No Need to Rush

Our initial breakfast plans weren't workable. (We'll catch you next time, gigica, and I hope your weekend was fun!) So we took in the included Holiday Inn Express breakfast and did our packing in a leisurely way. We'll have to be out of the hotel room in about twenty minutes (although I doubt they'll be very strict on this, between being mostly empty this weekend and me being a platinum Priority Club member). That gives us two hours for Cheryl to drive us back to Sacramento, and for us to refuel and return the rental car. Should be no problem.

My eyes continue to improve. I was able to read a little bit last night, which was a welcome change. I still am using the eye patch when I do computer work, though, because the focal length is wrong and the amount of time I have to concentrate on keeping my eye focused is stressful.

Aside from the extra expense of the rental car, I do like this rail-auto combination. The portion of the drive out of the Bay Area is the most stressful, and being able to sit back on the train is very nice.

I read last night why the train ride has been so smooth. Although the tracks over which the Capitol operates only need to be maintained to FRA Class 4 (79 MPH) standards, the Capitol Corridor Joint Powers Board has been paying Union Pacific the extra money to keep the tracks maintained to Class 5 (90 MPH) standards. While the trains aren't allowed to operate faster than 79 MPH because they'd need cab signals or automatic train stop, the extra maintenance makes for a smoother ride for the passengers.

Taking It Easy

We got to Sacramento with plenty of time to spare, refueled the car, returned it to the Hertz Local Edition long before they closed, and were duly delivered to Sacramento's Amtrak station with over 90 minutes to wait before our train. We thought we'd have a stroll around Old Sacramento, but we didn't want to have to haul my rolling bag around with me. There are no luggage lockers; however, they will store bags for $3/day. As bad luck would have it, the luggage attendant was "working a train" (the arriving San Joaquin from Bakersfield when we wanted to check our bag, so we had a bit of a wait, but by and by we had our bag checked and about an hour before we needed to be back at the station.

( Into the Time Machine )

While this train+car trip costs more out of pocket than driving, I think we got home a lot more relaxed than we would have driving -- particularly as Cheryl would have had to drive my van, which doesn't exactly handle all that nimbly, through busy Bay Area traffic. I'm not saying we'll do this every time -- after all, sometimes we're transporting stuff to or from my low-cost-but-inconveniently-located storage locker -- but it's certainly a viable option for future consideration. The only way the Hertz Local Edition car rental could have been easier would have been if the agency desk were at the station itself, and to be honest, there's just not enough demand for it. It is reassuring, however, that they have a dedicated telephone in the lobby of the station with a direct line to the local agency twelve blocks from the station.