This weekend I took a trip to go enjoy Seattle.  It included a lot of flange wheel riding and a few feet of walking too.  I’ll refer to we, as I did have a traveling companion, so don’t get confused.

We headed out about 11ish toward Union Station in Portland aboard the Green Line MAX.  It was just a short trip, from one end of downtown to the other.  We managed, ok, so I managed to miss the stop and we ended up riding across the Steal Bridge.  Fortunately, as is often the case, we where early for the departure so it wasn’t a big hassle.  We rode back across on the west bound Green Line and got off at the right stop.

With a while to wait we went up and took a seat at my favorite spot in the station.  The bench right up near the entrance and exit for passengers.  There we sat, waiting for #501 to arrive.  My father, as he does, decided he was going to come wish us well on the trip and ride from PDX to Vancouver just for some train miles.

The train arrived, he met us and we sat and carried on for a bit.  Boarding call was made and we all bounced up to board the train.  The took almost not time, being that trains are extremely easy to board with the 10 open doors and all.  Without further ado, we departed on the Amtrak Cascades for Seattle.

We went about our trip relaxing and enjoying the Bistro.  Checking out the sites, and for good measure, managed to throw in a half hour of sleep.  The train arrived about 15 minutes late, and en route we didn’t lose any time, so managed to pull into Seattle King Street Station at 4:05.

Sound Transit Light Rail

This is when I got the first real use (not a whimsical ride about) trip on the light rail in Seattle.  We walked from King Street Station across the street to Union Station, and down to the International/China Station.  The next LRV that came along we walked aboard and planted ourselves.  Within a zippy few minutes the LRV pulled up to the Westlake Station, end of the line stop, and we popped out and up the stairs.  At surface one can easily see the Monorail and Streetcar just beyond.  We headed that way, as the Hotel MAX is just beyond that.

Hotel MAX, Twitter, and the whole Social Media Thing

A short walk a few blocks and without any issue, we found Hotel MAX.  Hotel MAX is a pretty nice hotel, with reasonable prices for Seattle.  The other awesome thing is, as with any modern hotel that has a good marketing group with a brain, is active in social media.  That includes Twitter, Facebook, and the whole gamut of sites.  Between these sources I had found this hotel, and deemed it worth a visit.  Otherwise I would most likely never have known about this hotel.

With that said, everyone including UP, BNSF, TriMet, and others should or already have a social media presence.  In this day and age it is an absolute must.  The credibility of the medium to land hot leads, really get across messages, and attract people actually interested in your message is light years beyond yesterdays media.

I digress though, this is about the trip, so I will continue.

Hotel MAX is in a 10 story older building, think pre-40s.  They’ve put some rocker-ish stylings, plush furniture and other details in the place, and turned it into a pretty cool modernistic hotel.  Definitely a place worth staying at in Seattle.

We walked about Seattle and wandered aimlessly, with aim, throughout downtown Seattle.  After a Sunday of pastries, treats, Pike Place Market and other such things, we headed toward the train station.  Before that though we stopped in to Zeitgeist for a cappuccino before the departure time.  If you are ever in Seattle, Zeitgeist is actually one of the better coffee shops in the entire city.  It is worth the visit.  The shop also is a great place to sip on a beverage and pull out the laptop for a little bit of internet action.

After that, with just about 20 minutes to spare, we walked over to King Street Station.  It only takes about 5-6 minutes from Zeitgeist.  Upon arrival I got seat assignments and we walked right out to the waiting train.

We departed on Amtrak Cascades #509 on time, ran into a delay however down line.  Out of Tacoma a tree had fallen across the tracks.  We waited for about 20 minutes while they cleared the tracks and then we moved on.  BNSF was rocking with the quick response time.  During the delay and Portland we cleared up another 5 or so minute and got in at about 9:10.

Everyone hustled up off the train and headed for their respective destinations.  My compatriot and I made the dash for the MAX, but there where a few minutes to go.  With that we strolled by Backspace, which was having a packed house type of Poetry Reading.  We waited there and grabbed the last flanged wheel of the night.

A good trip, relaxing yet exhausting all at the same time.  Great food, good talk, great conversation, jovial travelers all around, cool visit, new names and faces, and all in all a kick ass weekend trip.

Will do it again.

Day #12 actually started at 1:00am as Tony dropped us off in Maricopa for the Sunset Limited.  The Sunset Limited rolls into Maricopa at this crazy early time in this crazy out of the way place.  So he got us out there, and Jo & I loitered about in one of the creepiest Amtrak Stations we’ve ever been in.  Before I continue on about this station, I am going to say a few words in regards to the Sunset Limited.

