©Countrybagging.com
Day 20 - Fri 28 April 06
Breakfast on board at 07:30 and then a walk to locate the Amtrak station - great, it's just around the corner. I then headed into new Sacramento and up to the Capitol building where I took a guided tour - very informative, but I didn't manage to see Arnold. Back to the Delta King to checkout and lugged my stuff up to the station. The California Zypher arrived on time, I stowed my bag, and headed for lunch.
After lunch there was a brief stop at Colefax and then the train started the climb into the mountains. It's strange that I can remember the same views from two years ago, but I think that there is more snow up here this time. The carriage is either new, or just been refurbished. Everything is clean and works (apart from the 120v supply in my room). We've just passed Donner Lake and we're heading for Truckee and Reno. The lake is set high in the mountains, and there's a lot more snow up here.
Truckee seems like a nice place, a bit like Flagstaff with an old main street right next to the station. Reno has changed a bit since I was last here. They have finished the cutting, so the train now runs through the city 33 feet below the surface - you can't see a thing, but at least the city isn't cut in half every time a train comes through.
Supper was turkey and rice, one of my table-mates suggested that I should visit Devils Tower, it's the rock that was used in Close Encounters of the Third Time, and it's close to Mt. Rushmore.
NextView my route through the USA here
You haven't got JavaScript enabled - you're missing out