So the excitement began before we even got out of bed this morning. You know the saying, “God willing, and the creek don’t rise“? Well, the creek rose. We got a voicemail from Amtrak at 6:30 this morning saying they had canceled our train. Naturally, that was a real waker-upper. We called back right away and spoke with one agent who didn’t have much info except that there was a washout south of Emeryville. So we were going to have to take a bus from Emeryville to LA.
Then she suggested we call Amtrak Vacations since we had booked it through them (which is not Amtrak and we will never make that mistake again). We called Amtrak Vacations and spoke briefly with an agent who left us on hold literally for an hour and 20 minutes, without even checking back to see if we were still there. We called back from another phone and talked to someone who was very apologetic and said he would look into getting something booked for us and call us back in 20 minutes. 20 minutes later we got a call back from yet another agent at Amtrak Vacations, who actually did get us rebooked.
So here we are, bags collected by the front door, stress levels having already been on a roller coaster this morning. Waiting for our ride. I really want to just get on the train and effing relax. I’m not sure of the wisdom of going into LA at all at this point, given the “atmospheric river” that is drowning the city and the flooding that’s happening in that part of the world. But that’s still the plan. Amtrak says our train out of LA on Wednesday evening is not affected. Hm. Let’s hope that’s true.
2:40pm
So we finally finally finally finally are actually on the train. We walked way way way down the platform to the last two cars. A couple of agents consulted with each other and put us on this car. We found our room, number three. We sat down. We unloaded. We heave a sigh of relief. We ordered some food for lunch. And then our porter tells us you guys are on the wrong car. So we pick up everything AGAIN schlep everything AGAIN over to the next car get acquainted with a different porter.
Fortunately these tiny rooms are all identical so I don’t have to snap pictures of the new room for you. This “roomette” is basically a pair of seats facing each other, with a door that closes them off from the narrow hallway. At night, the porter converts the seats into bunk beds. One must have a certain amount of athletic agility to get into the top bunk. Then there is a net to hook into the ceiling to keep you from falling off the narrow bed in case the train jostles in the night. The top bunk is about two and a half feet from the ceiling so once you’re up there, you remain horizontal. No sitting up in bed. During the day, there is a little table you can fold down between the seats. We did enjoy an OK Salmon dinner complete with wine, in our cozy little room.
Next: Tuesday, Feb. 6, 2024 – San Joaquin Valley
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Adrian Dee, flutist, composer 