trails and rails

I’m into my third day of train travel and here is what I’ve discovered thusfar. I’ve decided that anyone who rides trains around the U.S. and Canada are of an entirely different culture and mindset than most of the country. A number of the people are European but that stands to reason because there is a lot more train travel in general in Europe, so why wouldn’t they travel by train in the States as well? Also, and this may seem obvious, but people don’t just take a train to get from one place to another, if they are on the train then there is usually some sort of adventure in their background.


On my train from Chicago to New York, I had a seat of my own at first and so the beginning of the trip was fairly uneventful. I sat, read, and watched some TV on my ipod, nothing excited. At one point an elderly couple boarded the train but there were any free adjacent seats. So, as my momma taught me, I offered to move and let them sit together. They were very grateful, and offered their thanks, as did some of the other passengers around them. “What a sweet boy”, was the general sentiment.


Behind them, an Indian man about my age offered me the seat next to him and we chatted. He was born in India but grew up in Los Angeles. He had taken a train from there to New York and spent some time with his friends and was heading back. He was missing a leg (though I never found out why) and so I made runs to the snack car for him a few times and we basically hit it off. We talked about girls, drinking and our jobs (he’s also a techie) and basically hit it off. He also kept me company in Chicago while we both waited for our next trains.


My train left about an hour before his and when I got on I sat behind a girl who I’d noticed on the first train (from New York) and noticed she was heading all the way to Seattle as well. At one point, one of the… flight attendants (?) asked anyone who was sitting in a seat by themselves to move to the back of the car as she was reserving the front of the car for couples and families so they would be able to sit together. So I asked the girl ahead of me if I could sit with her and she agreed.


So my current seatmate is a sweet girl named Rachel who is from Switzerland, where she teaches elementary school. She’s in the United States because her brother lives in Vancouver and she is going to go to school there for a few months to learn better English (although apart from a few words, she seems to know it quite well). Prior to heading to school though, she took a train from Vancouver across Canada. She visited Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, Winnipeg, New York and a number of other cities. She’s been traveling for about a month and a half and is now heading back.


As far as other people I’ve met, at my first night’s dinner, I met a large, crazy man (albeit quite friendly) who gave me advice on what to eat and what not to eat in the dinner car (he’s not a fan of vegetables). At my second dinner I met two elderly men, one of whom is retired from Amtrak and now has a lifetime supply of free train trips and is using them to see America. The other recently went to his daughter’s wedding in New Mexico and bought an All-American Pass. In his words, “now that my children are married and I’m retired, I figured I should see a bit of the world while I’ve got the time.”


Lastly, I met a man on the scenic view car (I know it has another name but I can’t remember what it is) who was on his way back to Seattle from Nova Scotia. He had biked for 67 days across the United States and then taken a train to Nova Scotia. He told me that a lot of his route had been following the train tracks and so a lot of what we were passing now he had seen before on his way out.


The lunch car just opened so I might go grab a bite. I get to Seattle in less than a day now so if anything exciting happens before that I’ll update you again. I miss and love everyone in Kentucky and New York.

Out on the Oregon coast line, where the fog blankets the sea

So I've officially bought my train ticket to Seattle. I leave New York on the 8th of September and arrive on the 11th. This is the first leg of my trip to Hawaii. Kurt has said he's no longer "considering it". He said "unless something major happens then I'm out of here". So I won't be moving on my own which I'm humongously relieved about. I think I will reserve my rental car for the trip down the Pacific Coast Highway sometime tomorrow since it only costs a small down payment to reserve it and then wait a bit to buy my airline ticket from LA until Kurt can get a date. Tentatively I will leave the 18th of September but if he needs to wait a few days then no biggie because I know Sam will enjoy having my in LA a few extra days. I've gotta say I'm really excited about driving down the PCH. Not only do I have no doubt that it'll be a beautiful sight, but I can't wait to get to spend some more time with Noah for a while. I really miss that kid.

