Member Since: 11 May 2006
Location: Off again! :-)
Posts: 72829
And scenery now completely changed, we’re in the positively Bad Lands.
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27th Jan 2023 11:56 pm
DSL Keeper of the wheelie bin
Member Since: 11 May 2006
Location: Off again! :-)
Posts: 72829
27th Jan 2023 11:57 pm
Moo D3 Decade
Member Since: 13 Aug 2010
Location: Wiltshire
Posts: 13977
Luckily your limited follicle coverage makes you significantly less attractive for scalping. New Defender L663 110 SE (known as Noddy!)
Sold Volvo XC90 R-Design (known as Basil)
Sold - D4 HSE (Known as Gerty)
No longer the Old Buses original owner
231,000 miles and counting
05 S manual owned from March 2005
D4 Face lifted
Still original injectors and turbo
V8 Front brakes
BAS Remap, Allisport Intercooler and deCat
EGRs blanked
T-Max split charge
Hanibal Expeedition rack
Prospeed ladder
Duratrac tyres
IID BT
BAS FBH control
28th Jan 2023 12:46 am
DSL Keeper of the wheelie bin
Member Since: 11 May 2006
Location: Off again! :-)
Posts: 72829
I did look up towards the cliffs nervously, they were just like in the old Westerns!
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But it’s the old adage, I don’t have to out run the scalpers, I just have to outrun SWMBO.
28th Jan 2023 12:51 am
stew 46
Member Since: 01 Dec 2011
Location: cornwall
Posts: 10146
Great pics as usual Del -------------------------------------------------
if you cant hold on dont let go , it ill come in handy for something even if you never use it.
D3 SE 05,
110 s wagon 300 tdi SOLD
h top transit
crew cab transit
transit connect
ausa dumper, muck truck .
peljob 2.5 digger
06 L 200 crew cab
28th Jan 2023 1:03 am
DSL Keeper of the wheelie bin
Member Since: 11 May 2006
Location: Off again! :-)
Posts: 72829
Will have a look at the pics taken today and post some of the good ones, it’s been a great day.
We’re here at the mo, unfortunately about an hour behind schedule. We didn’t get that on the Italian railways!
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Today has been a great day riding the rails. From Denver, up through the Rockies, through the big tunnel (that cut off a 128 mile section) straight into the snow. We saw lots of Elk (US equiv of Red Deer we think), Bald Eagles (not to be confused with Bald Beagles), no mooses and what we’ve been told was prob a coyote being chased by our own loco. We thought it might be a wolf but were told it was a bit small for a wolf. He certainly was enjoying holding up the train!
As said, will post pics of the scenery later, just finish on food pics for those that skipped breakie. Purely to show Amtrak is like.
We ate in our roomette tonight, much easier and no squishing into the dining car. The coconut prawn (they call them shrimp) was gorgeous.
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Mrs DSL had salmon but no veggies (stuffed from lunch) but it came with a really tastie strawberry.
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We Googled salmon and strawberry and found it was a classic combo. Every day’s a school day!
The pud to die for. It was described as chocolate and coffee mouse, in reality no coffee and enough chocolate to sink a battleship! Absolutely hit the spot, esp with half a very tastie strawberry.
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Food on this Amtrak route has been pretty good, plus it’s included in the ticket. We brought some more vino with us ($10 vs $30 charged on the train) so happy days.
Final pic before bedtime, well our bedtime, gorgeous sunset over the Moab badlands, while passing an empty lumber carrier.
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Now it’s pitch black and can’t see a thing. Night all. And may your bed be roomier than mine!
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28th Jan 2023 3:09 am
ianm27
Member Since: 02 Jun 2016
Location: Hertfordshire
Posts: 2154
Great pics and travelogue Del
Now you see ...if the diet was working.......plenty of room in that bunk bed Uncle Ray's spare wheel protector
Limo Tint
Blackvue front & rear dashcam
Cruise control switch pack
Bodsy's remote for FBH
28th Jan 2023 1:04 pm
DSL Keeper of the wheelie bin
Member Since: 11 May 2006
Location: Off again! :-)
Posts: 72829
And GOOOOOOOOOOOD MORNING NEVADA!!
Off across the plains before hitting the mountains again. An hour and a bit late but that’s better than 16 hours late as earlier this week!
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Should be a good scenic day, lots of snow up high.
28th Jan 2023 4:16 pm
Gareth Site Moderator
Member Since: 07 Dec 2004
Location: Bramhall
Posts: 26717
Cowboy country! It must feel vast. I remember when we flew back from Lax to Lhr a few years back, I had a window seat and it was a morning flight. We seemed to be flying over wilderness for hours!
28th Jan 2023 5:42 pm
kajtzu
Member Since: 11 Aug 2017
Location: Helsinki
Posts: 6584
Indian country
28th Jan 2023 6:17 pm
DSL Keeper of the wheelie bin
Member Since: 11 May 2006
Location: Off again! :-)
Posts: 72829
No arrows in side of train so all well.
Mind you, they could have clubbed us with their snow shoes!
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Back down at sea level, looking forward to our hotel in SF.
