America 2012

Day 2 - Donner Pass Railfanning

Had a solid evenings sleep and woke up around 8am as my neighbour had a shower, ahh the wonders of cheap motels and noisy plumbing. Got another hours sleep and then did my morning ritual or email checking, route planning, weather forecasting, and car packing. Headed off for Truckee but first stopped at the lake to get a few photos.

 

Was a nice balmy 3°C down at the lake and it was snowing lightly when I left the motel. I pressed on for Truckee and arrived just in time to see the tail end of a container train scooting through. Never mind, there'll be heaps more, right?

I parked up in Truckee and went for a wander around, admiring such beauties as the Vandura 2500, and the "Jax" Truckee Diner.

 

I also checked out the recently overhauled spreaders that UP use to keep Donner Pass open during the winter. These are pretty serious pieces of kit with numerous adjustable ...

Day 1 - Christchurch to Lake Tahoe

Well I'm back in the USA! My journey started with a couple of days in Auckland under the careful eye of my girlfriend, Rachel, before a big goodbye and a careful squeak through the scales (.1kgs over the limit for both carry on and checked bags). Fairly uneventful flight on a massive 747-400. I had a window seat and a spare seat next to me so could try a few different sleeping positons. 12 or 13 hours later we touched down and I went through customs. The lady I got was very cold and she didn't seem to like my idea of a road trip and referred me to "secondary screening". There a young guy had a chat with me and loved my idea of a road trip, in fact in his previous life he was a biker and he started writing down a bunch of "must visit" places. He wished me luck and that was that. I collected my bag and was on my way to the rental centre.

Rental guy took a liking to me and (for a small extra fee) rustled up a true 4wd Jeep Grand Cherokee, the only one the had left. Michigan pl...