I wake up at 4:45 a.m. MT and quickly take a shower. When I get back to my sleeper car, we are on the outskirts of Tucson, Arizona. Instead of making up time during the night, it appears that we lost some. I’ll know for sure shortly when we stop at the station.

After prime rib and some beers for dinner, it is time to call it a (long) day. Palm Springs, California is still about 20 miles away and it looks like we will be four hours behind schedule when we reach the station. Also, the maintenance crew in Tucson, Arizona is supposed to fix the refrigeration in the lounge car overnight. More delays could be ahead. I’ll let you know tomorrow.

At the east end of Colton Yard, we stop again because of a red light. After a 42-minute delay we are moving again. During this stretch of track we are parallel to Interstate 10.

After a half-hour stop in Ontario, we stop again 500 yards east of the station. The engineer reports an all red at the east switch. We begin again after seven minutes with no explanation on the radio. False alarm on the beer. An announcement is made that the beer also will have to be disposed of. Ouch. Delays are bearable. No beer on a Friday night is criminal. We move through Union Pacific’s Colton Yard and on the radio, our train is instructed to not exceed 10 MPH.

The Ontario, California stop is now 25 minutes and counting. There is a red light east of the station, causing the delay. According to the chatter on the radio, the refrigeration went out in the lounge car. According to our car attendant Rick, all frozen items not sold in the next hour to be disposed of. Luckily, the beer will survive. Unfortunately, for lunch the next couple of days, I’ll have to trade my customary two hot dogs and beer in my sleeper car for a sit down lunch in the dining car.