Sunset Limited

The Sunset Limited, before Amtrak took control of it in the 70s, used to run between  New Orleans and LA.  It might have gone further but I’m not sure, I just know for a fact it, as with all Amtrak’s trains, predates Amtrak operation of the train.  I’m not sure what schedule or anything that train operated on, but it existed so feel free to look it up.

What I do know specifically is that Amtrak’s Sunset Limited leaves 3 times a week from LA.  It takes about 48 hours to travel the great southern expanse of the US from LA to New Orleans.  This is all fine and dandy, however there are some issues with taking this train.

1. The train is completely unorganized compared to the Coast Starlight, Empire Builder, and I’d suspect the other western US transcontinental trains.  The crew can’t seem to get people on and off, the stations are designed with standard nor any intelligible use for an actual passenger train.
2. The train only leaves 3 times a week.  This, unfortunately is probably part of a physical limitation from a lack of equipment.  Even though it seems, since the train doesn’t go all the way to Orlando anymore there should be enough.  Whatever the reason, the 3 day departure frequency just sucks.  It makes planning any connections really difficult.
3. Now this complaint isn’t about the train itself, nor the crew.  The last major complaint I have is about the people that ride this train.  I guess, it brings back my annoyance with the southern USA.  I’ll just suffice it to say that the average IQ went down about 20 points and the educational level ceased to exceed 8th grade.

The Sunset Limited really needs some help in becoming a world class train again.  I didn’t see a ridership problem, the train was technically full and there was approximately another half a train full of people that would detrain and board along the way.  No, the train wasn’t at capacity, but it wasn’t doing any worse at this time than most of the other intercontinental trains.

Maricopa

Now that I’ve explained the issues with the Sunset Limited you’ll understand why the station is rather creepy in Maricopa.  Aside from the fact there are some pretty decrepit, goofy looking creepy people, the station adds to the aura of creepiness by being located in Maricopa.  One can’t see anything in any direction except a gas station down the road.  Everything else surrounding the station is nothing more than pitch black.  Being surrounding by this blackened soot of night we sat waiting for our train with about 60 other people.

We had arrived at 10:00pm after Tony dropped us off.  Fortunately we were full of tasty Cuban Food so all we had to do was chill out and wait.  The time ticked by toward that 1:07am arrival.  Tick tock, tick tock.  We sat with all the creepy folk.  Finally about 12:40am we all headed out as the train arrival was imminent.  When we stepped outside the arrival wasn’t imminent, but it was instead arrived.

She sat there in the darkness with lights off, engine humming, and crew changing out.  The Sunset Limited cars, which couldn’t fit in the station while the engine driver swap occurred, sat upon the tracks in the soot black of the night.  After the engine crew changed out the train pulled ahead about 150 feet or so the first cars could be boarded.

The first few cars on the Sunset Limited were sleeping cars.  On the Sunset Limited there are sleeping cars on the front and rear of the train.  The reason there are sleepers on the front and back is because the Texas Eagle & Sunset Limited are joined together in Texas.  From there they traverse as one train.  Since this train in the past was the Sunset Limited, I stick to calling it just that.

The train finally pulled forward to the coaches where everyone else got on board except Jo and I.  The conductor had informed us a few minutes before that we would board last since we are the only sleeping car passenger boarding in Maricopa.  We waited for these people to board.  Once that was done she pulled forward further, and we boarded the sleeping cars on the end of the train.

Once aboard we quickly sprang into action stowing our luggage and other errata.  Within minutes our car attendant came by and informed us that the dining car would start breakfast at 5:30am.  We passed out at this point, enjoying the rapture of sleep.

What we had neglected to know, or be informed of, was that the psychotic announcer would actually announce breakfast at 5:30am over the intercom.  Addition, we had not realized that our in room intercom was on.  One can easily turn it off if they don’t want to hear the announcements in car, but we had not noticed.  So our oddball, somewhat brash experience on the Sunset Limited route was about to take a turn for the turbo brash.  By our neglect, and the somewhat stupid idea that people get up at 5:30am, the dining car was about to punch us square in the head.

THIS IS THE DINING CAR SPEAKING!!!

