Amtrak Adventure - Day 14 - San Antonio to Los Angeles

Twenty-nine hours on the train. That's how long it takes to get from San Antonio to Los Angeles. The Texas Eagle leaves San Antonio at two-forty-five in the morning and arrives in LA at five-thirty-five the following morning but two time zones are crossed adding two hours to the apparent journey time.  

Thankfully, we had a sleeper reservation  which meant we traveled in relative comfort. The sleeper compartments are tiny and, while meant for two, require a certain amount of synchronised movement in order to navigate the space at night when the beds are down. As we discovered on our earlier overnighter on the train to Richmond, there is very little room for luggage so you need to be well organised as regards what you have with you for the night. 

Given the ungodly hour we got on the train we slept for the first part of the journey, waking only in time for breakfast in the dining car (all meals are included if you are have a sleeper reservation). That provided our first opportunity to see the passing landscape.

 

Miles and miles and miles of empty space - it makes you realise how big America is, how big Texas is! Every so often there would be some sign of habitation.

Pecan trees

And for a long stretch there were pecan trees as far as we could see. 

When we finally got into New Mexico the scenery changed to desert. Miles and miles of flat desert.

Even the small towns the train stopped at looked flat.

Lordsburg NM

Arizona offered a different outlook with scrub and huge, craggy rock formations. 

Some of the scenery was spectacular but unfortunately my camera chose that moment to run out of battery and by the time it was recharged it was too dark to get any decent photos. 

As another day dawned we arrived in Los Angeles. The train may not be the fastest method of getting around but it certainly offers a relaxed opportunity to appreciate the varied wonders of the American landscape. 

  

Amtrak Adventure - Day 13 - San Antonio

Our stop-over in San Antonio had been planned purely on the basis of the train timetable. With no daily Amtrak service on the southern route we had no choice but to stay in the city from late Monday night until early in the morning (2.45am!) on Thursday.  We had no idea whether we would find enough to do to fill in the time, but as it turned out it was a real pleasure to have a second day to explore.

Amtrak Adventure - Day 12 - San Antonio

San Antonio - what a delight. All I knew about the city was it was home toThe Alamo, one of the reasons I chose it as one of our stopping-off points. I had no idea it was such an attractive city with so much to see and do. 

Amtrak Adventure - Day 11 - New Orleans to San Antonio

Day 11 was our first long daytime train journey. New Orleans to San Antonio, a trip of fifteen hours starting at nine o’clock in the morning. New Orleans station, as pleasant and well-organized a station as one could hope to find,  provided the first photo opportunity with its wonderful mural above the departure gates.

Given we were not sleeping on the train we had reserved upper level coach seats but we ended up spending most of the time in the lounge car which offered seats facing panoramic viewing windows. With a café conveniently downstairs it’s a great way to travel.