82hrs on Amtrak's MOST SCENIC TRAIN! - The California Zephyr

For the next 52 hours we'll be riding this train from Chicago all the way through the Rocky Mountains ending up in beautiful San Francisco, California. Along 2,438 miles of incredible scenery. I'm Mike, that's the California Zephyr and this is Downy Live. And our train starts at one of the most beautiful train stations in America. It's Chicago Union Station. Now we're not riding alone today, we are being joined by a very special guest that you might recognize. There we go, Union Station. I was here two years ago with a friend of mine. Hasn't changed but it's still just as impressive. Riding the train means you don't have to get to the station too early but when the station is this nice it's worth coming in a little early to check it out. It's big, it's bright, it's historic but it's also clean and fresh. It's an impressive building and honestly it's probably the best way to start our trip across America. All right let's see if we can go find him. There he is. Good to be back. I'm over here drinking my coffee, just walking around. How y'all doing? Ladies and gentlemen, Will and me, we're back together. We're back. Riding the rails. Riding the rails, let's do it. This is a nice station. Since we're here a little bit early and we got sleeper car tickets, it means we have access to the Metropolitan Lounge. Now we'll be boarding any minute so I'll just give you a speed tour of the lounge. They have light snacks, refreshments, a waiting area but a quick tip for your trip if you're coming here, I recommend coming upstairs. Most people don't know about the upstairs part of the lounge. It's a lot quieter, a lot nicer. All right it's time to board our train. An announcement for passengers boarding train five. The California Zephyr has been delayed by one hour. And we haven't even left the station yet but that's okay because we're in it for the views and the experience. We're not we're not trying to get anywhere on time. We're in the lounge, we're good and we're just waiting to get started. Just chilling. All right well you don't need to watch us waiting around so let's skip ahead. All right we got the call we can now board. Grabbing our bags and away we go. Well that's service. I'm so ready y'all. Did they tell us what track? I'm following this pink stuffed animal. It'll get me there. Look at this. One thing you forget is just how big the trains are. We're staying on a Superliner Roumette. Got my ticket right here. 44 all the way to the very front. Third door down all the way to the very front he said. Are you our car attendant? Yeah. What's your name? Caesar. Caesar and Mike. Nice to meet you. How are you doing? Now the accommodations are upstairs which means we're going to be a little bit higher and have better views. And here we are. This ladies and gentlemen is a Superliner Roumette. So let me show you inside our Superliner Roumette. One seat there, the second seat here, bunk bed up top that's going to fold down, little table there that folds out, bottle of water each, air conditioning plug-ins and light at each seat, little storage space, mirror, hello, coat hook and I don't even know what you put there. This cozy room is all we need to get us through the next two and a half days. 52 hours but Amtrak has a bad tendency to be a little bit late and to be honest we're already three hours late so I'm curious to find out just how long this trip will actually take us, how late we'll be arriving in California. We have nowhere else to be so if we're late just means we get to spend more time on the train. You ready? I'm ready. Let's do this. Now as we finally get on our way leaving Chicago our car attendant came around and introduced himself. We have our car attendant Caesar here is going to take care of us. Good service already. Caesar came by to explain the train to us and also took our dinner reservation for tonight and so all we have to do now is sit back and enjoy Amtrak's most scenic train. And with that we're on our way Will. We're on our way. We're ready Mike. So Will and I have taken an Amtrak trip before. We did the Empire Builder from Chicago to Seattle. This is a little more southern route, a little more scenic route and I'm excited to do it with him because we did it two years ago. I know he's a great travel partner. Just happy to be back with you brother. So I'm glad. Yes. Now as we're rolling towards the warmth of California we realized that Illinois has set the mood perfectly for our departure. Oh Brookfield, cute little town. The first of many on this trip to come. Don't know if you can see this but it is snowing out there which is just so fitting for our trip to California. Right. Goodbye snow. Hello California. In two days. Will just said it's so peaceful riding the train and it's just so quiet other than it's crunching. It's a really