Eleven thirty arrives and it is time for lunch. I go in to the dining car and the man takes my ticket. I am seated with a couple that are going to Vancouver for a few days and then will take the cruise ship back to Los Angeles. They are retired and live in Irvine. They tell me that they are both California natives with the women being a forth generation. She says her grandson loves telling people that he is a 6th generation Californian. They have a pretty good vegetarian menu with many salads, pastas and sandwiches. I go for the vegeburger. Good stuff and then top it off with vanilla ice cream. After lunch then back to the room for our arrival into Santa Barbara. We glide along the edge of the ocean with the clouds hanging low and just gently touching the tips of the hills next to us. I hear the server pointing the clouds out to an associate. The train whistle constantly is blowing as we slide through the coastal neighborhoods of Santa Barbara. Suddenly as we arrive at the station the sun comes out in full brightness. Other than the occasional announcements and the blowing of the room fans, there is silence in my room.
At 2:30 pm we stopped in order to let rail traffic pass. I took the opportunity to move to the Parlor car and check it out. Other than myself there are 3 other people inside the car. A guy I was sitting with at lunch says that each rounded window in the cab costs $7,000. He talked with the maintenance man one time while he was riding. He has ridden this train close to 20 times. He owns a house in Vancouver he purchased 8 years ago. The parlor cab was built in 1956 and is one of the main attractions to the trip.
I spent the remainder of the afternoon in the plush comfort of the parlor cab. At times falling asleep while viewing the rolling dry hills paralleling the 101. I went to an early first dinner at 5:20 PM and sat with a young lady and her 29 month old boy, Adam. They were on their way to Tacoma to visit relatives. Adam specializes in smashing cheese pizza on his face.
After dinner I retired to the observation car where I am typing this blog. The sun is now low in the sky and the we are passing through flat land crops. The sprinklers are going strong and when you look into the direction of the sun you see a sea of fountains holding hands into the far distance. We pass these islands as we traverse the plains toward the North.
People love to wave at trains. I catch glimpses of people here and there in streets, yards, parks and houses all waving passionately. I think that all want to be on the train and leave what they are currently doing behind. While sitting in the parlor I caught sight of a small child waving from a miniature attic window. I doubt that anyone else on this train would have noticed the child and I wondered how many times that child would have waved over the course of weeks and months that had passed. We will be pulling into Salinas in a few minutes.
We stopped at Salinas for a few minutes and then left for San Jose. At San Jose we stopped for about 20 minutes and I got off the train for some air. It really was time to get off and try to forget about the rocking motion. Most of the passengers got off and walked around a bit. I talked to the guy that lives in Vancouver for awhile because he is a fountain of information regarding trains. He says that every Amtrak train employee has stories from the past. He went on to describe a running gun battle that one employee had recited to him from the early 80s.
At 9:00 pm Paul came by the room and turned down the bed. He said that the bottom bed was better because it was less claustrophobic. He had slept on the top bed twice and did not like the feeling. We are now outside of San Jose and the night is pitch black with the exception of a few small lights on the horizon. The train whistle continues to blow. I wonder if it is the engineer just pushing buttons for something to do.
I read for awhile and then turn the lights off. At times the train moves quickly and you have the feeling that you might be thrown from your bed, but all in all the night goes well and you eventually you drift off to sleep.
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