Scattered Thoughts . . .

Our last full day in Roseville was rather nice.  First we visited the air base and got a bit of a guided tour by Adam.  We had lunch at an Irish Pub (it was the day before St Paddy's Day) that was more like a  dive  sports bar.  Then, we actually had a little time to unwind and spend some time at the hotel pool before heading out to dinner with Joi's mom joining us.  It sounds like it was a busy day but it was actually the most laid back day we had while in California.  For a pleasant change, we actually had some time to kill which is why we ended up in the pool at the hotel. While on the air base, we stopped at the Coyote Pub and Grill to use the restrooms and get some cash from an ATM.  I have to say that it was difficult leaving that place because the NCAA basketball playoffs were on the big screen and they had the channel turned to the Florida game...  a game I wanted to see.  I knew if we stayed for the game it would lead to a few drinks, getting a bit too comfortable (a

The terrain and landscape that was passing outside our windows had changed.  The changes were obvious.  When we checked our gear and timetables, we found that we had passed into California. We had a speedometer app running in our roomette...  an altimeter app running...  and, when we could get cell service, an active map.  Will had his GPS Garmin running across the hall in his roomette.  I also had a scanner so I could listen in to any necessary train radio chatter or even any emergency radio chatter.   Actually, writing about all these electronics reminds me that we had a little problem somewhere in the middle of that expansive west that I wrote about in my previous blog entry.  In the middle of nowhere, we heard a thump and then the train came to a stop.  This is when having the scanner would provide us some information. By listening to my little handheld scanner, I learned that we had hit a stacked pile of rocks on the track.  Clearly, someone had deliberately piled these rock

After our lunch in Chicago at Lou Mitchell's restaurant and a little bit of a sightseeing walk back to Union Station, we spent a little time in the brand new Amtrak Metropolitan Lounge before boarding the California Zephyr.  The Zephyr would take us all the way to California through scenic sights such as the Rocky Mountains, Sierra Nevadas, Moffat Tunnel, Colorado's Gore Canyon, Byers Canyon, Glenwood Canyon, Winter Park, Truckee River, Donner Pass, Donner Lake, and then into Roseville California where we would be greeted by Adam.  This leg of our journey would take about 50 hours spread across three days of the week. Since this leg is so long, I have decided to split up the blog entries for this leg.  This blog entry will be about our journey from Chicago to Denver.  We would be in Denver in just less than 24 hours after departing Chicago and traveling through Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska and part of Colorado. Although we enjoy every leg of our rail journeys, we were all very