Accent on Travel USA

Our vintage 1995 Roadmaster, a powerful luxo-barge no longer produced by the Buick Motor Division, was loaded with our luggage, including two laptop computer workstations, and ready to cruise early Monday morning. Huzzah for Winnemucca, Nevada, our boarding point of choice for Amtrak's California Zephyr! Our first destination is Chicago (no worry about making the connection to New York, as we'll overnight there) and then -- the Big Apple, where we are booked to embark on the "Crystal Symphony" for her 12day Fall Color cruise to Montreal.

From Klamath Falls to Winnemucca is 306 miles of some of the most wild and remote landscape in the US: crossing three mountain passes between 5500 and 6000 feet, through the loftiest town in the state of Oregon mile- high Lakeview -- and with high desert segments which have no population or services for up to 80 miles.

We see the first, brilliant yellow fall colors approaching Lakeview, 100 miles to the east, as we pass through stands of aspen, just beginning to turn, quaking in the morning sun. Refueling in Lakeview is crucial, as the 206 miles southeast to Winnemucca offers only two service stations -- Adel, Oregon, and Denio Junction, Nevada. This is the true Wild West, and these are wide places in the road rather than towns. We've observed them under new management, closed, or "out of gas" on previous occasions.

A friend of ours, once returning from Winnemucca to Klamath Falls, hoped to refuel at Denio Junction on a frigid winter evening, and found the station had closed. Freezing in the 10 F. night, she decided to knock on doors of the Junction Motel, and a sympathetic Midwestern couple took her in and let her sleep on the floor until the gas station reopened in the morning.

The climax of the drive to the small desert town Winnemucca is a reward meal at one of the town's four excellent Basque restaurants. Concluding six hungry hours on the road, we descend into the Humboldt River Valley, after passing a 1940's-era billboard announcing the approach to "Scott's Shady Court Motel". However, we have reservations at the Model T Quality Inn and Casino, where the desk clerk apologizes for no longer being able to provide USA-Today, but reminds us that, "in spite of appearances, Winnemucca is not the end of nowhere-although you can see it from here!"

We have taken a dayroom here on two previous trips, making prior arrangements to park our car in their employee parking lot while we traveled on Amtrak. But today, there is a new security man on duty, who is short on Western hospitality. Only after he's had us fill out the necessary forms does he announce, "I've got bad news. You could leave the car here for a maximum of seven days, that's pushing it. But three-and-a-half-weeks? No way!"

Shaken, we return our room keys to the front desk and drive to The Martin Hotel dining room, across the street from the Union Pacific tracks, to nurse this rejection over the traditional Basque cocktail, the Picon Punch (two jiggers of Amer Picon liqueur over crushed ice, with a brandy floater and a twist of lemon peel, always concocted on the bar under the scrutiny of the patron).

We explain our plight to the bartendress, who calls over the owner, Bill Arant, for a consultation. Bill, the archetype grizzled Nevada rancher, says he'd be happy to let us park in his lot, except for the rough crowd who frequents the bar next door, or to let us park at his ranch, except that it's 45 miles outside of town. After pondering our problem for a moment, he picks up his phone and calls Gloria at, if you can believe it, Scott's Shady Court. Gloria says she'd be happy to accommodate us. We shake hands with Bill and part old buddies, promising to be back for dinner.

We find Scott's at the end of a shady residential lane down by the Humboldt River, where it had no doubt opened a half century ago, or so, as an auto court. Gloria charged my Amex card $35.00, and assigned our vehicle to carport 43, where it would be protected from the elements for four weeks, and close to our small room 62, Santa Rita. Each room has a name beginning with Santa. When I asked Gloria to recommend a taxi company to transfer us to The Martin Hotel for dinner, she offered to drive us over in her beautifully preserved Smoky Amethyst 1991 Lincoln Town Car.

We had all of our luggage, except two big pieces we had checked to New York Penn Station, and the evening bartendress at the Martin allowed us to park our bags next to her bar where she could keep an eye on them while we enjoyed our Basque dinner in the adjacent dining room. Dinner is family style at The Martin, and we were seated with a couple who were on a gaming bus tour from Portland. He had a bill cap with a red '57 Chevy Nomad station wagon emblazoned across the front he owns two such showcars -- so being car buffs ourselves, we were instantly friends.

A traditional Basque dinner is only for those with a big appetite and lots of time. There is a basket of bread, a carafe red wine, and a pitcher of ice water on the table. A tureen of soup and a bowl of salad is served family style, followed by a bowl of baked beans and a bowl of beef stew. I select as my entrée the porterhouse steak, Sylvia selects Solomo, pork with pimento and garlic. Dessert is home-made bread pudding and coffee.