relaxing experience. Now I know what you're thinking. You said Mike. This was supposed to be America's most scenic train. So far we're just seeing the back of industrial warehouses. We're leaving Chicago but we are headed through seven different states. Two time zones. It only gets better. Will, what is happening outside? It's snowing outside. The flurries are coming down. It's absolutely breathtaking. That voice. Can you, can you narrate all of my videos? That's amazing. I can. Oh I like that. Let me give it a try. Oh sitting here in our cozy roomette enjoying the snow and feeling fine and I noticed that my little tum-tums are rumbling meaning that it must be dinner time. No no no I can't do that. Guys at eight o'clock? If that's all you've got we'll take it. So that was our car attendant coming around. We now have an eight o'clock dinner seating. The reason it's so late is because the train was delayed by three hours. We've hit the country now. We're out of Chicago. We're still in Illinois but next stop Iowa. Steam train. And just like that it's gotten dark which really has me excited about what we'll see tomorrow because that's when the views start to happen. If you are holding an 8 p.m dinner reservation please make your way to the dining car. That's us. Now the dining car is two cars ahead of us. Oh here's a hot tip on Amtrak if you want. You gotta press the doors to open but since we've been through a pandemic you don't want to touch a lot of surfaces. Check this out. You can press the footplate. Dinner is a white linen tablecloth with roses too. And has a three-course menu. Now as my appetizer I ordered the green chili cheese tamale. And your dinner comes with a complimentary beverage. So cheers Will. Cheers. Because the train trip is over two and a half days long I plan on trying every single meal option on board and Will's vegan dinner. Doesn't that look good? Is risotto with a wild morel sauce, wild rice, green beans, and stumpy carrots. I call them oval carrots. Oval carrots. Whatever it is they look great. And I ordered the tortellini with chicken, shaved parmesan, grape tomatoes, english peas, and a creamy pesto sauce. How are the first bites? Man I love the gravy. The gravy is like a mushroom gravy. We're crossing the Mississippi River. That's wild. This restaurant while eating dinner we went from Illinois into Iowa. Now as we keep rolling the towns get smaller and smaller and of course we still have our third course to enjoy. And you know me if there's dessert I'm getting dessert. And tonight is a chocolate tort. That is rich. That's shockingly good. Well with it being dark and everything's closed up I think the last thing to do is go to bed. There's a lot of movement on the train. I can't tell if Will is tipsy or if we're just riding along some rough track. Well you missed it. Either way we're getting back to the room just in time to see how Cesar transforms them from seats to beds. It's pretty simple actually. So this little knob here. You have to know the secret of what to press, where to pull, and just like that you've got yourself a bed. Almost. We're gonna grab this mattress. You guys need more pillows just let me know I got one. I only have one head. I don't need any more pillows. Thank you very much. You guys I'll see you guys in the morning if anything. We'll see you in the morning. I'll still be opening the door and then stop. Oh yeah. We have a minute. We're making a dashboard here in a tumble because there's the steam train baby. Look at this. Holy moly. This thing is huge. Wow. This is it. This is the whole reason for riding the trains. You get to make these stops in towns you would never otherwise visit. See things you would never see. Let's get back on. All our stuff is on the train. Let's not miss it. Thanks Cesar. That's a fresh air stop here in Iowa. I'll tell you that. There we go. Time to get back on board. With that little bit of excitement here in Ottumwa. I think it's a perfect time to go to bed. Bottom bunk. Top bunk. One last thing to do. Now when the train rocks you won't fall out. All right Will. Who gets top? Who gets bottom? Let's play. Rock, paper, shoot. You win. I always win. What do you want? Bottom or top? I'll do top. You get the bottom. We're changing it up. You change it up. So the only difference between the top and the bottom obviously it's... I don't get to see no window. That that's what I was gonna say. I want the bottom. I don't mind. I get the top. Okay. Final decision. I'm gonna side with the top. Well at least you sound excited about it. I love the top. Do you fit? Barely. Golly. You got room. You got room. I feel like I'm in a casket. Buckle me in Mike. Let's make sure you stay in tonight. There you go. Oh this is cozy. This is nice down here. I bet it is nice down there Mike. Hey you won fair and square. Could have chosen top or bottom. And