was also the day before, so we shared a wedding date 30 years apart. The young man was an engineer for the BNSF freight railroad, and he graciously answered our questions about what it’s like to drive that train.
He also solved a mystery. Bill had recently noticed that a train had been left in Eugene for several days on a siding near the underpass pictured below. He thought it sounded like it was still running. It seems they do leave trains secured, locked, and still running. If they shut down completely, a whole new set of maintenance steps are required to start it up again.
We survived our first night in the sleeper. I was in the top bunk, and I quickly realized it would require some organization. There wasn’t enough space to sit up, so anything I took up there with me would have to be placed so that I could reach it without shimmying around on my bottom.
The wake-up call to leave the train at the Sacramento station was before 5am. I shimmied around up top to collect my clothes and carry-on stuff. We dressed and walked a surprisingly long distance to the main station, which was lovely. It had a WPA mural and a dedicated lounge for sleeper-car passengers. We had a few hours layover, so we dozed in the lounge until light, then stepped out during a break in the rain to have breakfast at a nearby Moroccan cafe. Moroccan pancakes are really light and fluffy and soaked in honey. Delish. Then we walked back to the station to board the Zephyr for Glennwood Springs.
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