We waited on the platform as the train backed in and then found our way to our roomette and deposited our gear. We hung out on the platform taking pictures as long as we could. I thought about trying to recreate the 1963 picture of me in front of the locomotive of the Super Chief in pretty much the same location, but couldn't figure out how to do it. This was due to lighting and difficulty of getting near the engines, but it was also because I doubted we could find anyone willing (or strong enough) to hold me up to the engineer's cab.
The train pulled out on time, winding south along the bucolic Los Angeles River, then cutting cross country through desert scrub and orange groves towards Fullerton (this is supposed to funny!). We were in the dining car at dusk while passing through Riverside and were back to our car when the train pulled into San Bernardino (nice station). We watched the long line of semis climbing the grade towards Cajon Pass and then watched their lights stretching into the desert to the north.
We climbed into bed somewhere in the Mojave Desert east of Barstow. And slept through much of Arizona. I woke for some really rough track near Kingman and again when we stopped at 5AM in Flagstaff. The sun rose over the painted desert east of Winslow and we had breakfast passing through Gallup NM. We pulled into Albuquerque a little early and found a cab to take us to the Hertz lot at ABQ.
It would have been nice to stay on the train to Chicago - maybe next time!
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