If you’re traveling somewhere between Chicago and San Francisco, I highly suggest making a trip of it by taking the California Zephyr, an incredibly scenic overnight Amtrak train through the American West.

I’ve ridden it twice. In January 2025, I took a 15-hour leg of the route from Denver to Salt Lake City and booked a roomette for $400. Then, in February 2026, I took the entire 53-hour journey from Chicago to Emeryville, California, and booked a bedroom for $2,200.

If you’re wondering if the bedroom was worth the upgrade, I think it depends on how long your trip is. But I’ll give you all the details so you can decide for yourself.

Two of California’s most storied high school football programs are set to clash this upcoming 2026 season.

Concord De La Salle will host Corona Centennial on September 25 this upcoming fall in a supreme NorCal versus SoCal matchup. It will be the first time the two programs play against each other since they met in the 2015 state championship. De La Salle won 28-21.

De La Salle (12-1 in 2025) is coming off another championship season after winning the North Coast Section Open Division title with a 24-17 win over Pittsburg.

Centennial (11-2) didn’t take home any silverware, but had one of the program’s most successful seasons after beating Mater Dei twice and earning its way to the CIF Southern Section Division 1 final.

WHAT MAKES THE MATCHUP LEGENDARY?

When considering the winning tradition and history of each program, it’s not hard to dial this game up as a marquee matchup. It will certainly be labeled the ‘Game of the Week’ locally and regionally, and maybe even nationally.

De La Salle is most notably known for its historic 151-game winning streak from 1992 to 2004. The program has won 40 CIF North Coast Section titles, 18 CIF State titles, and six national championships, according to the school’s website.

Centennial has won 10 CIF Southern Section championships, all under coach Matt Logan. The Huskies won a CIF State title in 2008, and that win came over De La Salle led by NFL linebacker

COACHING PEDIGREE

The coaching matchup makes this game special, too. But there’s where Centennial might have the edge with Matt Logan, who has more than 300 wins in his career along with 10 CIF titles.

Logan became just the 15th coach in California history to reach the 300-win mark this past October. Simi Valley’s Jim Benkert, who currently sits at 314, is the only other active coach, according to history records kept by CalHiSports. Logan started at Centennial in 1997.

De La Salle’s Justin Alumbaugh will enter his 14th season at the helm this coming fall. He’s won the top division in the North Coast Section every year since he’s been at the controls. Alumbaugh holds a career coaching record of 148-21.

CENTENNIAL 2026 SCHEDULE

• AUG. 21: at Servite
• AUG. 28: vs. Santa Margarita
• SEPT. 11: at Mater Dei
• SEPT. 18: vs. Rancho Cucamonga
• SEPT. 25: at De La Salle
• OCT. 2: at Vista Murrieta*
• OCT. 9: vs. Murrieta Valley*
• OCT. 15: vs. Norco*
• OCT. 23: at Chaparral*
• OCT. 29: at Murrieta Mesa*

De La Salle has not released its 2026 schedule yet.

Uber is expanding its role in the robotaxi industry through a new partnership with Rivian, the Irvine-based electric-vehicle maker.

Uber and Rivian announced a partnership Thursday that could bring up to 50,000 self-driving R2 vehicles to cities across the U.S., Canada and Europe by 2031.

The Rivian robotaxis would be available exclusively through Uber’s ride-hailing app.

The partnership will begin with Uber’s purchase of 10,000 fully autonomous R2s, with the option to purchase 40,000 more in 2030. Uber’s investment is subject to the achievement of autonomous performance milestones, the companies said in a news release.

Uber could invest as much as $1.25 billion in Rivian through 2031. It already has committed to spending $300 million on the effort.

The first robotaxi deployments are planned for San Francisco and Miami in 2028, followed by 23 more cities, the release said.

“We couldn’t be more excited about this partnership with Uber,” Rivian Chief Executive RJ Scaringe said in a statement. “It will help accelerate our path to level 4 autonomy to create one of the safest and most convenient autonomous platforms in the world.”

The R2 is Rivian’s highly anticipated lower-priced SUV, starting at $48,490 for consumers in 2027. Investors hope the more affordable model will boost sales amid declining federal support for electric vehicles.

The company impressed investors with better than expected yearly earnings last month, but has laid off hundreds of employees over the last year.

Rivian is just the latest robotaxi partnership for Uber, which has established itself as a key player in the burgeoning market of self-driving cars.

Last month, Uber announced a set of services known as Uber Autonomous Solutions to offer robotaxi ventures access to its customers, data and software.

Uber is partnering with Volkswagen to bring self-driving ID. Buzz minivans to Los Angeles this year. It’s also teamed up with Silicon Valley-based EV maker Lucid to launch robotaxis later this year and has partnered with robotaxi leader Waymo in Austin and Atlanta.

Rivian announced its third-generation autonomy platform in December, which will launch in the R2 in late 2026. It includes 11 cameras, five radars and one lidar, a laser-based radar.

Rivian robotaxis will compete against Waymo, which operates in 10 major cities, and Elon Musk’s Tesla.

Amazon-backed Zoox also is serving the public in San Francisco and Las Vegas in purpose-built, pill-shaped autonomous vehicles with no steering wheel or gas pedal.

Uber shares, which have slid around 8% this year, gave up around 2% on Thursday, closing at $75.34. Rivian shares, which have fallen 18% this year, rose nearly 4% to $16.12.