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Published: October 24th 2016
Train to Sacramento, over Donner Pass and into Reno, Nevada
6:15 am and we're having coffee in the pitch black, in the car, in a parking lot off the Union Pacific Railroad tracks in Fresno, California. I am crying.
At 6 am Cope dropped me off at the front door of the train station and waited, while I ran in to get a parking permit so we could leave the car in the fenced parking lot next to the station. Made my way across the dimly lit exterior of the building and into the brightly lit waiting room. Lots of folks in line… old, young, those who looked more affluent and those who looked less so. Looked like the united nations of train depots. Long snaking line to get to the ticket agents but it was moving pretty fast as I stepped in.
There were three windows. Windows two and three were moving along but at window 1, there was a young woman with a black rolling bag, a red backpack and long shiny hair down to her waist in a ponytail. It was clear that she was having a problem of some sort and the ticket agent
was having none of it. Within the echoing high ceilinged station I could hear her saying, “But you don’t understand. I have been here since 10 last night and they told me at the last station that this ticket would take me all the way home”. Clearly she didn’t like the agent’s response as she started crying and saying “But I don’t have $24”. She was distraught and I could see her as she sat on a bench and pulled out her purse with some crumpled $1 bills but not nearly $24. She was quietly saying, “What am I going to do, what am I going to do?”
I got my parking permit and then went over to her and said, “Are you okay?” She said, “Not really”, but thanks for asking”. I said, “Would $20 help you?” She looked up at me and said, “You’d do that for me”? I said “Yes, if it would help you”. Next thing I knew I was enveloped in such a tight hug I could barely breathe with her saying over and over, “I can’t believe this, you’d help me, a stranger and you'd help me. Thank you, thank you, I can't
internet stock photo
San Joaquin Valley and the Sierra Nevadasbelieve this”. I wish her well and head for the car.
So I’m in the car crying like a baby and trying to get myself together to get on the train. That $20 meant so little to me and so much to her. A good start to the day.
The San Joaquin is 10 minutes late and that’s good as I need some extra time ;-). We board car 1 and take the stairs up to the passenger deck on the second level. We find a table and put our stuff underneath. Its semi dark on the train and there are people sleeping in their seats all over the train. Many started out from San Diego in the wee hours or got on along the way. Across from us at another table are a young couple zonked out.
As we are getting settled we hear the conductor say that if you want a smoke break, step outside but don’t leave the platform as we will be leaving in about 10 minutes. The guy across from us leaves his girlfriend (we later find out) and heads out for a smoke break. A few minutes later announcements are made
that we’re leaving and for everyone to be on board. The train starts to slowly move out. Just as we start to move the “’girlfriend”, dressed in a sequined bathing suit top and sweatpants starts to scream and cry and run up and down the aisle shouting, “Oh no, oh no, I have to stop the train!”. What the heck? It seems we have left the boyfriend, who needed a smoke, behind. Yikes! Girlfriend is frantic, she’s close to hysterical and the conductor comes to see what’s wrong. He lets her know they will not be stopping the train and the next train station is about 30 miles north in Madera. Girlfriend gets on her phone to boyfriend and they are both talking so loudly we can hear both sides of the conversation. She’s crying and evidently he is saying he’ll try to find a way to get to Madera. She finally sits down and slowly stops sobbing. She looks across the aisle at me and says, “How far is Madera?” I say, “About 30 miles, are you okay?” She tells me that her boyfriend has their tickets, all their money and credit cards. About then her phone rings and
the boyfriend is going to take the Greyhound Bus to Madera to catch up with the train. She seems calmer.
Cope and I don’t say a word but we know that the Greyhound Station is a long, long way from the Madera station, and in fact, the Madera station is not a station at all but a stopping place with some benches, cover and restroom. Boyfriend has told her to wait there, he will come for her.
