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Spring Break 1997 to the Northwest Via El Paso 3/24-4/5/1997

As the days passed between my long-distance trips, I continued my San Diegan riding and in the northwest sky from a point where I would walk to overlooking the ocean in Solana Beach, the comet Hale-Bopp became visible. There were many evenings of unique views before the Pacific Ocean fog blew in and it was a beautiful sight but little did I know that Hale-Bopp would be a part of my next out-of-state train trip. My goal of finishing riding trains sober in all states was now complete so I started a new goal to ride back over every Amtrak route on which I had imbibed. By completing the every state goal and the Amtrak system since I had admitted to being an alcoholic, I thought it would only be fitting to start a new goal. There was one route segment in the Northwest that I had yet to ride sober, so with McFadden Intermediate' spring break, I decided to travel to the great Pacific Northwest with a side trip to El Paso beforehand.

My nightly rides to Solana Beach were yielding good results in seeing Hale-Bopp, so I had wondered what my long-distance journeys had in store as far as the comet was concerned.

Also called the Great Comet of 1997, comet C/1995 O1 (Hale-Bopp) is a large comet with a nucleus measuring approximately 37 miles in diameter. This is about five times the size of the object hypothesized to have led to the demise of the dinosaurs. Due to its large size, this comet was visible to the naked eye for 18 months in 1996 and 1997. It takes about 2,534 years for Hale-Bopp to orbit the sun once. Hale-Bopp last reached perihelion (closest approach to the sun) on April 1, 1997.

The comet was discovered on July 23, 1995, independently, by both Alan Hale and Thomas Bopp. Hale-Bopp was discovered at the amazing distance of 7.15 AU. One AU is equal to about 93 million miles. Comets are usually named for their discoverer(s) or for the name of the observatory/telescope used in the discovery. Since both Alan Hale and Thomas Bopp discovered this comet, it is named for them. The letter "C" indicates that C/1995 O1 (Hale-Bopp) is a long-period comet and is not expected to return to the inner solar system. 1995 indicates the year of discovery.

I always have liked the Sunset Limited route, so I was surprised when we ran all the way to El Paso early. It was quite an uneventful journey and I spent one night at the Travelodge with a room overlooking the Southern Pacific yard and the flood of passing freight trains. That night provided a great view of Hale-Bopp and following a good night's rest, I walked back to the station to discover that the westbound Sunset Limited was running six hours late. Since that meant that the ride from Yuma to Los Angeles would be in daylight, I could not be happier. The agent stored my bags and when his shift was over, the security guard drove me to a movie theater past the University of Texas-El Paso, where I saw "Space Jam" for a dollar then had a very nice walk back to the station, thinking how lucky I was to be sober in El Paso.

Upon my return to the station, I heard the agent say "bus" and delving into that matter further, I learned that Southern Pacific suffered a large derailment near Yuma and the westbound Sunset Limited would only travel as far as Tucson. I, the train rider, and other passengers, would be bussed from Tucson to Los Angeles; bad news indeed. I spent the time doing word fill-in puzzles and listening to music then once the train finally arrived, I boarded the coach and settled in for the night. The female assistant conductor commented that I looked as though I had been on a train for days and I responded that with all my miles on the rails, I felt right at home here. She took my ticket and I fell asleep until I was nudged at Tucson then I and the others had just over an hour wait for the buses.

I boarded the second bus and managed to keep two seats to myself and after the driver finally found the freeway, we were off down Interstate 10 for Los Angeles. I curled up and slept until about 100 miles west of Phoenix then distributed the juice and Ding-Dongs Amtrak had provided to the now-bus passengers then sat watching the Arizona desert and started writing my thoughts about travelling on a bus versus a train. We stopped at a McDonald's in Blythe, California for twenty minutes as I had suggested a rest break for the driver and it gave me an opportunity to have hot cakes and sausage for breakfast before we continued west. That gave me time to finish my list: 1. No food service, 2. No drinking water, 3. Uncomfortable seats, 4. No leg room, 5. Smelly and hot restrooms, 6. The noise factor, 7. No reclining seats, 8. Bus riders' attitudes, 9. No freedom to move and 10. The feeling of confinement.

