Training Time

doctorbreadhead: Tuesday, 8:15:07a, Home! And a warm welcome...

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 12:13:00 -0700

Tuesday, 8:15:07a, Home! And a warm welcome from KG.

Safely home, this is the last post of our Burning Man adventure in this format, which is to say for new readers — it’s the top post of a pile of posts going back to the planning days in July.

“Dr. Breadhead Goes to Burning Man” is soon to be a motion picture!

Follow me!

Riding Amtrak’s Coast Starlight to Los Angeles from Seattle is a...

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 11:59:57 -0700

Riding Amtrak’s Coast Starlight to Los Angeles from Seattle is a relaxing two day trip except for the urge to capture it all on video.

Departed Seattle, Monday morning at 9:30a, and arrived Los Angeles Tuesday evening at 8:46p — 15 minutes early!

Continued here …

Amtrak ticket stubs of my just completed trip. You don’t...

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 17:28:00 -0800

Amtrak ticket stubs of my just completed trip.

You don’t get tickets to ride on an airplane anymore. KG and I flew to Seattle from San Diego, Saturday afternoon (2/11), on two pieces of paper we printed at home.

It is nice to be home. I missed my work station with its two screens, which makes editing this weblog so much easier than using the iPad and hotel business centers.

Job one was to put the entries into chronological order.

Since returning, I have edited the movies from Beale Street: the Wired! Band, whose participation triggered my trip, and who went on to win First Place in the group completion! Spoons and Abel and Pristine were two favorites from a random sampling of the quarter-final performances on February 1 and 2.

Follow this link to a video mix of the parade in New Orleans.

I have fleshed out the posts about the people I met through the community seating style of the Amtrak dinning cars; and, added google maps to clips of places captured in passing from the moving train.

Segment 6: LAX > SAN

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 22:45:00 -0800

Segment 6: on the Pacific Surfliner to San Diego now, Thursday, 2/9 at 10:10p. And it’s dark...

Conductor’s apology for arriving in Palm Springs 25 hours...

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 22:43:00 -0800

Conductor’s apology for arriving in Palm Springs 25 hours late

The Ghost Train After the majority of coach passengers elected...

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 22:42:00 -0800

The Ghost Train

After the majority of coach passengers elected to continue the trip by buses provided by Amtrak, the few remaining were upgraded to empty rooms in the sleeper cars. By the time we were underway again on February 8, 2012, at 1p. we had some 27 passengers in two sleeper cars and the three empty coach cars pictured here.

The cars were located behind the lounge or observation car and when I discovered that the restroom in the lounge car was closed, I used the one in this car, the closest restroom to the observation car. That was a mistake. The car stewart cleaning the coach cars read me the riot act on how this area is off-limits! Suddenly, I am in the army? In my defense, and to avoid being sent to the Captain’s office, I reported that the restroom in the lounge is closed. ”You have several restrooms in the sleeping cars,” he said in a tone that his personal frustrations with the delay leaked out all over his clean coach cars.

Soon afterwards, it was announced that the cars are closed for cleaning and “off-limits.” From then on we referred to ourselves as being on the ”the ghost train!”

With Destiny on the Sunset Limited Destiny was traveling with...

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 14:13:00 -0800

With Destiny on the Sunset Limited

Destiny was traveling with John (#2), who told her that his girlfriend is the ocean. I had no comment at the time, and still don’t.

That’s CJ standing in the background, our unfailingly up-beat dinning room manager.

John and John John on the left is a retired Naval Commander on...

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 14:00:00 -0800

John and John

John on the left is a retired Naval Commander on his way home in San Diego from a board meeting in New Orleans. John is serving as president of the Steamship Historical Society of America, and we ended up having dinner together at a resturant in the handsome Union Station (LA) while waiting for the 10:10p Surfliner to San Diego. I enjoyed learning about the society since the riverside town of Snohomish was settled thanks to the development of paddle wheel steamships in the Pacific Northwest. My luck riding the Sunset Limited changed when I discovered that John was taking a cab in my direction east of San Diego and offered to share the fare — thanks John!

John on the right is from Lafayette, Lousiana, and on his way in deguise to California beach fun. As I understand, one too many skate board injuries put an end to John’s professional career. John and his traveling buds were also going on to San Deigo, and I last saw John rolling down the concourse toward the tracks with he and his bags atop a skate board

No Water in Car 103 Somewhere on our way to Yuma, Arizona, I was...

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 14:00:00 -0800

No Water in Car 103

Somewhere on our way to Yuma, Arizona, I was capturing fields of large rectangular blocks of harvested cotton (according to John), when it was announced that Car 103 had run out of water and the rest rooms would be closed! Give it a listen in official Amtrak speak, (that’s John at the table).

Two hour wait at Maricopa, Arizona, Thursday, February 9,...

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 11:00:00 -0800

Two hour wait at Maricopa, Arizona, Thursday, February 9, 2012

First the rumor was that we were waiting for new engineer and conductors … then it was announced on the intercom that we are waiting for the work crews ahead to clear the track. Since leaving San Antonio nearly 30 hours late on Wednesday, this train is no longer on the schedule and we should expect waiting for freight traffic. Here’s how the conductor put it over the intercom upon our first delay on Wednesday, soon after starting out:

“Going to be a lot of freight trains out here today folks, better get use to it!”