29th Jan 2023 12:28 am
DSL Keeper of the wheelie bin
Member Since: 11 May 2006
Location: Off again! :-)
Posts: 72829
What a railway journey! 2,480 miles, same as Nantes to North Cape in 54 hours. Not bad that it was only 1 hour late. OK, was a bit tight on the sleeping accommodation and the train honked its way all across the continent but well worth doing. It was a bit of a pain having the booked day’s train cancelled but we managed to rejig everything as we’d booked accommodation in one day slots so we had max flexibility.
A few pics to give a feel for the trip.
Not many worth while pics from the first day, mainly coz it was dark. The first bit that were interesting (and light) was after we headed out of Denver and started crawling up the Rockies.
Heading uphill. We got a good slot in the observation car, although they had a policy of kicking everyone out every couple of hours to swap between sleeper and coach peeps.
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More elk than you can shake a stick at! We saw them at that altitude and higher, was a bit creepy seeing an elk’s head on the frozen river on the way down, reminded us there were predators out there! No pic, pos just as well!
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Going down The Rockies was a different ball game, it was snow Central with ski places and hot springs. It was there that we picked up the hour delay due to frozen points but it was pretty good sitting in a nice warm carriage watching the snow falling.
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SWEEEEEEET old Jeep left out to pasture.
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Near the beginning of the Colorado River, frozen over in places.
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OK, where were we? Just been down for happy hour (free vino) and chin wag with fellow travellers.
Lots of snow, and snowing, on the way down The Rockies. Was nice watching the snow, knowing we weren’t going out in it and it was nice and toastie in the train. Plus they had plentiful supplies if we got stuck.
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Once it was dark after dropping down there was nothing to see apart from food and sleeping accommodation, hence no pics.
Once sun was up it it was badlands, see prev pics. Lots and lots and lots of flat desert with the odd hill/mountain sticking up.
TBC
Last edited by DSL on 30th Jan 2023 5:34 am. Edited 2 times in total
30th Jan 2023 2:46 am
DSL Keeper of the wheelie bin
Member Since: 11 May 2006
Location: Off again! :-)
Posts: 72829
And up the Sierra Nevadas. The route up was pretty but unspectacular, bit of snow but nothing cf what was to come.
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Then over the top. Once on the W side we could see what peeps were talking about re the serious snow. Looks like where the rest of California was having serious rain, it was snow up here. It was difficult to photograph the beauty of the snow, esp the sun sparkle on the surface, but we’re talking easily 3m of snow where we could see a cut section.
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Then a painfully slow descent down to sea level and chug to final train station and shuttle bus to SF.
Great bridges, but not that bridge.
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Introduction to SF traffic, the lines fit the Bay Bridge toll. Luckily bus had a sneaky route to avoid the chaos.
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And finally our hotel. We’d been upgraded to a lovely corner room with fab views, thanks to Amtrak we were only there for one night.
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Which brings us to today. Walk to the infamous Union Square, which looked positively lovely today. More on that later.
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Big of a gallery visit, more art.
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Mandatory severed noggin.
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Then to the GGB, back to doing the tourist bit.
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Good to see Radar O’Realy has taken time off checking speeds in Ottumwa Iowa to give the SFPD a hand.
And finally the transport from one hotel to the one at Fisherman’s Wharf. Not this one, but had to take a pic.
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But this one.
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Note the SWEEEEEEET winders for the windows.
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Great day today, off to USS Hornet tomorrow.
30th Jan 2023 4:32 am
DSL Keeper of the wheelie bin
Member Since: 11 May 2006
Location: Off again! :-)
Posts: 72829
OK, and the elephant in the room when travelling across the US. The level of homelessness/begging in NY and Chicago was similar to Europe, however as we headed W it increased dramatically. Along the railroad tracks around Denver it was much more noticeable, but entering and leaving Reno it was much, much higher still (trying not to use the word “worse”). Then in Sacramento (along tracks) and SF it was even higher. Walking from the bus drop off to the hotel, only about 1km but in the dark, became more challenging. It’s not often we look at the route to the hotel (in a nice area) and are treating each road as a go/no-go challenge. Fair few outreach peeps on the street, who always greeted two tourists that looked like fish out of water with cheery “hello”, but seemed like a bandaid fit the problem. Wishing them luck.
One major contrast between NY & Chicago and here is the sheer law enforcement presence in those cities, here it’s virtually nothing. I’d estimate the difference as at least 1, if not 2, orders of magnitude. Obviously “defund the police” is in action big time. Whether that’s a good or bad thing is a point of view, just making an observation.
30th Jan 2023 5:18 am
Moo D3 Decade
Member Since: 13 Aug 2010
Location: Wiltshire
Posts: 13977
It's the mental health issues you see in SF that is really sad. They just seem to have been thrown out by society, it's very sad.
If you're heading off to Sausalito, Scoma's is good for lunch. Gets busy though.
No longer the Old Buses original owner
231,000 miles and counting
05 S manual owned from March 2005
D4 Face lifted
Still original injectors and turbo
V8 Front brakes
BAS Remap, Allisport Intercooler and deCat
EGRs blanked
T-Max split charge
Hanibal Expeedition rack
Prospeed ladder
Duratrac tyres
IID BT
BAS FBH control
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