Item 8 was proven as there were several passengers riding the bus who also transferred to the San Diegan with me, going home to Santa Ana, and I watched them go from uptight bus riders to laid-back train riders. I was, of course, Mr. Happy-Go-Lucky as I do strive to make the best out of every situation, but was most extremely happy when that bus arrived at Los Angeles Union Station at 11:15 AM. It was surprising that no one from Amtrak met the bus and I informed each rider about their missed connection options and they all thanked me for taking such good care of them. As I waited for Train 776 to arrive, I met Linda Paul, fresh in from San Diego who was ready to start her weekly Lead Service Attendance. A quick trip on that San Diegan made me once again thankful that I was a train rider and thank God I did not become a bus rider.

The next day, I boarded a through-coach on the end of San Diegan 771 and after a brief visit to the lounge car for a soda, worked on the first East Coast story and spent the morning happily writing my way to Los Angeles, through the switching moves onto the back of the Coast Starlight, across the San Fernando Valley, into the tunnels and out into Simi Valley. After all of that writing, I napped from Oxnard to Carpinteria.

We arrived early at Santa Barbara which gave me time to run over to Subway for a sandwich. North of Santa Barbara, I decided to switch sides as I had never sat on the inland side of the train and focused my attention only on that side, forsaking the usual wonderful coastal views. I saw was the splendid Coast Range Mountains, canyons leading back into them, ranches and the odd homes scattered about, as well as improving my knowledge of Vandenberg Air Force Base. It was truly a unique experience that most passengers on the Coast Starlight never see as they focus only on the ocean side of the train.

San Luis Obispo was the next smoking/fresh air stop or, for me, postcard mailing location. My seat in the lounge car gave me an excellent view of the climb up Cuesta Grade and then the ride down the Salinas Valley. After Paso Robles, I obtained the last dinner time reservation and had yet to receive a logical explanation as to why coach passengers going the furthest are given their dinner reservations last. I went back to the rear door of the train to watch the mileposts fade into the distance before stepping off into a cold strong wind at Salinas. Once on the move again, the film was "Toy Story", which I enjoyed in the lower level of the lounge car and as the train proceeded in the night, we stopped at San Jose then sped on to Oakland, stopping at Jack London station, where I was called in for dinner. At this late hour, it seemed to be the perfect way to end the first day of a trip and I enjoyed a beef tenderloin while the crew cut off the rear coach, and had my dessert as the we passed Capitol Corridor and San Joaquin trainsets in the West Oakland Yard awaiting tomorrow's runs. I stepped off for a day's end breath of fresh air at Emeryville before curling up and slept the night away.

4/1/1997 I awoke as the Starlight entered Dunsmuir and stepped off into some nice cold morning air. Sunrise hit the train as it rounded the Cantara Loop and climbed out of the Sacramento River Canyon; we were running through here in daylight due to the fact that the Starlight had several broken air hoses after running over something, so we were now two hours late. At Milepost 330, there were some boxcars over the edge and once we got to Small, I had a glorious view of Mount Shasta then we passed through Mount Shasta City, with no sign, of the McCloud River Railroad, before we passed Black Butte and travelled the north flank of Mount Shasta.

By the time we reached the Hotlum Trestle, the mountain was hidden behind the clouds so I was lucky for being an early riser. I relaxed in the lounge car with my headphones on watching Northern California turn into Southern Oregon then arrived at Klamath Falls, where I also enjoyed the cool clear morning air. We departed, still two hours late, passed Upper Jalama Lake and two freight trains before a double station spot at Chemult, then I enoyed my favourite part of the journey, the Cascade Crossing and had a nice surprise as there was snow on the ground, making this a winter wonderland on April 1st. I switched sides of the lounge car to keep the valley in view before we descended the steep west side grade through the many tunnels and curves and as always, this grade was truly impressive.

Past Oakridge, the centralized traffic control was not operating, so everyone enjoyed a more extended view than normal of Lookout Point Reservoir. We arrived in Eugene three hours late which now gave me only thirty minutes to make my connection in Portland if we did not lose any more time. The train sprinted up the Willamette Valley, meeting one freight and our southbound counterpart, which cost us fifteen minutes, but I did not need to worry as my connection was guaranteed. We passed Albany and Salem then made it to the point across the river from Portland Union Station where the Steel Bridge and the MAX light rail trains delayed us twenty-five minutes due to river traffic. We finally arrived in Portland fifteen minutes after the Empire Builder should have left and I walked off the Starlight across two tracks and boarded an empty coach on the rear of Train 28.

