As I haven't been traveling as much this year as last, it's unlikely that I'll be able to retain Platinum status in Priority Club (I might hold Gold), so all I can do is enjoy the upgrades this year. The Central Point property upgraded me to a mini-suite, so I spread out a bit. For dinner, I went over to the grocery store on the other side of the freeway, brought back some chicken and a microwave side dish, and ate dinner while watching tennis on ESPN2. After dinner, as twilight faded away, I went out back of the hotel to walk the northern half-mile of the Bear Creek Trail -- the hotel is near the northern end at milepost 25.5 on the trail. Circling back to the hotel, I put in even more steps on the treadmill, then changed into my swimsuit and sat in the hot tub for 15 minutes and let the jets pound away at my sore muscles. (I haven't been working as hard as poor Lisa climbing all over That Darn Roof, but I still have been working.)

For the first time in quite a while, I feel very much at ease, and I expect to sleep well tonight. Pity I still have over 500 miles to drive tomorrow.

As I mentioned a few days ago, we mailed three boxes of our own stuff back to ourselves from Montreal, but they hadn't arrived as of Friday. I was resigned to Lisa having to re-mail them to me or possibly bring them down in October if she gets to attend SiliCon. This morning, while Lisa and I were working on the roof, the owner of the hardware store in which Mehama's post office is located came looking for us -- it's that kind of a small town, and Lisa's father's property is right over the back fence from his store; besides, we're good customers. He wanted to let us know that the boxes had arrived.

After we finished the yard work and I went to get a shower, Lisa went and collected the boxes. Well, two of them. One of them hasn't arrived yet, even though we mailed all three of them at the same time. Fortunately, the two that did arrive were the ones that mostly had my stuff in them, and the one that's stuck in transit somewhere is mostly Lisa's stuff. She got her things out of the two boxes and put them in the back of my van.

When we went to the dining car for our 6:45 reservation, shortly after our train left San Luis Obispo, our mood, particularly Lisa's, was extremely gloomy. In an attempt to try and make it less bad for the people in the coaches, Amtrak staff announced that meals for coach passengers would be complimentary (beverages and desserts were extra).

( Dinner of Impending Doom )

We ate our crab cakes and watched passengers board at the train's Salinas stop, feeling sympathy for them having to wait so long to have to ride but one stop before the Dreaded Buses. Because of the comp meals, there was a higher-than-usual demand for food, and the crew had asked us not to tarry. We helped by asking for a couple of ice creams to go. Just as we were getting up to trudge back to our compartment, the conductor made an announcement that changed everything: The latest word from the site of the burned area was that the trestle appeared sufficiently sound to allow our train to pass after all, albeit at reduced speed, and that we would not be forced off the train, into buses, and dumped into Sacramento station for an all-night vigil there waiting for #11.

The passengers in the dining car burst into applause. An echo of cheers came drifting in from the parlor and observation cars ahead of and behind us. Lisa led the cheers, and skipped down the center aisle, singing, "We ain't gonna ride no buses! We ain't gonna ride no buses!" I'm not sure her feet actually touched the ground as we went back to our compartment.

( Who cares about a delay? We can sleep! )

Lisa was vastly more cheerful knowing that she didn't have to get off the train and get on icky old buses. She happily started up her computer and went back to work building amusement parks in Roller Coaster Tycoon 2.

( At the Burned Bridge )

We were running hours late, but we're happy. Lisa convinced our car attendant to leave us be, and told me not to wake her up tomorrow morning, so if I want to go to breakfast, I have to get up and about quietly. To be honest, the idea of sleeping late appeals to me, too. I turned the alarm clock off and fell asleep shortly after our train cleared Newark Junction, heading for Oakland and points north.

The day got off to a very nice start and was looking very good, but turned sour in the afternoon.

( Leaving Los Angeles, heading for the scenic line )

San Luis Obispo is a "smoko" rest stop because of the scheduled crew change ther. I ran inside the station to see if they had any Coca-Cola, but their machines were Pepsi products, although I scored a Mug Root Beer for Lisa and trotted back to the train.

( Our travel luck runs out )

Lisa and I went up to Little Tokyo today, intending to use the Gold Line light rail (after taking the Red Line subway back to Union Station), but discovered the hard way that the Gold Line extension that direction isn't open yet. However, we could and did walk over and have lunch in Little Tokyo. There was a festival happening in Little Tokyo, and aside from the overly-loud music, Lisa enjoyed walking through and looking at all of the booths. On the far side of the performance stage, beyond range of the over-amped sound, there were some travel-related booths. Lisa ended up talking to a nice Japanese woman who was much taken with Lisa and offered her a business card. A man there said "This woman was a famous film star in her day," and we later looked her up: Yoko Sugi, who was indeed in a number of movies as far back as at least 1950.

( Lisa turns on the charm )

( Getting full value for our rail passes )

( An epiphany in convenience stores )

Sorry we have no photos tonight. We took lots of them, but got back so late that we don't have the time or energy to process any of them. We may get some done on the train, but thus won't get them uploaded until we get back to Oregon.