After arriving at Los Angeles Union Station from the Southwest Chief and confirming that my Surfliner trains would be running as scheduled, I walked over to a lottery machine, gingerly gave $5.00 to the State of California Lottery Commission and picked up a Diet Coke. I was asked to wait at Gate E for Pacific Surfliner Train #566. The train had been late getting out of the yard which made us depart slightly behind schedule, but no big deal. I rode in Pacific Surfliner Coach #6453 (don't have a consist for this train, sorry!) and there was only a handful of people in the coach today. As we made our scheduled stops along the way I took several pictures of the passing scenery. When we passed the Redondo Roundhouse, the Santa Fe Steamer #3751 was parked there along with several other pieces of Amtrak equipment. I also saw a huge number of Express-Trak reefers! I had taken a couple phone calls and lots of pictures as we rode through Fullerton, Anaheim, Orange, Santa Ana, Irvine, Laguna Niguel (home of the annual "Moon Amtrak" event!) San Juan Capistrano, San Clemente Pier and finally Oceanside. Upon arrival at Oceanside, I took in my 2 bags to have them checked as I wouldn’t need them until tonight in San Luis Obispo.
   After checking my bags, I walked over to a nearby Burger King and had a nice overpriced lunch! After lunch, I walked back over to the platform to photograph a couple Surfliner trains. I couldn't help but notice just how nice the weather here is today considering it's possibly snowing back home in Buffalo, NY!!! After the 2 trains passed, I walked down to the Tyson Street Beach to take a few pictures of the ocean, what a beautiful site! As weird as it may sound, I saw 1 car with New York Plates on it and one with New Jersey Plates on it! I quickly chatted with the owner of the car with the NY plates, she mentioned it being her spouse's car from Long Island! After walking back from the beach, I checked the status of Pacific Surfliner Train #775 for San Luis Obispo which is my train north today. If you're asking yourself by now, "Where are all those pictures you said you took on this part of the trip?" well, my answer is, you'll see them soon as they'll be part of a much bigger section of this travelogue entitled "Railfanning The Pacific Surfliner Route By Car, Rail & Foot"! For now, lets head to San Luis Obispo!