with that well we better brush our teeth. Which means it's the perfect time for my famous bathroom tour. Oh yeah. Just as I remembered it. Love this. Inside the bathroom door. Enjoy the journey. That's the whole point of this. Gotta admit. Nice soft yellow light. Clean. I don't know what else you could ask for. The sink feels a little low. I feel like a giant in here. Well time to brush your teeth. I have to get my bonnet out. Your what? My bonnet. In black households in order for us to protect our curls we got to wear a bonnet. A bonnet. Working for you. That's good. All right. Bonnet and brush the teeth. Learn something every day. A little loud. Look who's a cozy cocoon. Oh don't worry. I edited it out. Cozy? Man it's pretty cozy. Can't complain. I wish I had a window. You won. You picked the top. You can't complain. On that note let's go to bed. It's a little tight in here. Two full grown men sleeping in a room smaller than a prison cell. So that was pretty good in here so far. Now I know I promised this would be America's most scenic train trip and we haven't seen much scenery at all. It's because we left three hours late. It's now night but we are we're getting there. We still have two more full days on this trip and so with that good night Will. Good night. See you in a second. See you in a second. I have to say I do sleep well on the train. The lolling sound and the gentle rocking back and forth but I never sleep in because I don't want to miss anything while I'm on board and so with that we're up this morning just as the sun is rising in our third state of the trip Nebraska. Caboose. Look at that. Good morning Will. How'd you sleep? I don't know. It's kind of stiff up here brother. Yeah? Oh yeah man. I feel like I slept on a cardboard box. Cesar has his coffee ready for sleeper car passengers by 6 a.m every morning. I don't have to walk further than three steps until I get to coffee that's waiting for me already. There are also water stations on every car. So now that we have our coffee we're gonna go watch the sunrise here in Nebraska from the observation car. Oh my gosh. Yes. This is what we came for right? I don't think I would ever choose to come watch a sunrise in Nebraska but I am here and I am loving it. This is exactly why I chose this trip. Is there any better feeling than having a coffee in hand sitting on a train as the sun rises across the great plains of Nebraska? I'm not gonna lie this is about all I have scheduled for the day. Just a lot more of this. Sitting and scenery. Much of Nebraska is dotted with small farm towns and is the perfect gentle scenery to enjoy while waking up. And we'll leave the excitement of the Rockies to this afternoon. You might notice that the white linen tablecloths are missing for breakfast and lunch but that doesn't mean these meals are any less special. I ordered the scrambled eggs, sausages, potatoes, and a croissant that came with the yogurt while Will had the oatmeal. I like sitting in the dining room. It feels like you've got a place to go during the day rather than just food coming to your room which we could have done. So a full breakfast for a full day coming up and all of this just really starts us off in a good mood. That's a pretty good breakfast. But now that breakfast is done there's really nothing to do until lunch. It's nice. These rolling hills are beautiful. What do you think Will? I'm just taking it in. It's like I can't stop daydreaming. Yeah I get lost. We're not even in the beautiful part yet. Look at the smile. The smile is genuine. Just all smiles in here. Yeah man it's so peaceful. With the Nevada plains rolling by this feels like the perfect time for a shower. Big. All right let's give it a go. I have to say it has everything you'd expect in here. It has enough space. It's very clean. It has towels. It has soap. The only thing is let's see if there's any hot water in here. So far just cold. There we go. There we go. We're good. The one. Oh too hot. Too hot. We've got hot water. The one thing you need to remember. Oh jeez that's hot. You're on a moving train and it does it does move around a little bit. So there's a there's a handle here for you. Brace yourself. Otherwise it's a pretty decent shower. Oh jeez. Okay I'm just gonna hang on here. While we were showering we've now entered our fourth state. Welcome to Colorado. It doesn't look all that different yet. I wonder what that used to be. I love being on the train and being able to come see these towns but I honestly don't know what I would do if I lived here. Still a whole lot of nothing out there but it kind of reminds me of like a screensaver on your computer. Can you see that? Those are mountains. Our first sight of the mountains. The Rockies are coming. Now we were supposed to be here about three hours ago. We really should have woken up here in Denver but we're