Jet Lag, What Jet Lag?

You would think after the rigors of the previous day, I would have slept 8 or 10 hours. Oh no; by 5:00am I was wide awake, so up and at ‘em once again. The inclusive continental breakfast provided as part of the room package would have to rate as one of the worst cases of misleading advertising to date. At least the beverage, which almost, but not quite resembled coffee, was hot.

The view from my window at Casa Sirena – it almost made up for the rest of the hotel

I was quite happy to be on my way again, and cruised into town to find the Amtrak station. I picked up my pre-booked ticket for the Coast Starlight, checked my baggage, and also purchased a ticket to take me through from Essex to Chicago. I wasn’t able to book this leg online, as there is no ticket agent at Essex, and I wanted to ensure I got a roomette. I don’t really fancy doing that leg – all 1573 miles of it – in coach.

Next was a quick trip back to Hertz to drop off the car. The very nice lady there organized a ride back to the rail station for me, which saved me a cab ride. My driver was a young Hispanic guy. He was very pleasant, and apologized for the weather, explaining that all the smog and haze was due to fires up Santa Barbara way.

I got back to the station with plenty of time to spare, and arranged myself on the platform to await the 11:55 to Eugene.