Scattered Thoughts . . .

When the train arrived in the Sacramento area, we first picked up a rental car in downtown Sacramento and then drove to Roseville about an hour away.  After checking into our hotel, we spent time with Adam and Joi...  we visited Adam and Joi's apartment in Roseville...   went out to dinner...   then we made plans for the following day which included visiting the California State Railroad Museum in downtown Sacramento.  Picking up the rental car in Sacramento was a bit of a time-consuming fiasco that is worth mentioning here.   There was only one person working the front desk and the customer in front of us was having a very time consuming customer service problem and subsequently wanted his car for free.  I briefly contemplated just heading down the road to the next rental car place but, for some reason, decided to stay put and wait it out.  Part of me was figuring that we might not be able to get a car at the next place but something was nagging at me to be patient and stay

For many years, Sheila and I have been talking about and dreaming about one day taking a journey across the country by rail. It has always been one of those things we've wanted to do someday when the opportunity presented itself. There is something about train travel... it has a romantic air about it... it is classic... it is relaxed by comparison to other modes of transportation... and it provides spectacular vistas as we wind our way across the country. This was one of those trips that we always figured would have to wait until after Sheila retires since we knew it would be a time consuming trip but Adam recently moved to California so that has prompted us to take a closer look at transportation options. One way or another, we were headed to California to visit Adam. We figured why not do it in style and the way we want? Originally, whenever we talked about a cross country rail journey, we talked about stopping at various cities along the way. We'd spend a night or two