about three hours behind schedule at this point so instead well we get to watch us back in. Now we're arriving at Denver Union Station. That's the conductor of our train switching the track and now we can reverse into Union Station. This is the second Union Station on the trip but it's a dead-end station meaning trains can't pass through it. We have to reverse into the station so we can pull out forwards. But look at this station. Welcome to Denver, Colorado. We have about 20 minutes here so a good fresh air stop. I'm not gonna lie I feel funny standing on solid ground. I feel like I'm still moving. Wow this is beautiful. It's beautiful. Oh my gosh look at this. Denver is a refuel stop for the locomotive so we'll have about 20 minutes to explore here and since I've never been to Colorado before well I thought I'd take a quick look around. Okay Denver, Colorado. Now I see why people love you. One of the things I love about traveling by train is the station is right downtown. You can walk out. I don't have to take some shuttle or long train or uber to get downtown. I'm not gonna lie with all my stuff on the train this is about as far as I'm willing to go. I think we'll head back but at least we can cross Denver off the list. Been there done that? Probably not. I think Denver's worth coming back to another time. All right I don't want to miss our train. I think we should head back. You got some snacks? Got some lunch? I got a whole sandwich bun. So a little update on how we're doing time-wise. We were at the peak behind by five hours. We made up a little bit of time. We're now here three hours behind schedule but they're just making a little maintenance repair on the train so who knows how long that'll take. That's okay. I'm in no rush. Now we just grabbed a lot of people in Denver. Let's say we have a full train. It's gonna be pretty full in here. Got the last two seats in the observation car. Here we go. Leaving Denver we try to sit down and watch the rail yard pass. That guy's the wrong way up. But lunch comes sooner than expected. That's Mike. That's us. Let's go eat. Lunch today for me is a Swiss cheeseburger with coleslaw and potato chips while Will got the vegan chili and I have to say both of us were very happy with our decision. I'm impressed. I'm happy. The burger was good. We've made it to the mountains. At this point we're above 5,000 feet and our locomotives are struggling for oxygen as they try to haul us up into the Colorado Rocky Mountains up to an elevation of over 9,000. Heading back to the observation car and it is packed. Our train is full and we're entering the most scenic part of the route. Is this seat taken? Yes. Oh it is? Jacob, do you mind if I join you? But Will and I got the last two seats. Got a seat. Will is over there with Debbie. It's only just started. We are above everything but here comes the first tunnel of the trip. Every time we come out of a tunnel we have a new view of the mountain peaks, the valleys below and it seems like they keep getting more and more impressive. Oh my gosh. That is steep. Then we get another tunnel. This is fantastic. This doesn't feel real. It feels like a Disneyland trip. Look we're going through another tunnel. This is incredible. I definitely think we picked the best time of year to do this. Late March as it means there's still snow on the ground but enough has melted that we can see the red rocks against the evergreen trees and still has blue sky. It really feels like the perfect day. And in case you wasn't sure what's coming next, well it's another tunnel. Okay I have to admit when I heard that this was the most scenic train in America I thought I would sit back and relax and I'm not saying this to sensationalize the moment but this really is an edge of your seat experience. I've never seen everyone so enthralled by the scenery outside of the train before. The whole car just went quiet. Everyone was just riding along the edge of the Rockies, climbing further and further up in altitude, passing by red rocks, looking out at valleys, cliffs, peaks and passing through tunnel after tunnel after tunnel. But we're still working our way up to the peak which sits inside the Moffat Tunnel at 9,000 feet. I don't think that'll ever get old. This is why they call it America's most scenic train. We are now in the Moffat Tunnel. It's 6.2 miles long and we're at an elevation of 9,300 feet. I'm going to time us as we go through. Riding through this tunnel actually has us crossing under the continental divide and was an engineering marvel when it was built almost 100 years ago in 1928. What's wild to is that we are at the highest point of the Amtrak network and we're still underground. There we go. Just under 10 minutes. And as you can see as we exit the Moffat Tunnel on the left-hand side is the Winter Park Ski Resort. Thank you. All right. This is a very