The Builder acquired the few connecting passengers and we departed Portland thirty minutes late to start my first sober journey to Spokane. The only other people in this coach were a mother and daughter, also going to Spokane. After my ticket was taken, I was off to the lounge car for a hot dog dinner then back in my seat as the train crossed the Columbia River and stopped in Vancouver, Washington. As we continued our eastbound journey, we passed "The Crossing", an excellent and unique restaurant comprised of railroad cars before passing the many new homes built along the river's shore. I passed on the film, preferring to enjoy the scenery as we made our way out to the Columbia River Gorge and was glad my memory was as good as it was since I knew the location of the landmarks before reached them. I felt lucky that I did not do any damage to my brain from my drinking and and if I had not quit drinking, would I be seeing the magnificent Mount Hood as I was now? I was a grateful man observing all of this beauty in the last hours of daylight.

As we proceeded deeper into the gorge, the sun set and night began to take hold. As it was such a clear night, I went to the rear door to see if I couuld see the comet and was joined by three other passengers. As it grew darker, the conductor came back and realized what we were trying to do and suggested that if we turned off the car's lights, the four of us could have a better view. The mother agreed so off went the lights and through the windows came my best view yet of Hale-Bopp, complete with a fiery tail easily seen with the naked eye. This was one very special sober moment on the Empire Builder and what a scene! After such a wonderful sight, I called it a night, falling asleep until about five minutes from Spokane, where I packed up and detrained with only forty-five minutes until my next train for Seattle. My goal of all sober rails west of Rockies was complete.

There was not much going on in the middle of the night in Spokane other than two sets of trains serving the Amtrak station. The westbound Empire Builder arrived on time and the conductor took my ticket and gave me a car number then I went up onto the platform into my coach, chose a window seat on the right and off to dreamland I went. The Spokane flip-flop went extremely well and now asleep, I was travelling west for the crossing of the Cascades on the former Great Northern route. Later that morning, I awoke while the train was stopped in Wenatchee and I went to the dining car for breakfast consisting of pancakes and sausage. The train made its way to Leavenworth, with the snow taking over the ground as we continued to climb. I love winter scenes from the warmth of a train and this morning proved to be exceptional as we climbed the narrow canyons and passed through the tunnels that led it to the east portal of the Cascade Tunnel, where a BNSF freight waited for us to pass. The train then plunged into the longest railroad tunnel in the United States and the next fifteen minutes were spent in darkness under the summit of the Cascade Mountains.

Emerging from the west portal of the Cascade Tunnel, there was another freight waiting for us to pass as we returned to the winter wonderland experience. I had only been westbound on this route once, but my memory was working well and was enthralled with the passing scenery. Having seen a few videos on the railroad's crossing of Stevens Pass, it helped put everything into perspective. As the train descended, we lost the snow as we followed the Skykomish River all the way down to our next station stop in Everett on the shores of Puget Sound. South of Everett, the Empire Builder hugged the shoreline of Puget Sound, where this part of the line was shut down for two months because of over one hundred mud slides from a winter of very heavy rains. The train stayed on the outside track, avoiding most of the slow orders as repairs continued to firm up the slopes. I crossed the coach frequently to observe the damage to the hillsides and the cleanup operations the BNSF crews were making, remembering that tomorrow I will pass through here twice. We stopped at Edmonds then proceeded to the Emerald City of Seattle with no further delays, arriving forty-five minutes late on a beautiful clear Pacific Northwest morning.

