Jake’s on a Train, Day 5

California Zephyr, done!

Hi friends: I'm writing from San Rafael, California. It's just before 11 p.m. Pacific Time. And I have completed the California Zephyr! All the way from Chicago to Emeryville.

I woke up this morning near Bliss, Nevada. We went through the desert, to the Tahoe National Forest, to California suburbs, to San Francisco.

Imlay, NV.

Floriston, CA.

Truckee, CA.

The train stopped quite a few times throughout the day to let freight trains pass, which meant we got to Emeryville more than three hours behind schedule. That's unsurprising—Amtrak doesn't own any of the track that composes the California Zephyr route. About half is owned by BSNF and the other half by Union Pacific. So, obviously, the freight trains get priority over passenger rail, because we’re using the freighters’ tracks. And the freighters in the Pacific Northwest are being redirected out of there to avoid wildfires. That's why our train was late. (This paragraph is written specifically in case the angry lady from my aisle comes across my blog. Call your Senator instead of getting mad at the workers, please. They can buy the tracks! It wouldn’t even be that expensive.)

The Union Pacific cars are beautiful, though.

My friend Sid picked me up from Emeryville. We got some Korean BBQ for dinner and drove back to his apartment in San Rafael. On that drive, I learned about Karl, the fog that hangs over the Bay. It's a little spooky, a little apocalyptic. I thought at first it might have been wildfire-related. Turns out San Francisco is just a weird place with the right land-sea temperature-pressure gradient for fog.

Here’s my illustration of what Karl is.

Tomorrow, more San Francisco! I'm here until August 1, when I take off on the Coast Starlight for Los Angeles.

–JBG