fresh air stop. We walked along the platform to stretch our legs and see the front of the train but on our way back to board the train again. Big good news and bad news for you guys but we're here till eight now. What happened? There's a freight train in front of us that got stuck basically blocking our pathway to go through. Oh. We'll be here until 8 p.m. And there was some pretty scenic stuff coming up so we we're probably gonna miss it. Don't worry we have all day tomorrow on the train too. So we'll be here for about five hours. I know it's cold out. Let's see if I can convince Will. Hey. Hey. You want to go to town? I think we should go to town. This is why it's so important to have the right partner. Make the best of a situation. Here we go. The name of the town we're in is Winter Park. Cesar will be back for you. I'll be here okay. Okay. These delays are not a bad thing. They're part of the adventure and in fact this is actually it's like giving me an added stop in my trip for free. I never would have come here to explore. Yeah. I thought we were on the California Zephyr. How do we end up in those snowy mountains? Right. Could you go with me? The first two buildings you find winery and brewery. Yeah. Yeah. Let's do it. And clearly we weren't the only passengers with this idea. Part of the adventure. Right. I wasn't expecting I'm going to be here in this small town. Here I am. We know you're in a ski town when the taps are ski pole handles. Thank you so much. Cheers. I didn't catch your name. Kamesh. Kamesh. I'm Mike. Nice to meet you. We're on the same train. I love how this little brewery is now just packed from all of us. And you've got a good idea. The whole crew comes with you. Great stop but there's more to see. So where are we headed to now? We are headed to a distillery. We got the recommendation. We should go check out this distillery next. Fraser Valley Distilling. Please no ski boots. You know exactly what kind of town we're in. Do you have like a flight I should try or? I think when in Colorado get the Colorado Flight. Please. Good choice. Good choice. The Colorado Flight is a taster of made here and our new friend Kamesh ordered the gin flight. We quickly met Barry. Barry the head distiller and our children convinced us to start a distillery restaurant. So as my wife says I was retired now we're tired. I went from retired to tired. Needless to say we had a blast learning about the gins. There's lavender, hibiscus, black pepper and lemon zest and all the other gin components. Sounds delicious. And the barrel aged gin is our first gin. Oh yeah. And the whiskers. Cheers. Cheers Kamesh. To meeting. Cheers. Cheers. That's lovely. That is too easy. That's too easy. When the train stops it's not a bad thing. I haven't gotten rid of this smile yet. We're so happy right? I'm gonna call this our happy little stop. That's good man. Thank you Amtrak for stopping. Oh that's us. Head back right away. We'll take the bill if you've got it. This is wild. Amtrak people head back right away. Just as quickly as Winter Park arrived as an unexpected opportunity it was gone. Oh this is weird. Bye thank you. Thanks Debbie. Back to the train. Here we go. Oh hello again. Oh we've made too many friends. We gotta go. Caesar we're coming. See you next time. Here we go. We'll see you in the observation car. But I'm glad we had those two hours as they're now the highlight of our trip so far. Caesar we made it. Just in time man. Thank you. We're gonna miss you guys. Thanks for waiting. Oh my gosh this is unheard of. We have the whole observation car to ourselves. You want to take the same spots? We can take the same spots man. Let's do that. Thank you Winter Park Colorado. Great stop. Great stop. At this point there's a lot of wildlife and everyone is calling it out when they spot some. Deer on the right. More deer. More deer. More deer. Look at them go. Or maybe it was just me. There it is. Oh that's an elk. Big elk right there. So much wildlife. My adrenaline is still running. We just saw elk. The whole observation car is cheering. This is great. This is great. It feels like a ride. It feels like a Disneyland ride. After all the excitement we're catching the last moments of sunlight while we wait for our dinner reservation to be called. Which is too bad because we're about to enter Gore Canyon. A steep and rugged canyon that runs along the Colorado River. But unfortunately we'll be rolling alongside it in the dark. There's the other California Zephyr going the opposite way. We're having a blast up here. It's a wild bunch in this train. I'm loving it. So what time is it? 8 15 p.m on night two and we've been told we are officially halfway through our trip. Oh I feel good. I had a little wine earlier and now I'm having a little salad. We're just sitting down to dinner. We're halfway through. Thank you very much. Chicken