When you do things right, they'll hardly know you've done anything at all

So, I made it home. Hooray! My flight went pretty uneventfully. I watched "Flushed Away" during the flight (Meh.) and an episode of "King of Queens". Once I got back, I waited oh so long for my damned baggage (not the emotional kind, silly) while the late night airport attendants played on the intercom (they were pretending to be cats, apparently). I got home to a kittenless apartment. That actually requires a little bit of explaining. Jesse and Willie informed me (via myspace comments to myself and each other) that they had gotten a kitten while I was gone and that it was staying in my room. Well, I wasn't entirely excited about the idea but reconciled myself with it throughout the week and was ready to meet the kitten when I got home only to find out that they had been lying and had actually forgotten about the lie until I asked where it was.

Jesse went to bed after not too long and Willie and I went to the Country Club to meet up with Daris and Luke. Aria came out as well and over all it was a nice little first night back in New York, although nothing overly exciting happened that I remember. The following night, I did my taxes first (rock) and then Yale came over and we went into town to a place I'd gone back in September with him called "The Peculiar Pub". We stayed for a couple drinks, Aria met up with us, and then we attempted to go to Aria's friend Caitlyn's party. We failed.

We walked about (I swear) 700 blocks trying to get to the JMZ (a subway) while I complained about just taking a cab. Apparently there were no cabs in New York on Saturday night, however (this is not true). We finally did find one, drove about three blocks in the wrong direction before realizing the cab driver didn't know where he was going. We got out and walked back to the JMZ and stood and waited for it for about twenty minutes before realizing that we didn't know which direction to take the train (both direction lead to Brooklyn and we didn't know where in Brooklyn we were going exactly). We got back out of the train, back into a cab and just went to the Country Club instead. Rachel, Willie, Daris and a few other met up with us there and it was a successful night in the end.

Yesterday was Super Bowl. Bryan Hamilton called me a bit before the game to wish me happy Super Bowl because he said he remembered how much I liked it. I thought that was awfully sweet. He said that Super Bowls haven't been as much fun since I left. We chatted for a while and the Jesse and I went to Hifi to watch the game. The crowd at Hifi was fantastic. All the regulars were there and even Sky and his girlfriend KJ (who Aria apparently knows). I played a couple games of pool with Jesse, a couple games of pinball with Mitch and even a game of Scrabble with Shawn and Steve. Again, it was a very good night, even if the game itself didn't do too much for me.

Meahwhile, in the City of Angels...

I travelled to Los Angeles on Wednesday of last week. I was at the airport and was through security with about half an hour before my plane was scheduled to leave but the bumped me to the following flight anyway. I still got a window seat and the flight was uneventful, thanks to my Lord Michaels. I out here because my boss got married on Thursday of last week and was in Hawaii for the wedding. He flew me out and is letting me stay in his apartment so that I would be there to help make sure everything gets done in the office.

Since arriving, things have been pretty slow. The only real exception was getting to see Pam on Friday night. I wasn't sure if things were going to be awkward between us but thankfully they very much weren't. She brought me to a restaurant near her work, we ate (along with a guy who she isn't sure if she is dating or not) and then headed to a bar she thought I would like. She was correct and I had a very good time. Neither of us were overly social with the other bar patrons because we were too busy catching up, but since I was getting to hang out with Pam like old days, that wasn't all that important.

I went home after the bar and spent a relaxing weekend doing next to nothing. I was going to meet up with Pam again after leaving work today and help her move into a new apartment but by the time work was up, she was finished. So instead, I headed back to Sam's apartment, watched a couple episodes of Futurama and then started creating a new blog.

I miss New York immensely. I need to say that. Nothing against my friends in LA, its been nice to see them all but there is just so much going on in New York that I want to be there for. Granted most of it is stuff that happens on a very regular basis like Willie, Christine and Adam playing upstairs at the Living Room but its stuff I really don't want to be missing. Aria's been keeping me company during work hours on instant messenger but again that just makes me want to be back in New York. I'll be here til Friday and that day can't come soon enough.