It's my first night sleeping horizontally after only sleeping sitting up for the last three nights. The hostel is everything you would imagine a backpacker hostel to be: the washrooms are filthy, the rooms are terribly smelly and the bunk beds that have been nailed together only have a creepy blanket with sheets. But you just have to lower your own standards far enough to spend a restful night here too. At least there is muesli for breakfast.
In my row on the Coast Starlight train sits a couple with a little girl, who unfortunately cries out loudly at half past six and ends my sleep. That was definitely not enough sleep for me. In addition there are always several announcements from the dining car on the train in the morning, announcing the procedure for breakfast for the guests in 1st class and announcing when all the rest of the normal "coach class" can sit down. Twenty dollars is charged for the meal in the dining car, and even 45 dollars for dinner. That's too much for me. At least I still have half an "all meat" pizza with me from my restaurant visit in Sacramento yesterday. I delay this breakfast until nine o'clock and only then eat it. After that, the small family next door is on the train somewhere for a while. It's quiet and the pizza made me sleepy enough to nod soundly until 12 noon with no problem.
Travel to see country & people: In my row on the Amtrak train to Sacramento sit three lovely Mexican Golden Girls who knit by day, share brought-in nachos, cheese cubes and white wine in the evening, and then at night tuck under a mountain of blankets under the seats on the floor for sleeping.
The night on the train was freezing again. I'm already wearing a jacket and a sweater over it, but that's not enough for the temperatures generated by the air conditioning in the train cars. As an additional layer of warmth, I have already put the neoprene sleeve of my laptop over my legs and a beach cloth serves as a would-be blanket. But it only warms psychologically, because it is so thin that you can see through it. However, I survived this night as well and I am surprised at how long you can sleep in this forced position. The backrests of the seats recline far back and an additional leg rest expands the sleeping area - but none of this replaces a real bed. Still, I can sleep until half past seven. As expected, we left Colorado overnight and as I pull back the curtain I see the rolling hills of Nevada.
The train crossed Nebraska overnight and when I wake up, the prairie of the Great Plains of Colorado is glowing in the sunrise. I'll start with the minimal morning routine, which requires nothing more than a toothbrush, toothpaste, a full and an empty water bottle.
When that's done, Denver comes into view. Nothing spectacular can be seen from the train, but many people get on and off here.