with a morel sauce. Risotto underneath. Green beans. Carrots. Looks delicious. We all got the same thing as last night with the vegan chili from lunch on the side. Happy guy. Happy guy. That's a good sauce. That sauce is good. Yeah it's good. That sauce is good. We will see you tomorrow. Another great meal. Good night. Good night Mike. Good night buddy. A few more delays overnight meant we rolled into Salt Lake City just as the sun is rising at a bright and early 6 a.m. Meaning we're now about six hours behind schedule. Morning. I'm waking up looking at the mountains of Salt Lake City as we have now arrived in our fifth of seven states. Good morning man. Welcome to Salt Lake City. I heard back from James on Instagram and we might have a special little treat waiting for us. All right. Good morning Cesar. Welcome to Salt Lake City and that is our sunrise. Look at that. How you feeling? I feel good man. You like it here? I love it here. I wish I could stay here for an hour or two to really explore the downtown because I've never seen a downtown that's right up against the mountains. Let's take a little bit of a wander. See if we can't find that care package. Thank you. If I were leaving the care package for someone, where would I leave it? That's cute. I like travel related art in places designed for travel. Sorry. Is there a package for Michael Downey to pick up? Is that for Michael Downey? Yeah. You got proof? Yeah, sure. Of course. I even kept it in the fridge for you. Really? Thank you so much. All right. Have a good one. James. James coming down. Coming through with the French pastries. Look at this. Oh, I got to show this to Will. We got the French pastry. Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. I can't wait to try this. Will, I got you the treat. We have an avocado croissant. French fries with mayo dip. Macaron. What could be in this? Pistachio raspberry treat of some sort. We have a sandwich. All right. Great way to start the day. And now I have something to share on the train so I can make friends. Thank you, James. Who would have guessed the number of stops we've made, the amount of food we've had from different cities when we were supposed to be on the train the whole time. I'm loving it. Yeah. I think these are the salt flats. Are they? This might be the Great Salt Lake. As Kamesh just said, our morning consists of riding along the Great Salt Lake, the largest saltwater lake in the western hemisphere. The lake has three tributaries but no outlet besides evaporation, which is why minerals accumulate here and give the lake a very high salinity. Far saltier, in fact, than seawater. I gotta get this shot. So normally we would get into Salt Lake City at about 11 p.m. so we'd be passing this in the dark. But because we are so delayed, it means that we're lucky enough that we get to see this. This is not something you would ordinarily get to see on this trip. Oh, wow. We have the flats over there, mountains over here. It's getting really hard to pick a side. Well, all of us, we haven't even had breakfast yet. We haven't. Take them into view. It's gonna be a good day. In 2020, the U.S. Census confirmed it had the fastest population growth in the country since 2010 and that over 50% of Utahns are Mormon, making it the only state where a majority of the population belongs to a single church. Well, I think we're through the salt flats. Should we get breakfast? I think we should. Go get your potatoes. Well, this morning we got an egg white omelet, potatoes, sausages, and our little Greek yogurt with this as our backdrop. I don't know if you can tell by the landscape, but it seems a little drier now. That's because we've just entered state six of seven. Welcome to Nevada. My goodness, there is nothing out here. This is why I love traveling by train, getting to see places you would not otherwise ever go see. Oh, oh, Caroline lives in Elko, Nevada. So we've clearly come to a stop. We're just outside Elko, Nevada. She has been following along on Instagram. You can too, if you'd like, at Downy Live. And she said she's going to pull over and film the train going by. So this exterior shot of the train you're about to see is filmed by Caroline. And we're going to try and find, see if we can spot her. Oh, here we go. Now I told her which car we're in and about how far down I think. So she's going to see if she can spot us. So that's her car. I don't know if she's walked up closer. Is she out on foot? Where are you? There she goes. Where? She's standing right here to the left. Oh, there she is. There you are. Hi Caroline. Caroline, thanks for coming out. I have to say, having you, viewers, actively participate in these trips helps to make them so much more fun. And I wouldn't have been able to get this shot without you. I know I've already said it, but Caroline, thank you. Back to her life in