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Day 3: to Reno

Woke at 8am to another bright sunny day. Google said it was -9°C outside, but it didn't feel that cold. Drove up the old Donner Pass Rd to the summit of Donner Pass. The drive up looked spectacular in the early morning sun, everything was so crisp and clean and fresh looking. I had a specific shot in mind, so packed up my gear and wandered down the icy path to the tracks again. Made myself a little seat out of the wind and waited. And waited. And waited. An hour passed and still nothing, not even a blip on the radio. Sorry I lie, one hirail truck went by. I waited a bit longer but eventually gave up; even for Donner Pass this was excessively quiet.

Went back to the lookout over Donner Lake and had some lunch. While waiting I heard that the West bound Amtrak was due into Truckee in 30 minutes (quite late) so I headed down and found a nice spot.

Soon I saw some headlights, but using my camera as binoculars (200mm of optically stabilised lens is very handy!) it ap...

Day 2: Donner Pass Railfanning

Slept for nearly 12 hours! Woke about 4am NZ time and it was a beautiful sunny day outside. Realised overnight that I'd forgotten 2 important things: my webcam, and sunglasses. So I packed up and went off searching for some replacements. Found some sunglasses in a pharmacy that would make Dave's blood boil; it was the size and layout of a supermarket, with all the charm too. But… they had sunglasses.

So all geared up I hopped in the car and with that a grain train roared across the end of the carpark. Two locos on the front and a DPU putting in a good effort on the rear. Right, it's on!

Knew I wouldn't have too much trouble catching him and soon I could see him snaking along as I roared up the 80. The Dodge sure can move when it needs to! It's a lovely vehicle to drive.

Stopped at Emigrant Gap #1 and saw a maintainer placing his truck on the rails; great, he'll tie up the line for a while. Continued around the corner to Emigrant Gap #2 and pat the bo...

Day 1: Back again! Christchurch to California

Guess what, I'm back in America! After what seemed an impossibly long 3 weeks I'm back in California, almost exactly a year on from last time, and so far it couldn't possibly have gone any better!

Woke up very early on Monday and finished off some last minute jobs. After some frantic last minute packing, a call to Fedex (sevens and zeros don't survive the accent barrier well; my tracking number was something like 1707707777077!) and several "oh no I forgot my… actually I packed it" moments I was at the airport. I was surprised, shocked even, to find my suitcase was under weight, and that's including all my tech gear, snow shoes, winter clothes, etc. Miracle!

Flight to Auckland was stunning, got to see Egmont sticking up through the clouds, and just generally a lot of clouds. They even served half decent snacks and free booze.

Mt Egmont

Arrived late into Auckland and walked out of Domestic Arrivals to find a friend wait...

Day 29: Auburn to Christchurch

For those who are worried, yes, I'm back in NZ now, safe and sound. Customs was a breeze.

Journey started with early in Auburn, CA with daylight saving kicking in overnight, so one hour less of sleep and one hour less of packing time. Managed to get everything into my suitcase just fine and checked out of the hotel right on 11am. Headed down to Roseville to try and see the big UP yard there, which I found alright, along with the massive traffic jam alongside. Seems there is a big Sunday farmer's market there, and so everyone was out trying to park, or leave, and meanwhile pedestrians were everywhere. Made for a very slow escape, but from the car I could see the yard and a bunch of tunnel motor locos in UP paint, so that was a nice bonus. No photos, camera was well packed away.

Stopped in at the local Walmart to do some last minute shopping. Found some padlocks for my suitcase after losing one and the key to the other on my first day here. Pretty clever really. While...

Day 28: Donner Pass Railfanning

Well the forecast wasn't good, and I80 was closed to trucks at Applegate and then shortly after to cars at Auburn. So imagine my surprise when I awoke to find beautiful clear skies and the pass wide open! Jumped in the car and set course for Crystal Lake Rd. GPS wanted to take me on a huge detour to avoid a 4 minute traffic delay on the I80, but I knew better and shaved 30+ minutes off its time. Modern technology huh.

Drive up was fairly uninteresting until I hit the snow line, and then wow!!!

I80. Note lack of road markings. Can make things a bit interesting. Note railway formation at right in second photo. Look very carefully and you can see a snow shed just above the cars.

Arrived at Crystal Lake Road, or rather, the spot where it would be were there not 6+ feet of snow on top of it! Parked the car and started getting the snow shoes and my backpack ready. Another guy was just setting off on skis when ...