- All packed up, I finally leave Baker and ride over the I-15 freeway and enter Mojave National Preserve in the brilliant sunshine
Mojave National Preserve is one of the largest parks in the USA, but isn't all that popular or well-known. Most of the traffic on the busy freeway here speeds by oblivious to the Preserve en route to the Los Angeles or Las Vegas areas. - The 10-ton bike waits at the Amtrak bus stop at the San José train station
Yesterday morning I took Amtrak from San José to Baker, which involves a bus ride to Stockton, train to Bakersfield, then a bus to Baker. - My Amtrak bus out of San José leaves me at Stockton, where I transfer to an Amtrak train to Bakersfield
After the 4.5-hour train ride to Bakersfield, I'll transfer to an Amtrak bus to Baker that will take four more hours. The Stockton train station is located in a decayed industrial area that gets very little pedestrian traffic. Heavy metal bars on the train station's windows and doors suggest that it's a high-crime area. - I spend 4.5 hours on the Amtrak San Joaquin train, occasionally staring at the tray-table instructions in front of me
Fortunately, the train serves food, and the chicken burrito is pretty good. Beer is also available, but it's a bit early in the day for beer (for me at least). - Across the tracks from the Stockton Amtrak station is an old house that looks abandoned, but isn't
The windows of the house facing the tracks appear to be boarded-up (perhaps to block train noise), with iron security bars mounted on top. But the property is well-maintained and I notice some children playing in the yard and entering the house.