3 February

Today was different.
After waking, having a shower and dressing, I engaged in conversation with a lady from Louisville KY. She had been born in Maine, but lived most of her life n Kentucky. I then had breakfast with her and her husband (an FM radio engineer, going to Sacramento). Later, Ron, the Insurance liability worker, came down too. During the first hour there was a constant snowfall, but after that the sun came out and it looked a beautiful day. We had stopped at Ecko not long after 6 and at Wannacca not long after 9.
An announcement came over. The Donner Pass was closed to rail traffic (14 ft snowdrifts, blizzards, and more to come) and I-80 was closed to road traffic. We would terminate at Reno and be put up in a hotel there, and go through by whichever method we were able to as soon as we could.
My thought turned to the way I could open today’s blog (or should it be an SMS to my sister?). “Train snowed in – stopped by 14 ft snowdrifts and now trapped by blizzards. Now need to worry – other passengers look delicious!”
We chatted over breakfast a lot longer than normal and Dan, (this was the one moving to Portland OR and then Albuquerque NM, not any of the others, including the FM engineer – a veritable surfeit of Dans). On my way out I got waylaid by Donna and hubby and another couple from Chicago (who wanted to move to Australia with sport in the late 70s). After discussing regional language differences and having a great laugh over the language children use, I went back and packed up my bag(s) so I would be ready to go at Reno. Of course I didn’t have the telephone number of the place I was supposed to stay in but after, having packed (and found my luggage needed either repair or replacement), I went down to the observation car, set myself up and checked the number on the laptop. The train is travelling between 60 and 80 miles per hour. The sky continued to clear and the surrounding countryside (salt plains and low spindly grasses) reminded me very much of some parts of country Australia. I said so and Rick asked if I was homesick – and the simple answer is no. I am too busy and am meeting so many interesting people for me to be homesick. The only thing I am missing is not being able to download my pictures and my blog each evening. Another bloke came over, interested to see my SatNav in action. I got a root beer to drink and Reggie (our sleeping car attendant) came up to tell me it was only 40 minutes to Reno. After a little more chat, I went back to make sure I had cleaned out the cabin (yes), got my bags ready (yes) and cleaned any rubbish up (yes). I sat down but it was only a few minutes before we were into Reno. Everyone trundled up to the ticket office and spoke to Jan, who gave us a chit for the Harrah Hotel for the night and then told us of the arrangements for tomorrow (two scheduled buses – nearly booked out, the train – which may not run, but nearly booked out anyway if it does run, a special bus to take most of the passengers – which also is dependent on weather). We wended our way over and I got room 1263. After unpacking, I tried out the Internet (a cost option – Amtrak only pay for the room) and then went for a walk around Reno – the biggest little city. Being Sunday, a lot of things were closed so I took some photos and then found somewhere to have a meal (in a casino – cheap, but not the cheapest I have seen). Really, Reno looked like a lot of gambling places – great appearance but nothing behind it. Today is the Superbowl, so I decided just to go up, write a little, get photos up-to-date and relax in a bed that wasn’t moving (and wasn’t costing me, although the reservations I had already made for Oakland I had to cancel because absolutely nothing was moving out of Reno, for today at least. The hotel room was nothing to write home about, so I won’t.