The Martin, located just across from the UP tracks, provides two westbound freights, one fast, one slow, and an eastbound rarity the Ringling Brothers, Barnum and Bailey Circus Red train: a collage of silver passenger cars, some with open vestibules and circus employees taking a breath of air, barred wild animal cars, and flatcars with circus wagons, jeeps, and various equipment. Sylvia keeps hoping to see a car with a giraffe's head sticking out of the top, but that doesn't happen. The circus operates two very lengthy trains one silver and blue (which we had once seen coming through Klamath Falls on the Burlington Northern headed for Reno) and the other with red accents, which we saw today . For security reasons, the routes and times of the trains are not available to the press. Although by now the Martin is crowded with happy diners, only ourselves and one other couple glance out the window and notice that a very special train is passing through town.

Our dinner companions are finished before we are, and as they leave, we notice two long-time friends and clients enter the dining room, Charles and Miriam, of Palo Alto, California. It's been at least eight years since we've seen them. They are returning home after visiting Montana. They join us at our table, along with another couple from Thousand Oaks, California, who are on their way to Montana. Winnemucca, Crossroads of the West!

We have been checking with Amtrak reservations about the progress of Train No. 6, the eastbound California Zephyr, which is scheduled in at 7:07pm, but has been running late all day. The latest report has it arriving at 7:52pm, so we gather our luggage at 7:30 and walk the dark block between the Martin Hotel and the unmanned but brightly lit Amtrak station area. A city police car slowly cruises past us, and it is good to know the area is patrolled.

On arrival at the Amshack, we are pleased that the bus stop style shelter has had its two rear plastic panels replaced. On our last two visits, these panels were mostly large burned out holes. As we entered the front of the shelter, we realized that whoever was sent to do the repair work just removed two panels from the front of the shelter and used them to replace the destroyed rear panels. As long as there is no wind blowing from the east, passengers will be sheltered on three sides.

7:52 arrived and still no train was in sight. We did, however, have an excellent view of Mars, on its closest encounter to Earth in 60,000 years, rising in the Eastern sky. The Red Planet was clearly visible, in spite of the glare of the bright pink/orange sodium vapor lamps illuminating the station area. At 8:32pm, the Red Lion Hotel van appeared with the fresh locomotive crew. Apparently the Red Lion has access to privileged information so that the crew staying at the hotel does not have to make the interminable wait at the station for their delayed train. I ask the van driver if we could benefit from this info if we were staying at the Red Lion, in which case we could share a ride with the engine crew. He thought that could work, so we must look into this before we travel out of Winnemucca on Amtrak again. Since the van waits to take the incoming crew back, the van would be a warm and safe place to wait.

No. 6 pulls in at 8:40pm, the engine stopping in front of the station. While the engine crews are swapped, the conductor walks over and lifts our ticket coupon. Then he talks the new crew into moving the 633 sleeper up to where we are standing. Our car attendant, Isaac, is waiting at the open door, and steps down when the train stops, to help us load our luggage onboard. We are staying in the Family Bedroom this time, and ask Isaac to lower the upper child's bed and place all six pieces of our luggage up there, so we can have access to it without having to leave our room.

The day and evening had been warm, and I was looking forward to the cool air conditioned Superliner sleeper. Upon boarding, however, we found it uncomfortably warm. Ted consults his Radio Shack pocket thermometer, which registers 76 F., and Sylvia unpacks her new, portable, battery-operated, $6.94 Model 9046PDZQ O2-Cool Sport Soft Touch Wal-Mart six-inch miniature fan, which makes the warm room bearable.

TRAVEL TIP: If heat bothers you, buy one of these lightweight fans, which operate either electrically or with batteries.

We asked Isaac for some ice, some bottled water, and an extra pillow. Handing him a ten dollar bill, I ask him if he would turn the thermostat down to 72 F., pointing to my thermometer. He, caught in the usual car attendant's dilemma, explains that several older passengers have already complained they are too cold, and they are sitting in their rooms with sweaters on. Indeed, I observe the lady in Room 13 sitting with her coat on and a lap robe over her knees.

We appear to have parted with a standoff, but the room eventually cools down to 72 F. When I wake up at 4:30am to collect my e-mail in Salt Lake City, the thermometer registers 69 F -- perfect for sleeping. This Family Room will be our home away-from-home and office away-from office for the next two days. With the environment suitably under control, it is good to be back on the rails once more.

It's also nice to unpack knowing you'll not have to pack up again the next day, as we'll spend two nights aboard before reaching Chicago.