No-Rush California

...This daily train follows a route down the West Coast that induces fits of ecstatic nostalgia among the community of rail buffs who call themselves "foamers," as in foaming at the mouth. It is described as "the most spectacular seashore route in the world" in the foamers' bible, "The Trains We Rode," a 1965 paean to the golden age of rail by Lucius Beebe and Charles Clegg. The book lovingly chronicles the views and the elegant accommodations on some of the route's old trains, like the Starlight and the deluxe Coast Daylight, which was advertised by Southern Pacific as "the most beautiful train in the world."

Amtrak combined the names into one train and toned down the sales pitch, promoting the Coast Starlight as "a progressive party that gets you together with a fun crowd and takes you to all the hot spots on the West Coast." The party takes 35 hours if you start in Seattle, but I settled for the last 12-hour stretch in daylight, from Oakland to Los Angeles, and even that abbreviated version created problems. I'd assured Dana, my nonfoamer wife, that this would be a luxurious alternative to a tedious drive, but on the eve of the journey, a Californian who was astonished to hear that anyone would take the train informed her that the drive would take only six hours, and that the plane would be not only faster but also cheaper.

"Why in the world," Dana asked testily, "are we getting up at dawn to spend 12 hours on a train?..."

http://travel2.nytimes.com/2004/08/1...l/15train.html

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Perhaps a bit too long of a ride for me!

-Mark