farewell Coastal Starlight

Every summer since the twins were 4 years old, my daughters and I go So cal in the summer to see my family. Every year we have taken the train " the coastal starlight " (I know the route by heart) The first few years of train travel went just fine, it’s cheap I had more time then money back then. I like the train, I like people watching, I like the landscape, MT. Shasta is awesome, the sand dunes of SO Cal , and the bridges in SFO area. I spend hours and hours staring out the window and I see all kinds of animals, Dogs especially, the train tracks typically are in bad neighborhoods and we see more then our share of junk yard, hence the guard dog. GO PITBULLS. We see animals dead on the tracks. Yuck. I’ve seen dolphins and little dear like creatures, chicken, goats, foxes, eagles , all kinds of sea birds, Cows, lamas, horses, and giraffes and elephants (the train goes past the Santa Barbara zoo) we have see all kinds of travelers. Families going to Disneyland, teens going to grandmas, elderly people, homeless guys, it’s a people watchers dream. To me of most interest is the staff on Amtrak. It’s got to be bizarre to be on that train as long as they are; one worker told me he did 10 days on- 4 days off. Some of staff are stressed; rude, others are nice, attentive. Mostly I see them busy. The Conductor is impressive in a pressed snazzy uniform, emitting radio noises, shined shoes, and cool cap. I will miss some of the traditions we have on the train; breakfast in the dinning car, drinking boatloads of somewhat palatable coffee from my free refill mug., watching movies in the snack bar car. Ah but let me tell you flying to LA from our town will be a treat. I did the math, after I spent a crazy amount of money on air plane tickets .
$400 round tip for train tickets
$60 gas to train station.
$150 food and drinks for all those hours on the train,
60 HOURS or 3 days of missed vacation.( It’s a scheduled 24 hours train trip but the last 3 years it’s 10 hours late, each way.)
Seeing my family after 2.5 hours of travel?

PRICELESS!!!!