-Samuel James

For years living in the Midwest I fantasized about taking the California Zephyr–Amtrak’s line from Chicago to San Francisco. Never did it.

Fast forward to late 2023 and I was spending Christmas in Phoenix with free time to get back to Colorado. As a way to finally get some time on the Zephyr, I conspired to slingshot myself west to California from Arizona and catch the train back east from there to Denver. All in all it was a four day, three night journey and packed full of memorable moments.

Can you see the conductors waving? I had ZERO awareness of that until seeing this later. I wonder how many times they do that a day.

my seat-mate (a John Malkovich doppelganger) who I enjoyed chatting with for the first hour or so of the train. He was on his way back East after a failed experiment at life on the West Coast. He didn’t have much good to say about California.  I was looking to stare out the window in silence, so after a while I had to politely move seats to quell the rush of stories.

early bird gets the worm–in this case, a prime seat in the lobby for the sunrise.

I sat for a while looking through the viewfinder as we rolled through this rail yard by Gunnison, waiting for an open door like this.

I think the strongest memory I have is spending almost all day in the lounge with a little community of us who were sharing the trip together. Every stop we’d head outside for some fresh air (and cigarettes..) and for a day we had nothing to do but enjoy each other’s company. Seems like some of the magic in riding the train is just that: nothing at all to do but enjoy your surroundings until you have to get off. That and eat and drink endlessly from the snack car.  

this was one of my friends for the day, Monica. Her and her friend were foreign-exchange students from China, on their way from coast to coast on the train. What an epic journey to be on.

this kitchen staff came out and strummed some chords for everyone–what a vibe.

I forget this guy’s name. Really nice dude. Loved to drink liquor and tell stories..

see more from this trip at Samuel James’ page

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