As we approach Madera the conductor says this will be a quick stop, so have your things ready and head to the lower level. Girlfriend just sits there. Cope says, “You might want to get ready they only stop for a minute here”. She doesn’t move. The conductor says we’re stopping. She starts to get up but now she has to gather not only her own things but the boyfriend’s too. I jump up to help her take her 6 bags down and loop them all over her body. As she starts off, the conductor says, “All aboard” and the last we see of Girlfriend is her trying to run down the aisle and down the narrow stairs with luggage flying
all around her, crying and screaming, “No, No don’t close the doors, I have to get off, I have to get off”. The train starts, stops and she’s on the platform. Whew!
We are laughing, you just can't make up this stuff... life is crazy, wonderful, sad and special all at the same time.
The sun begins to rise over the Sierra Nevada’s and people get on and off, all along the San Joaquin Valley route. We pass by olive orchards, pistachio orchards, vineyards, dairies, wheat fields, corn fields, almonds and peaches, wineries and every type of crop imaginable. This the San Joaquin Valley. Over 22,000 square miles between the California Coast Range and the Sierra Nevadas.
WE sit back. I’m happy to say the rest of the trip to Sacramento was uneventful. Had some coffee, read our books, watched the beautiful valley scenery go by. Next stop Stockton where we board an Amtrak bus to Sacramento Valley Station in downtown Sacramento. This hour ride was easy too. We found ourselves with 90 minutes to walk down to the Starbucks. As we were watching people a couple of men were standing on the curb in the hot
sun, trying to call for their ride. One of the guys said he was thirsty and needed some water. He looked into the Starbucks but the line was just too long so he decided to pass. Sooo… what the heck, we had 2 bottles of water. I took one over to him and asked if he’d like it, we had an extra. He looked at me like I was from outer space, then a big smile, a quick hug and a quiet thank you so much, as he opened it and drank it down in a couple of big gulps. As they walked off he turned around to say, “Thank you again, so much”.
Well, this has been quite an amazingly good day and its only 10:30am LOL!
Off to find the platform for the California Zephyr to take us across the Sierra Nevada’s to Reno. We’re a little confused about which platform and how to get there but I see an “Amtrak guy” in greasy overalls and an Amtrak vest and figure he probably knows where it is. Well, not only does he know, he walks us all the way there. Of course we chat along the
way. Turns out he is from Ghana and has been here 15 years. He knows of the places I have been in Mali and we chat about the political situation there. He loves working for Amtrak. He will have a good pension one day which he would not have in Ghana, he tells me. He leaves us on the platform.
Just before the train is due in “my Amtrak guy” sees us on the platform and comes over and tells us to move to section J as that will be the best place for us to board. Nice to have friends who know these things ;-) Turns out he is right.
The next few hours are spent going over the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Through Roseville and Rocklin and Auburn and Colfax and Truckee then down into Nevada. This is a spectacular part of our country. The train goes through farmland and through valleys of the American River and the Truckee River. We go to 5900 feet. We see pine forests, old abandoned gold mining towns and trees just starting to turn colors intermingled with the tall pine evergreen forests. We go through tunnels and “snow tunnels”. We have docents from the Sacramento Railroad Museum on board, and we hear about the Donner Party and about the time in 1952 when the train was stuck in 16 feet of snow for 4 days. We meet people heading east. Some coming from San Francisco and others traveling all over the United States. We talk to people from New Zealand.
We decide to have lunch on board (even though we brought snacks), just to meet some more folks. We are seated with the Mayor of Davis, California who tells us all about cities trying to make bicycles a more mainstream method of transportation and we also sit with a gentleman from the University of California at Berkeley who is web guru of some sort.
At 4pm we arrive in Reno to a beautiful afternoon.
Next (in a couple of days): Why we w
ent to Reno…. The Golden Boys- Frankie Avalon, Bobby Rydell and Fabian!
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Rafael P.
non-member comment
Nice start!
Look forward to hearing about the Adventure Duo's trip!