Train Trip: Day 5 & 6

Day 5 & 6 has been a lot of sight seeing on the train. We stopped in Tucson, Az in the middle of the night and Meg and I stole away and had a quick drink...so adventurous!) We got into LA and hour early so we went to Phillipe's to have breakfast, and took a quick walk through Chinatown and shooed fro fresh baked good and fresh fruits. We walked through Olvera St and saw a lot of Mexican influence art. LA's Union Station was beautiful. The tiles an the high arches were picturesque. We said bye to a friend that we had made on the train (who use to hop freight trains) and boarded the Coastal Starlight towards Portland.

We've been on this train since 10:30 am of yesterday. While going through the coast of California, two older volunteer Rail Trail men came on board and gave us a history, as well as military, crash course. It was really neat since it was my first time in Cali and seeing the coast made me realize how far we are from home...literally across the country!

Last night we almost hit a truck! The conductor had to pull the emergency break when a rig was spotted on the tracks. We stopped for a little, then definitely booked it for the rest of the night...I felt it! Yikes!

We met a guy named Joe, from Luisiana en route to Portland that we've been hanging out with and he's been a hoot. Joe told us about his future plans to go to horticulture school minoring in business and photography. (I even taught him a bit about his camera!) going through different parts of the country he would tell us about different plants and trees we were seeing and that was super helpful. Meg and I had breakfast with him this morning and said our goodbyes when he got off in Klamath falls, Oregon. We just passed Klamath Lake and it was beautiful. We are about three hours away from Eugene and I'm excited to step out and see what the weather would be like. Can't wait to see Portland in all it's glory. I hope I like it there.

If we're on time, our arrival to Portland should be around 3:40 pm.