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On Trains, Planes, and Automobiles...

 

(Paraphrased with much respect to John Hughes, love that movie...and I miss John Candy) 

10/22/26 Prologue. This post is a place for me to toss down random thoughts on this subject over time, organize them, and mull them over. Call it my catharsis. I don't expect it to be interesting to anyone else but I'm making it so that I could get some thoughts from others (after all, the knowledge of the masses is, well, pretty massive!) Feel free to join in, here on or Facebook!

The SCCA Super Tour SMX/SM Class Ambassador

You may be aware that the last few years I have been traveling with the SCCA Super Tours and Runoffs as "Class Ambassador" for Spec Miata and SMX/SM5. I am an ambassador/liaison/big brother/intermediary between the race directors and the drivers, teams, and families. Mazda provides funding for this role to improve the drivers' experiences.

I think it has worked out tremendously well as we've noticed significant improvements all around over these three seasons. I've been asked to do it again in for the 2027 season.

The 2027 Season 

We have a proposed 2027 11-events (plus Runoffs) schedule.

One of the weekends is in February at Buttonwillow Raceway Park California, northwest of Bakersfield, roughly halfway between Los Angeles and San Francisco. Two years ago for the event I flew into LAX and rental-car'd from there (and got to eat a very good burger at the LAX In-and-Out while watching LAX traffic landing seemingly 100 feet over my head -- it's a fantastic plane spotting location). Last year I flew to Burbank (less traffic, a really fun airport*) still plenty of In-and-Outs in the area - cause when one is in the region one must enjoy an In-and-Out lunch. Two preferred.

So for 2027 I decided to try something even more different.

I'm what you'd call a closet "train buff", very interested in trains (really, transportation in general) especially the history of its technology. The building of the Transcontinental Railroad (TCR, the moon shot of the mid-19th Century) fascinates me both technologically and politically, as well as the engineering of steam locomotives and their evolution to diesel-electric (did you get to see Big Boy this year?) For logistically-challenging travel such as getting into New York City, I much prefer rail travel (I took Amtrak to Virginia some years ago to drive home a new-to-me race car candidate).

For many, many years I've wanted to travel across the country by rail, specifically the California Zephyr from Chicago to Sacramento. It goes through Council Bluffs, NE where the route of the original TCR started and passes through (and stops at) many of the rail towns of that original "Overland Route" (most of which were created for the TCR) It crosses the Rocky Mountains just west of Denver (south of the original route) and then goes northwestward through the region of Utah where "the Golden Spike" was struck (Amtrak no longer passes through Promontory Summit, instead traveling south of the Great Salt Lake through Salt Lake City and Provo; but, having worked for a Provo-based company long ago, I was able to travel there and see it).

It then crosses the Sierra Nevada Mountains through Truckee and Reno and then descends into Sacramento through the Tahoe National Forest.

And the timing of Amtrak's schedule is such that the best parts are planned for the daytime. What a beautiful ride that would be!

So I'm gonna do it; I'm gonna take the California Zephyr to Sacramento! To get to Chicago, I'm going to take the Lake Shore Limited from Springfield MA, which effectively follows I-90 through New York State along Lake Erie then to Chicago. It should be a beautiful ride on its own, but sadly a lot of it will be in the dark (departs SPG at 3:30, arrives Chicago 10AM. Sunset 5:30PM, sunrise 7AM, or so).

Then I'll switch trains in Chicago (3-1/2 hour layover) and westward-ho I go!

For travel accommodations, I'm going to get one of their "roomettes" for both legs. Those are a bit more spendy but I suggest it's worth it to have a private, more-quiet space and sleep horizontally (and meals and one drink per dinner are included). The roomettes are tight, something like 6 feet by 3 feet with foldout/fold-down bunk beds and shared showers and toilets, but if you know me then you'd know I'm OK with that (it would be different if Thea could join me, but sadly she cannot). Plus, I'll still have access to the Sightseer lounge car with the beautiful vistas along the way.

I'm still trying to plan the whole damned thing out; like, how am I getting to the track from there? How am I getting home (I'm only doing Amtrak one-way)? Enterprise and American will likely to the rescue but how to get to/from? And where...? Plus, where I fly home from - Oakland? Sacramento? San Francisco? - will decide where I get off the train and where the rental and hotel will be (Amtrak goes all the way into Oakland area...Emeryville, to be specific).

Lots of logistics to work out but fortunately plenty of time to get there. Regardless, I'm really excited about this opportunity and am really looking forward to it!

So this blog is for trip thoughts and opinions and I'd appreciate yours. I will update it on a semi-regular basis before the trip, in reverse-chronological order (newest stuff on top), and once the trip begins I'll update it as a travel blog to the destination (cellular and wifi access permitting**).

And who knows, maybe I'll use this Super Tour season for other interesting travel options; I envied John Madden's experiences in his motor home, and Beaux Barfield and Dorsey Schroeder liked to travel the same way. And I have an RV trailer...

We'll see how it goes.

- GA

*Funny Burbank airport story. 2025 I de-plane external stairs to the tarmac, which I like so I can look back over the airplane. We walk into the terminal and apparently, BUR is a common airport for Las Vegas shuttles as there's advertisements all over for the various resorts. I'm looking over these ads as I walk by and one catches my eye, that of an obvious (divorce) lawyer dressed in a suit, looking at me with the slogan "when what happens in Vegas doesn't stay in Vegas then give me a call."

I laughed. I apologize I don't recall who that was...

**I have a Starlink Mini Roam that I can take with me, in a not-too-oversized carrying case. But it is worth lugging that thing across the country and back for those limited times where I feel compelled to be on the Internet and there may not be cellular coverage? Can I survive two days without it??? I'm quite confident I can...and besides, isn't the whole point of this trip to put all that away and enjoy the view...?

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