Some of it was pretty cool and other parts were unfortunately disappointing. Both directions, we went past Mount Shasta in the wee hours. But who knows maybe traveling within days of the shortest day of the year had something to do with that. It goes through Sacramento, up to Chico, Redding, through Dunsmuir and then veers east of Weed to go up to Klamath Falls. I've driven through Dunsmuir and up past Mount Shasta many times. I'd really like to see that from a train.

I had a thought to send a suggestion to Amtrak to have two or three different schedules that one could perhaps select from. One per day, of course is all they could do.

That train is called the Coastal Starlight. It goes along the coast between Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo. By coincidence I hopped a freight going both directions, north in '74, south in '76. A lot of that goes through a military base, I forget which one, so you're seeing beach that you wouldn't see otherwise unless you hiked it (maybe not allowed) or flew over it. Pretty wild. It's unfortunate, but there are bound to be highlights that you're going pass at night time. Oh cruel world. Which is why I had the idea about offering staggered schedules. It's a real long shot. I'm just a peon.

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1986 300SDL, 362K
1984 300D, 138K