I detrained at the King Street Station and walked over to the Kingdome to purchase a ticket for tonight's Seattle Mariners versus New York Yankees baseball game then walked to the Pioneer Square Hotel and checked in, but my room was not yet ready, so they stored my bags and I took the Waterfront Streetcar to its north end and walked to the Space Needle to board the Seattle Monorail for my first round-trip. It runs one mile south to Westlake Center so I rode in a rear-facing seat south, so on the return trip north, I could watch the operator run the train. Following my short jaunt on the Monorail, I walked back to the Waterfront Streetcar and rode it to the south end, stopping at a Japanese deli for a hot dog before returning to my hotel. I freshened up and relaxed before finding a bank to obtain some Canadian currency for tomorrow then walked to the IMAX Theater at the Seattle Aquarium where I watched "The Eruption of Mount St. Helens" before visiting another deli for a roast beef sandwich which I took back to my room. I went to the Kingdome for the first time and noticed how well the ball carried during batting practice. Tino Martinez, the former Mariner, must have remembered that too, as he hit three home runs in his first three at-bats. I stayed to see if he would hit number four, which he did not, and the Yankees clobbered the Mariners 16-2 (although the Mariners would win the American League West that season) before returning to the hotel and had a good night's rest, before walking back to the station on a dark stormy morning.

I received my boarding pass for a seat on the left of the Talgo train so I would have a shoreline view of Puget Sound on my way to Vancouver, Canada. We departed on time and plunged into the tunnel under downtown before passing Seattle's rainy waterfront then slowed through BNSF's Interbay Yard before crossing the drawbridge at Ballard Locks to reach the shoreline of Puget Sound. Blue skies were overhead but clouds loomed over the Olympic Peninsula and compared to the glassy smooth waters of yesterday, today's was choppy and the wind really howling. My breakfast was a warmed cinnamon roll from one of Seattle's best bakeries and orange juice, which made an excellent meal. We made our station stops all on time with the Talgo passing in and out of the low clouds and I really enjoyed this route with Puget Sound ducking in and out of sight. The morning's film was "The Associate" and I watched both it and the scenery at the same time. We passed a BNSF freight at Bellingham, which had a caboose with "DARE" (Drug Abuse Resistant Educational Program) in big red letters; this program is taught in schools all over the United States. At Ferndale, we passed another BNSF freight as the skies cleared and remained that way to Vancouver. We passed the Peace Arch on the US/Canada border to enter our northern neighbour and the mountains to the north of Vancouver were really standing out in the distance with the city in front. We followed the Fraser River to our crossing of it at New Westminster before travelling through Richmond and Burnaby then the train was wyed before we reversed into Pacific Central Station on time.

I was first off the Talgo, through Customs and out of the station to start my afternoon in Vancouver, where I bought an all-day transit pass and rode Skytrain to its western terminus at Waterfront, where I transferred to the Seabus to North Vancouver then walked west down the British Columbia Railway line to their station where I picked up timetables and brochures for my Orange County Railway Historical Society friends and a BC Rail T-shirt for me. I returned to the Seabus on this extremely cold and windy afternoon and made my return to Vancouver then reboarded Skytrain and rode a round-trip to the eastern terminus at King George, returning to the Science World stop. I went to the IMAX Theater to see "Cosmic Voyage" and it was one of the most interesting I had ever seen. Following a McDonald's dinner as it was convenient, I returned to the station, visited the Great Canadian Rail Tours offices then filled out my Customs form, acquired my boarding pass and stepped back aboard the Talgo.

We departed on time and stopped about a mile from the station to align a few switches before we could continue south. The tall buildings of New Westminster were silhouetted by the late afternoon sun and as we crossed the Fraser River, Skytrain crossed high above the river on their bridge. Mount Baker loomed in the southeast in Washington and had a pinkish hue from the last long rays of sunlight. Looking back towards Vancouver, the view was spectacular with the mountains to the north, Vancouver Island out to the west and the setting sun behind as we crossed Bridge 69 and it had completely set by Bridge 70. The conductor turned off the car's lights so the passengers could better enjoy the grand Pacific Northwest sky. As we crossed into the United States, the lights came back on as the train stopped so the US Customs agents could perform their jobs and I had no problems. A newlywed couple was separated at Vancouver because his wife was a non-citizen who did not have the proper paperwork to enter the United States, so her husband had to leave her in Canada and come into the United States to find a legal way to get her here. It was never boring crossing the international border on a train.

The Customs officials detrained in Bellingham and this evening's film, "My Fellow Americans", started about twenty minutes later. In the meantime, I had another encounter with Hale-Bopp, this time out of the window of the Talgo. We made excellent time to Seattle, where once outside the station, Hale-Bopp was very visible in spite of the lights. I enjoyed a peaceful walk back to the Pioneer Square Hotel and another good night's rest.

