Coast Starlight - San Luis Obispo area

Saturday, Oct. 3, 2009

The train follows the coastline for 104 miles.

Looking back at our train

On we go northward toward San Luis Obispo. Some info about it from the train's brochure:

• It was founded in 1772.
• After several thatched roof fires, missionaries developed the technique to make the red tiles that define mission architecture.
• It was the first city in the world to ban smoking in all public areas in 1990.
• The word 'motel' was coined here in 1925 when the Motel Inn was established.

Somewhere around here we crossed a trestle that had been built on the east coast and shipped around Cape Horn to be assembled.

Next is Paso Robles - the Pass of the Oaks - half way between LA and San Francisco.

Farther along we come to Steinbeck territory. First, King City, a mission site where John Steinbeck's dad was the town's first railroad agent. Then to Soledad, used as a backdrop in Steinbeck's novel Of Mice and Men. And then to his boyhood home of Salinas at the head of the Salinas Valley, the 'Country's Salad Bowl.'

There seems to be a lot of 'Capitals of the World' in California. Castroville is listed as the 'Artichoke Capital of the World.' And here's a place where Glenn wouldn't want to hang out: Gilroy, the 'Garlic Capital of the World.'

We rode through a lot of nice countryside and farmland. Near sunset we went by some ugly oil rigs.

By the time we reached Oakland, we were asleep.