Elko, Nevada. That's pretty awesome. That's amazing. Now as we continue across Nevada, we settle into our routine of shower, lunch, scenery, coffee, and conversation. Nevada is the most arid state in the country with a combination of grasslands and sandy deserts. And if I'm being honest, I wouldn't want to be stuck out here for very long. And when you're looking at this for hours at a time, even the smallest of towns become a desirable stop to get out and see. How's it going, Bob? Very good. Enjoying the ride? I am. I don't care when we get there. That's it. There's no, what's the rush? We're getting our fresh air stop here in Winnemucca, Nevada. Out of the muppets. Oh, it's warm. This is a nice day. It's really warm. Winnemucca, Nevada here has fewer than 8,000 residents. And for about 15 minutes, well, they get a couple hundred more. The train is moving. I'm not on it. That would normally be a problem, but the train station is too short for the train, so they do it in sections. It is going to stop, right? Otherwise, Bob and I got to figure out another way back. Okay. Okay. I trust them. I trust them. We should be arriving, if we had been on time, we'd be arriving in San Francisco right about now. We're not even in California yet, which I just think means we get more value for our money. So much more to see. I think we have another nine hours to go. Boy, was I wrong. Here we go. Next stop, Reno. Little did Will and I know at this point that we'd have a big decision to make coming in. I feel like we've been looking at this view for eight hours. Almost all day. We're told we're approaching the sister train headed East. We're going to pass them at some point. Because we are so delayed, we're supposed to have arrived before dinner. The entire train is getting a free dinner tonight, but there are no options. You only get beef stew. Will and I settle into the observation car again to watch Nevada stretch on and on and on, waiting for either the California border or sunset, not knowing which will come first. And while the sun is staying up as long as it can, our train keeps slowing and waiting for freight trains, meaning seeing California during the day is becoming less and less likely. At this point, we're on track to arrive in San Francisco at about 2 a.m. Now don't get me wrong, I'm loving this sunset, but I can't help but feel like we're missing out. Do you look tired? I'm a little tired, man. Two and a half days? I feel like a week. I think if we had gotten off on time, it'd be perfect. But this is pushing it just a little bit. You can see here, Will and I are feeling like this trip is dragging on just a little bit. That is until another Instagram follower sent me a very timely DM. This is from Sarah. She says, Unsolicited advice again. Looks like you're nine hours late, which is true. As a native Californian, I feel bad that you're missing some of the great state's beauty. She says, I recommend you get off in Reno and get tomorrow's Zephyr to take you through the Sierras. It's all about the journey, right? The question is, if we're going to go through the entire state of California on the California Zephyr in the dark, should we just get off in Reno, which I think is our next stop, book a ticket for tomorrow's train, and see the views? Oh my goodness. What about our plans tomorrow? We've got rental cars and hotels we'd have to cancel quickly, book a hotel, buy train tickets. Reno is eight miles away. We need to decide ASAP. This is it. We're arriving in Reno. What's the decision? Oh man. These are the moments where memories are made. Let's finish this right. Now or never. Look at this. Look at the Reno hotels right here. Now or never. What are we doing? My mom would be like, no, y'all probably just need to stay on the train. You're already going there. Y'all going to make it there. What time is it? It's seven, eight o'clock. I'm going to let you decide. I'm not. Okay, we're doing it. Let's go pack up our stuff. We're going. Look at this. We're right here. Caesar. Yes, sir. We're going to get off here and we're going to book a ticket on tomorrow's train. All right. Do you think it's worth it to see us? It's worth it. Trust me. Okay. He said, trust me. I've trusted you all weekend, Caesar. We've had a change of plans. We're going to get off at Reno, stay the night and take the Zephyr tomorrow. It was really nice meeting you. Enjoy the rest of your trip. Thanks again. Just like that, we're off the train. Wondering if we've made the right decision. This is why I said it's so important to choose your travel partners wisely. And while Will hesitated longer than I expected, I knew he wanted to finish this adventure properly. It's going to work out. I would just like to point out that that train that just left is still nine hours and 35 minutes delayed. I think we're making the right choice. The next train