This tiny California town gets overrun when Tahoe's roads are a mess

"Author Jules Verne briefly mentioned the tiny railroad town tucked into the Sierra Nevada foothills in his classic "Around the World in 80 Days." The plot takes protagonists Phileas Fogg, a wealthy and bored Londoner, and his French sidekick, Passepartout, on a whirlwind global journey at the height of the Industrial Age. "The train, on leaving Sacramento, and passing the junction, Roclin, Auburn, and Colfax, entered the range of the Sierra Nevada," Verne wrote in 1872 of the Transcontinental Railroad leg of the journey."

"At the time you could indeed board the train in Colfax and eventually find yourself disembarking in New York, as Fogg and Passepartout (after some interruptions) did. Colfax remains an active Amtrak station for the California Zephyr. And while not nearly as romantic, today, Interstate 80, which runs parallel to Colfax, mirrors the same transcontinental path. If travelers choose, they can continue on from Colfax and cross all the way to Teaneck, New Jersey."

"On a bright Wednesday morning in early February, Tami Hampshire's plucky collarless chihuahua mix stumbles out from her office onto the sidewalk on Auburn Street, a main thoroughfare that runs parallel to Interstate 80, en route to the town's storied railroad tracks and downtown. The dog then ducks back into Hampshire's office, seemingly used to a routine of leading locals and visitors alike into it behind her."

Colfax occupies a historic foothill location once on the Transcontinental Railroad and earned a brief mention in Jules Verne's 1872 narrative. Historically travelers could board in Colfax and reach New York; the town still functions as an Amtrak stop on the California Zephyr. Interstate 80 now parallels the rail line and follows a similar transcontinental route. The town projects a slowed pace and living history among evergreen surroundings that influence residents and visitors. Local life includes small businesses and personalities, exemplified by Tami Hampshire and her familiar collarless chihuahua guiding people along Auburn Street near the tracks.

Read at SFGATE