If Today is Thursday, this must be Oregon

Not quite…. When I woke up around 7:00 am we were just approaching Dunsmuir – our final stop in California. We should have been in Oregon by then, but were running nearly two hours behind schedule. No stress though, as I have no deadlines to worry about today. Feeling like crap this morning. Not sure if it’s the altitude, lack of sleep, or after effects of So-Cal smog. Still, the scenery more than makes up for it, and the coffee sure helps too.

We are passing through spectacular pine forests in quite rugged country. Just the sheer scale of it all is quite breathtaking. Damn near impossible to photograph from a moving train though. After a while we emerge into an area of scrubby grasslands interspersed with wetlands, and the vistas open up as we approach the Oregon border, and our first stop in state number two. Klamath Falls provided an opportunity to go for a wee wander and enjoy the morning sunshine for a few minutes. The conductor on the PA referred to it as a ‘fresh air smoke stop’. Nice oxymoron! I discovered that sometime during the night, a couple of private cars had been attached to the rear of our train. Cool!

Approaching Klamath Falls

Onward we cruised toward Eugene, with the occasional stop, whilst waiting for UP traffic control to clear us further on our way. There seems to be a lot of track maintenance underway, which is causing the delays.

The scenery alternates between open grasslands and lakes to narrow pine filled gorges, and back again, with the transitions being startlingly abrupt at times. Especially when they involve tunnels. Several times I’ve caught myself exclaiming ‘H*ly Sh!t’ as a new and spectacular scene came into view.

My train finally arrived in Eugene just over 2 hours late. When I dragged my bags out of the station, wondering where all the cabs were, I saw something startlingly familiar, and very out of place…. More to follow.