After the optional rest period, the team were the first up and out of the dorm room at the hostel.  They headed to Union Station and boarded the Coast Starlight (also known by some as Coast Starlate) for the 10-hour train trip north to San Francisco.

Free IQ tests!	Capital Records

Union Station	Inside Union Station

The team was treated to a rolling scene as the train rumbled north through the sprawl of LA onto Santa Barbara and along the Pacific Coast.  The large number of eucalyptus trees and coastline reminded Angela and Simon of parts of southern Victoria.  Simon commented at one point that “it was excellent to see so many gum trees, growing like weeds.  Finally, a little native Australian battler gets revenge”.

Santa Barbara Station	Coast Starlight by daylight

The train took the team through Vandenberg air force base after hugging the coast for a bit.  The base was relatively uninteresting as all launch sites (including the shuttle site) were empty.

Surplus shuttle launch pad	The view at lunch

Feed us!

Sunset was enjoyed in the scenic observation car with a glass of Californian red. There the team, along with a younger version of Charlie Sheen (before he started ‘winning’), played ‘guess what is growing in that field’ and tried to follow the ranting of a rather opinionated northern Californian girl whose topics of conversation included, among others, Vikings, feminism, Obama and cheese.

Sunset over the fields

Eventually, the train arrived 45 minutes late at Oakland and there the team boarded a bus to the Ferry Building in San Francisco.  This was the pit stop for this leg of the race.

Finally in Oakland