Getting into Training

This is my last look-in to the internet from the hotel in Emeryville before I get showered and ready to head over to the train station. Poor Lisa is still having a terrible time with a cough and cold. I hope it doesn't behave like my colds, which unfortunately seem to move into my chest and become chronic bronchitis for a month or so.

Worldcon Trip Day 1: TrainCon Begins

[This is the first of a series of entries written during our trip from the Bay Area to Chicago aboard Amtrak's California Zephyr, where there is no internet connection. During significant portions of our trip, there wasn't even cell phone service and the only way to get to where we were was by rail, raft, or maybe helicopter.]

Although Lisa and I were capable of walking the 1500 m or so to the train station — after all, we’d done so yesterday — Lisa had been coughing all night long and not feeling especially strong, so when a taxi in search of a fare pulled up in front of the hotel just as we were coming out the door, I decided to take it. We therefore got to Emeryville Station maybe 20 or 30 minutes earlier than expected, and that’s just as well.

( TrainCon, day 1 of 3 )

The trip through the Sierras was lovely as usual, and augured of good things to come on the rest of our trip. Everyone seemed to enjoy the sights, and we entered Reno in high spirits, waved at the Atlantis Hotel (I’d worn my Reno in 2011 t-shirt in honor of today’s major intermediate stop) to the south as we passed about 5 PM, and got ready to (briefly) show off our house to our friends.

TrainCon Passes Through Fernley

Around Reno, Lisa went back to our bedroom to collect her camera bag and begin setting up to shoot video as we passed through Fernley. It was here that we faced a setback.

( Battery Pack Gone Walkabout )

There wasn’t a huge amount we could do about the battery pack in the short term, so Lisa loaded her camera with alkaline batteries and set up for our own personal “money shot” of our home as seen from the passing train.

( Fernley in Passing )

Beyond Fernley, the scenery isn’t hugely impressive for quite a while, and besides, it was time for dinner in the diner. I had and enjoyed the crabcakes, and thought maybe the no-sugar-added vanilla pudding would be okay. A 212 blood sugar an hour after dinner, even with the benefit of walking up and down the platforms when we made our station stop at Winnemucca, said otherwise. Lisa had us walk up and down the length of the train, including going up and down each stairwell, and my blood sugar dropped back down to normal levels.
By then it was time to start getting ready for bed. We had previously asked our car attendant to let Lisa make down our beds rather than having the attendant do it. The attendant was going around making down beds pretty early because current work instructions require her to go to bed right after the Elko station stop in order to be up and awake by the 3:30 AM stop in Salt Lake City.

( Mysterious Delay at Elko )

After the annoying 45-minute delay at Elko, Lisa and I rigged up our respective sleep-assistance devices (my CPAP, her tinnitus-masking static-making radio), and we turned in for bed. It didn’t take me long to get to sleep. Alas, even with cough syrup, Lisa was still troubled with bronchitis from her cold, but she eventually managed to fall asleep herself.
Location: Between Elko NV and Salt Lake City UT