Last month, I took the train from Denver to Emeryville, Calif. The trip was quite an experience, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.
My husband and I are retired. We have been waiting for an opportunity to take a trip out to California to visit our son in Berkeley. At one point, California restricted travel. Once the state opened up again, we were keen to get out of the house and to do some sightseeing.
My husband and I are retired so we have the time to spend on a train trip that takes 33 hours to cross the mountains of Colorado and the deserts and scrub deserts of Utah and Nevada. The only trick is to figure out the sleeping arrangements. Another time I took the train, I slept in coach in the chair, which was comfortable enough but not ideal. This time, we thought we would treat ourselves and get a sleeper car.
Turns out the sleeper car cost $600, in addition to the $150 fare, which seemed like quite a splurge. Until we discovered, while onboard the train and heading through the magnificent Glenwood Canyon, that we won the jackpot. Only those who paid for sleeper cars were invited into the dining car. The dining car provided both excellent service from the wait staff as well as excellent meals. White tablecloths and fresh flowers were the finishing touches.
The dining car also provided another benefit because we were seated with other passengers. We easily fell into conversation with the sundry people riding the train. (Not too sundry if they too could afford the sleeper option.)
The other time I was on the California Zephyr, we met all sorts of people from around the world. Tourists from Europe or Asia like to take the train across the country. They can tour New York and then zip across country and visit California.
This time, there were no foreign tourists on board. Our borders are still closed, due to COVID-19. The people we met were bonafide Americans. We met a newlywed young couple who were fine with squeezing into a single berth in the sleeper car. That says a lot for their newly wed status– and youth! My husband and I tried to get comfortable in the 2 bunk beds provided. Not as spacious as we hoped, especially for older folk whose agility is questionable.
Another couple we met was an elderly mother and her middle-aged son. She was 93 years old. She was quite a talker. She told us all about her travels around the world when she was younger. She was a serious traveler and thrilled to be on the train. She said she has always enjoyed trains. She even listened to my tales of traveling in South America 50 years ago. Few people would let me babble on.
Another gentleman, who appeared well into his 60s, was traveling solo. He was eager to tell us about his work as a woodworker and show us photos of his pieces. He had patches of psoriasis on his legs, and his fingers were swollen like sausages. To my doctor’s eye, he had the markings of psoriatic arthritis. But I did not have the heart to engage him with my off-the-cuff diagnosis. I have no idea how he still has the fine motor skills and dexterity to do fine woodworking.
Nothing like a train trip through the mountains and through the deserts of the American West to give you an appreciation of just how big this country is — and how scenic. We also saw how the access to water defines the landscape. We would see barren scrub versus green scrub versus occasional trees, depending on access to rivulets and rivers.
Once we crossed the Sierra Nevada Mountains, the rivers appeared and the trees came back. We were lucky we went when we did on Oct. 15, 2021. A week later, the train tracks were covered with two feet of snow in the high Sierras. Northern California got hit with a bomb cyclone and a downpour of rain and flooding. Timing is everything — even on a leisurely train ride.
Dr. Janet Tamaren 