I acquired my boarding pass at King Street Station before climbing aboard the rear coach for my journey back to Santa Ana, with my car attendant being Glen Anderson. We departed Seattle on time on a rather cloudy morning and once past Boeing Field, it was obvious that the peaks of the Cascades would not be seen today as they were hidden behind the clouds. I enjoyed the morning's ride in the lounge car down through Tacoma, along the southern end of Puget Sound and all the way down to Portland, where I detrained for some fresh air during our servicing stop, and was surprised that the Starlight had run on time so far. We travelled up the Willamette Valley, passing our northbound counterpart between Salem and Eugene then I stepped off in Eugene, departing there on time, followed by dinner in the diner with a version of Starlight Steak. We climbed over Cascade Summit under the cover of night with another showing of "The Associate". Arriving early at Klamath Falls allowed for an Oregon night-time viewing of Hale-Bopp on a beautiful star-filled night then upon departure, I fell asleep and did not awaken until Sacramento the next morning.

4/5/1997 My stomach was turning as I walked the platform at Sacramento and the Pacific Parlour Car attendant gave me a bottle of ginger ale which helped. Still running on time, we stayed that way all the way to Emeryville, arriving ten minutes early after a delightful trip along San Pablo Bay then stopped at the West Oakland Amtrak yards to add a coach to the rear before we arrived at Oakland's Jack London Square station ten minutes early. Leaving Oakland, I was amazed that the Starlight was still doing so well and it remained so through San Jose, Salinas, the entire length of the Salinas Valley over Cuesta Grade and into San Luis Obispo, arriving there twenty-five minutes early, which allowed for a nice long walk along the platform. I enjoyed the nice coastal views along the Pacific Ocean to Point Conception then had beef tenderloin for my last dinner of this trip, arriving at Santa Barbara twenty-five minutes early.

At Santa Barbara, the train filled with daytrippers and it changed the whole character of the train from a nice and quiet long-distance conveyance into a short-haul commuter train with long lines in the lounge car, where I became the twelfth person in line. There was a man who had been quietly drinking all day and was now cutting into the line to get more liquor. The dining car was offering take-out service and when I walked out of the vending area, I saw two passengers trying to throw out the dining car china and silverware and I left my Sprite with a nice older woman in order to take the china back to the dining car. I then found two little girls playing on the stairs and told them that it was not a safe place to play on a train since they were blocking access to the upper level. They hurried upstairs and I found two more sets of china on a far table so gathered them and now had four sets to return. I carried them up the stairs and found one of the girls swinging in the aisle between the seats, but was not about to talk to them again, so walked along the window, excusing myself to the people who were sitting there and returned the china to its rightful place in the dining car. I then returned to my seat, avoiding the swinging little girl, and continued to enjoy my ride as we arrived at Oxnard on time.

Here, our luck ran out as the train's head-end power had major problems which caused a forty-five minute delay. Fifteen minutes into it, I returned to the lounge car to get another Sprite and the drunken passenger was now completely put of control and our conductor came down to talk to him, getting into a shouting match. I took my Sprite upstairs and found an empty seat past the swinging girl and thought about the exchange between the passenger and the conductor. If I was that conductor, I would not have talked to him in that way, instead I would have given him a way out, such as returning to his seat and remaining there until Los Angeles. We finally left Oxnard and went to Simi Valley where we incurred another lengthy delay as the Los Angeles County sheriffs removed the drunken passenger and they put him against the station's railing and searched him in full view of everyone in the lounge car. Out of his inside right coat pocket came a gun and from his left inside pocket came a seven-inch knife.

After losing another forty-seven minutes, the train made the remaining miles into Los Angeles without any further incidents then at Los Angeles Union Station, I enjoyed the opportunithy to step off the train as the crw attached a locomotive to the rear three cars and we departed, now running backwards as Train 511. I arrived home at Santa Ana only forty-five minutes late with the Western Amtrak routes now completely ridden sober. My next project was to plan a trip east to work on completing the entire Amtrak system sober.

Note: On May 10th, 1997 Amtrak lost the routes of the Desert Wind and Pioneer.

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