The statement blared over our internal intercom, which in addition was turned up to 10.  It blasted in our room and through the hallways as we slept.  I sat up immediately, knowing this would probably even wake Jo.  Waking Jo at 5:30 am would probably mean half the train & the staff would be given a verbal lashing of a vulgar and immense magnitude.  Being that I now also felt brutalized I reached up with both eyes still closed.  I flailed around trying to find the volume and button to turn this interruptive and brash voice off.  I poked haphazardly still without an eye open and found the control panel above the bed.  Now groping, still unseeing as the dining car attendant made their damnably loud announcement at 5:30am, I worked to find the dial.  Finally I found and flicked the dial.  The blathering voice now disappeared and we only could hear the hallway intercom now.  Still annoying, but silent by comparison.

I couldn’t seem to get the echo of the dining car attendant’s voice out of my head now. I laid there, with my arm still upon the dials letting my now tense muscles relax.  Slowly I moved my arm back to my side, sort of walking my fingers across the window.  I still had a surge of anger in my chest, a screaming in my head, perturbed that we paid extra for sleeping accommodations only to be roughly awoken at 5:30am for breakfast that neither of us wanted.  In addition, only about 5% of the train eats breakfast, and probably about 5% of that 5% actually get up at the blazing insane hour of 5am!

Slowly the calm of sleep came back over me and I passed into a relaxing slumber.  We managed to get another couple hours of sleep before our 1 hr early arrival in Los Angeles.  Still beat flying, still beat the hell out of driving, but jeez it would have been nice to sleep like we had intended.

Regardless of that, we were here, arrived in Los Angeles.

Baggage Stowed

Once we arrived we immediately set out to stow our luggage.  With the luggage stowed in short order the next order of business was breakfast.  Since we were back downtown the decision was to head to Phillipe’s again.  We headed out the main Union Station entrance and onward toward Phillipe’s.  After a short walk to Phillipe’s we had a great breakfast and still had about 2 hours before our friends would appear in Hollywood that we intended on meeting.  So we had a relaxing post lunch do nothing session in the park nearby.

Back to the Trusty Subway Red Line

Once we were done we set out to meet the married couple.  It was coincidence that we both happened to schedule ourselves to be in LA on Hollywood at the same time.  We boarded the Red Line Subway from Union Station to Hollywood.  Twenty or so minutes later we arrived in Hollywood and rode the escalators to street level.  A block up and across the street we managed to meet up with them and take a slow walk down Hollywood.

After doing the touristy thing, we all grabbed a few photos of random stars and other such things, lunch was in order.  After a short discussion we all decided that the best option would be to jump back on the Red Line and head back downtown to Cole’s for a French Dip.  Jason & Cubers LOVED the French Dips.  Jo & I, of course loving ours too, tore through the sandwiches like the hungry people we were.

Afterwards Jo & I escorted our comrades along the Red Line back to Vine & Hollywood.  They detrained and headed off, we all said our farewells.  Jo & I however adventured onward toward the last stop.  There we detrained and went above ground to find the Orange Line.

Orange Line Cancelled Because It Was Tired

We walked across the street and realized, as I had completely forgotten, that the Orange Line is actually BRT.  Surprised at this Jo gave some resistance to riding at first.  She wasn’t sure about riding around on a bus, being that she was tired.  But we walked across and began to wait for the next bus.  The frequency at this time of day was pretty frequent.  However as we sat, with my own growing weariness, the crowds began growing rapidly coming from the Subway and from the park & ride area.

Before the next bus arrived the seating capacity was already exceeded and it would be standing room only.  We watched the bus become a packed sardine can.  Now both Jo & I had a change of spirit, neither of us wanting to ride a vehicle this packed while we were so tired.  Instead we decided the Red Line was for us and went back into the subterranean expanse to board a Union Station bound Red Line.

Metrolink Run

While we waited I got a room reserved at The Standard there in downtown LA for Thursday night.  We wanted to stay close to Union Station so we would be able to make the train without trying to get up at 5am.  After the last few days we were needing all the sleep we could get.  Once I did that I plotted out how we would get back to Balboa Peninsula for beers, food, and whatever else Mike, Jo, & I might come up with in our nerd minds.  I purchased two tickets for the 6:30pm Metrolink Train.  I informed Jo while she napped in Union Station in one of the comfortable chairs they have in the station.  We concurred that I should go drop the excess luggage off at the hotel by myself so I could make haste.

I jumped down the steps with the luggage headed for The Standard via the Red Line Subway.  I hustled as best I could to get on the Subway Train that sat in the station, but unfortunately I just missed it as I was walking up.  The clock kept ticking, it was already 5:42pm.  I thought to myself, “I should have enough time.”  The next Red Line arrived, which I boarded, and off we went.  5:58pm and I was coming up on 7th.  I immediately pulled out my iPhone and began searching for The Standard.  Being that this was an artsy, modern, friggin’ awesome hotel, it was in a building that was unto itself confusing.  I eventually found it, but the clock read 6:12 when I stepped back on the Subway.