Can you imagine a pilot telling his passengers to “get use to” rough air?

On the other side of the coin, the station agent at Maricopa, Bob, was a gem of Amtrak lore based on his 35 years service. He remembered when the Superliners were first placed in service in 1978 — state of art train travel, but now are out of date, according to Bob. With the political picture for Amtrak funding grim, improvements are not on the horizon. And the cars are showing wear and lack of care … years of stains and crud in the corners.

Enough rail ranting — checkout Maricopal -

Harry at breakfast, Thursday morning Harry had the...

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 10:45:00 -0800

Harry at breakfast, Thursday morning

Harry had the roomette across the hall from mine, while his wife used the family room on the lower level. We talked about the estimated arrival in Los Angeles now that we were rolling again after a delay of some 30 hours. Never did get to his story other than they were returning home located near Burbank.

Refueling at Tucson, Arizona, Thursday morning, February 9, 2012

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 10:30:00 -0800

Refueling at Tucson, Arizona, Thursday morning, February 9, 2012

Tucson at dawn on Thursday, February 9, 2012 at 7:15 Note the...

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 07:00:00 -0800

Tucson at dawn on Thursday, February 9, 2012 at 7:15

Note the full moon that followed along outside my window all night long.

With Nica at dinner on Wednesday, February 8, 2012 Nica’s...

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 15:15:00 -0800

With Nica at dinner on Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Nica’s home is in Boston and she travelled by train to Florida to visit a cousin, than on to New Orleans to look up another cousin, and is now on her way to catch the Coast Starlight in Los Angeles for a trip to Portland, OR for a conference. Then she will return home by train! Talk about “training time!”

I quizzed Nica Thursday durning our stop in Maricopa, AZ, how is it for a woman travelling alone, and Nica reported no problems. Like me, she is marking a significant birthday, (in her case, 51) with a grand train journey. She considers travelling by train to be a retreat, just as I do.

Having the sleeping car room is essential of course. It’s like a monk’s cell, I imagine, and I can sit for hours watching the land and small towns go by with a surprisingly empty mind that allows thoughts to come and go, like the view out the window.

Wayne and Joyce from Chaska, Minnesota Wayne is ready with the...

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 15:13:00 -0800

Wayne and Joyce from Chaska, Minnesota

Wayne is ready with the answer when I ask him about the suspenders, and it’s not any where near what I expected. He is using the wide, comfortable suspenders to hold up a colostomy bag — the result of three operations for colon cancer. At one point, not sure of the timing, he was told to arrange hospice care! Didn’t need it. Since then he has stopped chemo treatments. Both he and Joyce are following a diet based on blood type — this, they say, is the reason Wayne is still alve, and on a train trip today.

And yes, Wayne did work as a carpenter.

Lake Amistad, Texas — sunset Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 15:11:00 -0800

Lake Amistad, Texas — sunset Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Site of the derailment near Del Rio, Texas. It took five and a...

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 15:10:00 -0800

Site of the derailment near Del Rio, Texas.

It took five and a half hours to reach the site of the derailment from San Antonio, and I was still not ready with the iPad camera! Clip is of the tail end of the scene that spread out on both sides of the track with cars on their sides, foam spray covering some, and a pile of train car axels.

Back home, I found this news footage of the site, along with an article containing more details, but still no report on the cause of the accident.

Segment 5: APL > LAX

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 15:08:00 -0800

Segment 5: Aborted There will be no getting off the train at Alpine in order to visit Marfa since...

Richard and Kathy at lunch Tuesday, February 7, 2012...

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 15:05:00 -0800

Richard and Kathy at lunch Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Kathy’s husband is coming from Del Rio to pick her up, it’s about three hours away. They moved to Del Rio, Texas, from the Seattle area some dozen years ago and would love to return to the northwest.

Richard had a cochlear implant 13 years ago on the Veteran’s Administration’s dime due to a service related injury and the Aberdeen Proving Grounds. He worked for TWA as a mechanic, wearing hearing aids, until it was sold. His wife died three years ago and his current goal is to travel on every Amtrak route — seems I didn’t ask how he was doing with that goal.

My excuse is that I was totally absorbed in his story of his brother who was a high ranking member of the German American Bund organization that promoted a favorable view of Nazi Germany. Richard remembers his German born father taking both of the boys to rallys in the late 30s in the Brooklyn area — the banners, flags and crowds made quite an impression on Richard. But for his brother it resulted in a call to action. He was eventually arrested for acts of sabotage and given the opportunity to turn counter spy that he accepted and went on to help expose the east coast operation.

A totally charming and friendly man, celebrating 81 years. I send out wishes for safe travels to Richard.

Ariana at the Alamo, Wednesday, February 8, 2012 Here’s...

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 09:39:00 -0800

Ariana at the Alamo, Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Here’s what Ariana’s flag/sign said:

“Idealist with Socialist leanings and a tendency to question myself seeking conservative and libertarian people for conversation about our country. I am an OK talker, a good listener, and I believe we have a stake in trying to understand each other, even if we disagree.”

I don’t remember anything like that going on when I first visited the Alamo as a 10 year old in 1952.

[Upgraded clip posted 3/18/2012]