In My Life

Last night we had our first accident. Both of us were having trouble getting to sleep so I figured I’d move back one row to a spare seat on the other side of the aisle, where I could still see Glenys and she could stretch out on two seats. Eventually I got to sleep, but when I woke a couple of hours later I found Glenys missing. First, I went downstairs to the toilets and called out her name: no answer. I thought it best to go back to my original seat and wait for her to return. What I didn’t know was that she had moved my laptop up on to my seat with a few other things. In the dark I could see the other things, but against the dark blue seat I didn’t see my black MacBook, and I sat on it. I thought nothing of it at the time, but later when I turned it on I saw that the screen was broken – half blank, the other half a mix of OK viewing, streaks of blue and red lines, and floating pixels.
Meanwhile Glenys returned – she had headed in the wrong direction to find the bathroom and ended up in another carriage. That’s not hard to do in daylight, let alone in the dark. We often head off to the dining car in the wrong direction; and to find your seats you’ve got to be alert.
I am hoping the travel insurance will cover the repairs or replacement of the MacBook, but there may not be too many photos on the blog until that is worked out. Yesterday’s treasure trove of pictures is safe, I can see them, just can’t upload them to the blog because that part of the screen is blank.
God willing, by 4.00pm this afternoon we will be in San Francisco after 72 hours of travel. Tonight we will see to it that we sleep like well-fed babies with the help of a Melatonin tablet. It promotes sleep and wards off jet lag. Except for getting to Los Angeles next Tuesday, this could be our last train trip before we catch the plane back to Australia.
This morning we’ve been through moonlike deserts in Nevada, and now we are back in mountaintop evergreen forests after passing through beautiful Lake Tahoe. It’s all like the Oregon scenery we came across back in Week One. Soon we will cross the border into California.

Crystal clear creeks, steep escarpments, dramatic rock formations, barren hills, evergreen hills, and trees with leaves already fallen – the Rockies are all that and more. This is one place I’d love to explore in a car and on foot. I guess this is also just like the Grand Canyon with diagonal, rather than horizontal, layers of rocky sediment, everything from volcanic red to ashen white. Dotted along the way are log cabins and luxury houses and skiing lodges.
Right now I can see an orange-coloured cliff hovering menacingly above our train.
Since this morning we’ve been followed by a strange cloud formation. Now the cliffs are cream-colored. The leaves of just a few trees are yellow: still haven’t been blown away. These views bring back to mind scenes from cowboy movies. Now up ahead, I can see newer and higher mountains with areas gouged out by what must have been madly rushing waters. Now the mountain sides are shades of ochre towering over wide open valleys. Though I’ve never been to Uluru, this reminds me of it – but this is no monolith, but a fully blown range of mountain ranges. Sometimes words cannot describe. The foothills on the left look like the paws of some extinct creature.
I am stopping continually to photograph the evidence I’ll need to prove what I’ve written. Thankfully the train is moving slowly as we wait for a goods train to pass by. Many of my photos have been through dirty train windows but if the settings are right they turn out okay. This is certainly picture postcard country.
There are no showers for coach class passengers like us, but this morning I gave myself a sponge down and a change of fresh underwear. Feels good. We still have 26 hours to go on this the California Zephyr before we reach San Francisco. By then, we will have passed through: Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas (just), Colorado, Utah, Nevada, and California.
Tunnel coming up.
Those creeks have become the Colorado River and we are down beside it and are dwarfed by the canyon on either side of us. And now there is a super double decker highway on the other side of the river – sometimes disappearing in tunnels. Now we see a dam and locks. Every bend brings new wonders of both creation and engineering.
I’m afraid Mt Coot-tha and Mt Coolum are anything but mountains.

Had much better sleep and more of it last night. Yesterday ended with a spectacular sunset and this morning we were greeted with an even better sunrise. We now climb through the Rockies. Denver was 28F which is below zero. We had intended staying here, but didn’t have enough time on the rail pass, glad we aren’t. We don’t have clothes for those temperatures. I can see the mountains now as we settle into another day on the train. It’s Glenys’s 62nd birthday so we celebrated with bagels and coffee, with cream cheese, grape jam, and chopped bananas.
Last night we ate with a couple from here – they’ve been down the Mississippi on a steamboat – we crossed the river yesterday.
These mountains are high!!! and dry so far.

The mood is swinging and Romney is getting good press even from the liberal media like TIME and The Washington Post. There’s a sticker that has instead of Hope 2008, Nope 2012. Perhaps Barack has had enough and achieved his dream of being the first black president, for he seems to lack the killer instinct right now when he needs it to win.

We got back here today after quite an uncomfortable night. We had been warned not to take seats near the doors, but, for the first time, we were allotted seats before we boarded, and that’s where we were placed. All through the night the restless and the double minded kept going back and forth through our doors and making a racket. Besides that, our leg rests were not fully functioning, so our legs were neither up nor down. We both got some sleep, but not nearly enough.
This morning we had a couple of spare hours before we board the California Zephyr to San Francisco – it will be our longest unbroken journey. We walked uptown to our favorite cafe – The Corner Bakery Cafe – for a coffee and one last slice of their famous Cinnamon Cream Cake. We were not disappointed. It was quite a hike that probably took the distance we’ve walked so far well over the 100 miles mark. Last time it was 80F but, today, two weeks later, it’s 50F/10C; and windy!!!!
Here at Union Station the passengers are rolling up and those with stored luggage are all struggling to unlock the lockers. We are hoping for good seats this time.

Winter weather (for us, anyway) has set in. Fall has come suddenly to Maryland after being late. Last evening we went with the Thomsens to a neighborhood gathering – to eat freshly-smoked meat (very tender) and a dozen side dishes. Being Aussies we were given a warm welcome and had several discussions, including a lengthy talk with Aaron, a Cambodian refugee, who together with his siblings escaped the killing fields. He and a couple of others had Australian connections or had visited our land.

When we got back ‘home’ we watched “The Phantom of the Opera” stopping midway to voice our opinions and wonder about its popularity. The DVD was a gift from Mariel’s boyfriend and that made us curious about why he liked it. For sure, the phantom is a creepy guy, but Jim could see some biblical undertones such as the name of the heroine, Christine, and her willingness to save for fiancé.

Before we caught this train, Jim and Mariel took us to Arlington Cemetery where we saw the graves of JFK and brother Robert. We were also able to catch the changing of the guard at the tomb of the unknown soldier. After homemade sandwiches, chips, and plums, we went past the MLK monument, and then to the 9/11 memorial at the Pentagon. The number of American lives lost in wars and attacks comes home to you when you see all the names and the endless rows of graves at Arlington. What a cost!

Jim and Jayne and their girls have been wonderful hosts and we left hoping we could reciprocate one day.

At Union Station we bought a few supplies for this leg of the journey west to San Francisco. To our surprise the countryside all the way out of Washington and on to Chicago is quite spectacular; and the leaves are starting to turn and fall. Once again it’s the rivers and mountains that make this country so different from ours. If we ever get the chance to return, I would like to drive and discover the little places between the big cities. Also found the forests leading into the capital very impressive and the Potomac River with its rapids and canoeists.