Slight Change in Plans

Saturday night, after talking to our car attendant, Rene, we decide to slightly change our itinerary. Instead of taking the train all the way to Los Angeles, we will get off at Fullerton, California, which is one station prior to the final stop at L.A.’s Union Station. The reason for this change is that the Pacific Surfliner stops at Fullerton on the way to San Diego and we can catch an earlier train.

We leave Winslow, Arizona four minutes late at 8:54 p.m. and are in bed when we reach Flagstaff, Arizona an hour later.

On Sunday, we get up around 5:45 a.m. PT, as we are pulling into Riverside, California. We pack our things and get off at Fullerton, California around 6:40 a.m., which is about six minutes later. (According to Amtrak’s Web site, the Southwest Chief arrived at Los Angeles on time at 8:15 a.m.)

In Fullerton, California, I immediately head to the ticket window to exchange our Los Angeles to San Diego tickets at 11:10 a.m. for Fullerton to San Diego at 7:52 a.m. I receive the tickets – and $10.45 in change – and since we have an hour to kill, we walk around outside the station, wait in the station and then wait on the platform. To reach the platform for trains heading south, one must cross the rails via a bridge over the tracks.

Pacific Surfliner 564 departs on time at 7:52 a.m. and I set up my laptop and GPS and update my travelogue. After a limited and/or non-existent wireless Internet connection the past two days, I am finally able to get a good signal. In the future, maybe Verizon should change the name of its NationalAccess product to Sporadic Service in 10% of the Nation.