Hello from San Francisco!

After an eventful 4 days aboard the California Zephyr, we have finally arrived at the end point in San Francisco, California. As everyone seems to know by know, our train hit a car about an hour after leaving Chicago on the 13th. Three people were killed in the accident and the train sustained significant damage due to the fact the train hit the car, which then hit a signal tower. The signal tower and parts of the car then bumped along the outside of the train, causing damage. Windows were knocked out, engine trouble occurred, and some other damage was created. The sound of the impact was tremendous and seeing pictures of the accident scene from one story, it is amazing that 2 people apparently survived the crash. All in all, we fell 24 hours behind and it took us 22 hours to get out of Illinois. If I never see another corn field it will be too soon. It seems every place where we had to sit for long periods was next to a corn field.

Despite the bad start, the trip was quite nice. The scenery (besides the corn fields) was beautiful, my favorite was riding through the Sierra Nevada Mountains. The opinions about the sleeping accommodations will differ depending on who you ask. I had a lower bunk that was quite wide, so that was fine. David was on the upper bunk and it was really narrow. It's tough to be the youngest ;) We did change our plans - we'll be skipping the west coast train trip and instead are flying to Vancouver tomorrow to meet up with the rest of the family. Let's all hope this is the end of the bad things on the trip...

A few links of interest:
News story about the accident - similar to the others posted, but watch the video story about the accident - it's pretty interesting
Pictures from July 12-14 - includes pictures of damage to train
Pictures from July 15 - includes pictures from the Rocky Mountains
Pictures from July 16 - includes pictures from the Sierra Nevada Mountains

I may come and fill more details in later tonight, depending on internet, sleep, and repacking...