comes through here at 9 a.m. tomorrow morning. All right, Reno station. See you in less than 12 hours. We don't, we don't even have a hotel to go to. Should we just see if they have a room? Let's go. Letting ourselves into, Will. This is, this is not how this trip was going to go. This looks fancy. Hi, do you have a room available for tonight? We don't. That's okay. We picked it on a Saturday night. This may have been a mistake. How about here? Thanks, have a good one. Good luck. For one night, I think this will do. This bed looks a little more comfortable than the one on the train. Man, so much more comfortable. Is it possible to cancel my car reservation? I really appreciate that. Everything's okay. We're good. One step closer. Now let's book the train tickets. We're on the train. It feels weird not rocking to sleep tonight. Right, the shaking motion. To California tomorrow. Yes. Good night. Let's do it. Good night, Mike. Back here. We're about to find out if all the hassle of getting off and rebooking tickets was worth it. And as expected, it is running a little bit late. But not as late as yesterday. Just a two hour delay. Here we go, round two. Day four, here we go. Should we move to the observation car for this? We should move to observation car for this. Back on the rails. And look at that. Within three minutes, we're alongside the Truckee River. And we'll be riding along that for about the next hour. From Reno, we follow the Truckee River into California. Already, the scenery has changed drastically from what we were seeing in Nevada. You can clearly see that we're entering the east side of the Sierra Nevada mountain range. And our first stop in California is a cute little western town named after the river alongside. Welcome to Truckee, California. Truckee is like a modern version of a western town. Now after Truckee, we once again are climbing to the top of the Sierra Nevada. A meandering and scenic track proving already to be well worth it. And before we know it, it's time for lunch again. This will be our last meal on the train. It's our last one, man. We're going to get in before dinner time. So what are you going to have? I'm going to have the vegan chili and chips. Same as he always has. As promised, I would try the last menu item. This is the artisan grilled cheese. Cheddar and Swiss cheese, onion bread, turkey, and bacon. Let's give it a go. I'm sorry. Gotta be honest. This is my least favorite lunch menu item. Burger's good though. Considering we're in California, it's a surprisingly gray day. And the scenery isn't significantly better than what we saw earlier in the trip. I'm starting to wonder if this was all worth it. And as expected with American rail travel, the delays keep coming. We let a number of freight trains pass, but the onboard attendant had a pretty good recommendation for us on how to pass the time. So normally what I do in these situations is I come down to the cafe and I purchase some hummus and pretzels or a bottle of wine. More delays. Here we go. After an hour of sitting here, we're moving again. We come out of a tunnel and it suddenly feels like we're in another part of the country. All the snow is gone. The sun sits warm on our face. This feels like California. Rolling along the red earth and pine trees of the Sierra Nevadas. And it suddenly all makes sense. Caesar was right. California is worth it to see during the day. And as San Francisco is fast approaching, it's wild to think that this trip started three days ago. Three time zones ago. Seven states ago. We rode through snow and sun, seeing some classic American landscapes along the way. We explored towns we shouldn't have seen. I always say these trips are about the people you meet along the way, like Kamesh, Bob, or even Caroline. But this time, I think what made this long trip so fun is the person you choose to bring along with you. Picking your travel partner is so crucial when you're going to be stuck in such a small place doing nothing but sitting and eating. Pick someone that will go with the flow and laugh at the delays. Even though it's been two years since our last trip together, it's still clear as day to me that my good friend Will here can make the long trips feel short. And yet, the end still comes so quickly. We done? We are done. See you next time. Thank you. Chicago. Emeryville. San Francisco. What an adventure. If you enjoyed this video as much as I enjoy taking the trip, click my face right there and subscribe because I make these videos every single Saturday and I can't wait to bring you along on more. I'm Mike. The channel is Downy Live. That's the California Zephyr. I recommend you watch this video next. I don't know where I'm going next, but I know I want you there with me. See ya! So I guess the question is, what's the next trip? I'd love to go to Alaska. Let us know in the comments.