Written: 2002 December 9, Monday

I left San Jose on the 17 of November to spend the winter months where the weather is a bit warmer than here in San Jose. (The temperature highs in San Jose, December through February, are typically in the mid 50's; better than snow and freezing but still too cold to be comfortable outside.)

I took my van with an air mattress and sleeping bag, making it easy for me to stop at Road Side rests whenever I get tired. The drive from San Jose on Interstate 5 to Los Angeles is pretty boring; I didn't want to be on the roads around Los Angeles during commute hours. I left about noon and stopped about 100 miles north of LA just as it was getting dark. About midnight I got up and drove through and past LA around 2AM, which worked great. I rested again for about 5 more hours just north and a bit east of Palm Springs. Then drove on to Phoenix and stayed in a motel.

I had Thanksgiving in Tempe, AZ with a lady and her family that I had met via the internet. They had a great meal, and an interesting group. (More about that some other time.)

Friday, after Thanksgiving, I did some exploring around Phoenix. I think everybody in Phoenix was at the Wal-Marts. There was even a brawl at one of them, people fighting in the lines waiting for the store to open. It was enough that it got Police and radio/TV coverage.

I escaped the Phoenix congestion and drove back to Quartzite, and camped on the desert south of town with thousands of others in everything from tents to $450,000 RV's. That is another crazy but interesting place. This time of the year it seems to be predominantly Canadians, I guess they have to get out of winter weather earlier than most Americans.

Before I left Phoenix I made arrangements to take the train from Yuma, AZ to San Jose. It was scheduled to leave Yuma at 2AM on Friday Dec 6th. (There are only three trains a week out of Yuma going west, another three going east. That's all the passenger train service there is in Yuma.) I got to Yuma mid afternoon on Thursday, found a great motel for only $26.99 (Lot different than San Jose rates), and spent most of Friday finding a Boat/RV storage lot to leave my van.

A train station in Yuma doesn't exist. What they had burned down several years ago. All that is there are tracks and a tunnel you walk through to get between the east/west tracks. A short walk away there is a Union Pacific freight station manned 24 hours a day, but there is no passenger station or ticket agent in Yuma. You can buy a ticket on the train from the Conductor, but Amtrak charges a "non-refundable" premium if you do that. So, I only bought a one way ticket to Los Angles from the conductor, then in the LA train station I bought tickets to San Jose, and return tickets from San Jose to Yuma for Dec 13th.

There is a "newly re-opened, under new management" restaurant near the train "station" in Old Yuma, called: "Happy Chef Diner & Lounge", which is quite good; and more important, opened till 11PM. (After I left my van, at 5PM and took a cab back to town, I was without wheels.) Earlier in the day, I did some investigating to figure out where I could hang out till 2 AM, and found out about Happy Chef and a near-by movie theater; also I talked with the people at the freight station to see if they would let me set inside till the train showed up. (There position was that they could not authorize that but they would not kick me out, however Union Pacific Security might. ??) It is a bit too cold, even in Yuma, to want to be standing by the railroad tracks for three or more hours.

After I ate at the restaurant I went to the theater and took in the recent Harry Potter movie. (I haven't seen the first one, or read the books; but if I had been home watching it on TV I would have turned it off. Surely, the book can't be that bad. I am tempted to get the book to see if it is really that daffy.) The movie let out just before 11 PM, so I went directly to the UP freight office. Note much there: a couple wood benches, a couple vending machines, a pay phone and a men's room. I think you could buy better furnishings at a couple garage sales for under $20. But the Mexican who was there was friendly, and I was not out in the cool breeze.

Finally, around 3:11 AM the train showed up (an hour and 11 minutes late) and I went through the tunnel up to the tracks, and much to my surprise I counted 20 people waiting for the train. Most of them had been there for better than an hour; about half were just waiting to see someone off. Thanks to Tom Johnson I knew about the freight station, which was a whole lot better than what the others had. Also, because I was just coming home for a week, I had far less baggage that most of them. Traveling is much nicer if you are not dragging a lot of baggage around.

The train got into Los Angles around 8:30 AM so there was a couple hours to wait to catch a north bound train to San Jose. Again, I was glad I wasn't toting a lot of luggage. (I think anyone taking the train, or for that matter even a plain, should consider having the luggage shipped UPS rather than trying to carry it.) I got the tickets without any problems, and had time to wander around in the Los Angeles train station. The train left around 10:15 and the ride was pleasant all the way to San Jose.

I ate "lunch" on the train in the dinning car, it was interesting and enjoyable. A bit more expensive that a normal restaurant, but I think worth it for the experience. Nothing eventful happened, except at one of the stops where they let people get off to smoke, there was a kid that was caught smoking something illegal and they held the train up till the police came, investigated and took him off the train. That made us more than an hour late getting into San Jose.

I had planned to take a cab from the San Jose train station home, but much to my surprise when I got off the train Tom Johnson was there waiting for me. We went to a Lyons restaurant and had a meal, which worked out great because I had not had "dinner" on the train then he gave me a ride home.

All in all, I would say that train travel is tiring, but interesting; and I like socializing with the other passengers. If you haven't had the experience, I would recommend it; but expect it to take some time.