We would continue west through Ruby Canyon then tomorrow onto Sacramento, California. Sit back, relax and enjoy the trip to the State Capital of California.
The trip through Ruby Canyon and out onto the Utah Desert. A tired Chris made up his room and called it a night on his final night on the train.
7/6/2015
I was up the next morning in Nevada just east of Wells.
An early morning shot of Nevada. I had a breakfast of French Toast and sausage patties in the dining car then put on a DVD of Motley Crue "Lewd, Crued & Tattooed" to help me cross Nevada while I took pictures.
That took me to lunch time so I started the line and was seated in the dining car for my usual lunch of the Angus Beef Burger and one last ice cream for dessert. I returned and timed my next Orange County Railway Historical Society program for August as I continued to take a few more pictures crossing Donner Pass.
We crossed the American River, I packed up the room and detrained from the 2 hour 22 minute late California Zephyr. It had been a fantastic trip on the CZ, the food on the whole trip home was excellent and the train crew service was outstanding. I headed over to the Vagabond Hotel where I checked in for the night, went to Perko's for my final dinner of the trip and then uploaded the pictures and stories. But my computer started to act up so I ran my AVG Security program but it would not finish. I tried putting my pictures into it but it would not take them. Then the toilet in the room would not flush so I gave up. I watched a little RAW Wrestling before I called it a night so I was in bed at 8:30 PM and had a good night's sleep.
San Joaquin, Thruway Bus and Pacific Surfliner 580 7/7/2015
As I arose, all I wanted to do was get home. I checked out and the Vagabond shuttle van took me over to the walkway to go out to the trains at Sacramento. I took that long walk to the tracks and made my way out to the train. I boarded and took the left side single seat at the back end of California Car 8017 then detrained for my final two pictures of the trip before setting up the computer. It was still not working correctly and the Internet on the train was not working either.
I bought a cinnamon roll and orange juice after which the train left Sacramento on time and at the Siemens Plant were three more Amtrak electric locomotives being completed before heading east. We passed through Lodi, Stockton and Modesto then Empire, where the Modesto and Empire Traction was busy swiching freight cars on this early morning. We then had to do the Turlock Shuttle, a move where we go into the siding at Turlock and go all the way to the east switch. San Joaquin 711 was at the west end of Turlock, already having stopped there. We then reversed into Turlock and this was the most exciting moment of the trip.
We next headed to Merced, Madera and then Fresno before heading south to Hanford where after that stop, I had a lunch of chicken wings and pretzel crisps which was my final Amtrak meal of this trip. The train stopped in Corcoran, Wasco and then on to Bakersfield. It has been a good and quick trip aboard San Joaquin 702 and I transferred to the Thruway Bus to LAUPT which was a good quick bus ride.
Once at LAUPT, I made it up to the platform and boarded Pacific Surfliner 580 for the final train of this trip then called my mother to be picked up at 3:50 PM and we left on time, stopping at Fullerton, Anaheim and then Santa Ana, where I detrained for the last time. I would like to thank Amtrak for getting me safely home from Albany to Santa Ana. This was my all-time second longest trip, only the 33-day train trip back in 2000 beat it for length. I hope you enjoyed all of the 43 stories this trip provided. I must say I am glad to be home. My mother picked me up and I will sleep in my own bed tonight for the first time since June 10, the night before this trip started. It is so good to be home.
One last note. My laptop computer was fixed after I uploaded Malwarebytes Anti-Malware program and ran it twice. If you do not have this program on your computer, I strongly encourage you to download it as it is free and running it can return you computer to a state of good health.
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