I arrived at Union Station at 6:17pm and immediately made haste toward where Jo sat.  I txt’ed here to tell her to be ready and find out what track the Oceanside Metrolink Train departed on.  Again, luck was not for me tonight, Jo’s phone battery was dead and I was txt’ing for no reason.  In addition to that bad luck, I had gotten off of the Red Line on the part that exits to the Metro Station part of Union Station, which meant I had to cover about 1000ft before I was back into Union Station proper.

I kept my quick pace up walking through the underground track concourse.  I walked into Union Station and immediately looked at the reader board.  I saw track 6b for the “…side” train.  Awesome, Oceanside departure is on track 6b.  I walked over and Jo had the laptop and other stuff out, so we worked together to hurriedly pack everything and head to track 6b.  We set out with the remaining bits of luggage in tow.  We got to track 6b with 3 minutes to spare.  I thought, “Wow, that was cutting it close.”  Jo went walking upstairs, for whatever reason I followed with the luggage.  That was a dumb idea, but hey, I do that sometimes.  We couldn’t fit them all in the train upstairs so I went downstairs with one and found another seat.

I sat down, but felt somewhat odd about something, so to be sure I asked an individual sitting nearby, “this is the train to Oceanside correct?” To which I received the horrible news, “No, this train is to Riverside.”  Immediately it all flooded into my head.  There where two trains on the reader board, a “R… side” and a “O… side”.  It didn’t occur to me that some place would end with “side” just like Oceanside so though there were two trains leaving.  At this point I freaked, ran up stairs, and told Jo we where on the wrong train.  We grabbed all of our stuff and detrained.

I was so ticked I tossed one piece down and had to catch my breath after all this running.  We then started out to try to make it to track 8b.  We had literally one minute, and time was ticking.  We started running toward the concourse area to run below the track and back onto the 8b track to board.  As I ran up the concourse ramp toward the train, with Jo barely 15 feet behind me, the doors on the Metrolink Oceanside South Bound Train closed!

I have NEVER missed a train I intended to catch in my entire life.  I was effectively PISSED OFF!  Yeah, I was enraged.  At that point, I was so tired, it was also effectively everybody’s fault in addition to mine.  I had never planned so poorly, and failed so monumentally.  At this juncture in time I wasn’t sure what to do, I wanted to fall into the ground and melt away.  In my own mind I was tortured by this failure.  How could I, the Transit Sleuth, screw up a train departure so bad as to miss a train?  New York, Chicago, New Orleans, Memphis, Jackson, Washington DC, Eugene, Centralia, Seattle, Edmunds, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Emeryville, Oakland, and more – all these stops, all those schedules, and I haven’t missed any of them.  But today I failed.

WOW.  :(   #fail    Oh My @#$%(@%^!)%#^)!%#^!*)^(*^$(&!#()%!

Alright, Sanity Sets Back in, I failed, call a good reliable friend and just ask to get a ride.  Admit defeat and just get the job done.  I picked up the phone, Jo was perturbed also.  I looked at her for a moment, she provided no solace.  I was being weak in mind so I mustered a phone call, “You Mike, can you go ahead and swing into LA and give us a ride, I royally screwed up the Metrolink Schedule and we don’t have another train south for some time, which will cause us to miss the transfer to the OCTA bus we need to catch.”, to which I received the reassuring can do attitude of Mr. Mike, “sure man, I’m on my way.”

It is a wonderful thing to know I have reliable, solid, trustworthy friends that will have my back when I screw up.

Train Schedule Screw Ups Get Remedied With The Hooptie

Mike, Jo & I rode back via the ole’ f-ing Interstate in the ole’ amazingly reliable Hooptie.  Hooptie, is the name of Mike’s car.  This beast has been through hurricane Katrina, LA driving, Jacksonville driving, and obviously more than a transcontinental road trip.

We get back to Balboa and after a short break head for something to eat.  The beauty of Balboa is we never drive, we always just walk or bike out on the Peninsula.  This makes for easily one of the most livable communities in America.  The catch is, you better have some money.

With a short walk, not 100% sold on where we were heading, we come across a Sushi Restaurant.  Mike had tried to take us here last week when we were through, so we figured why not, let’s go!

Proper Japanese Style Sushi

We sat down at the Sushi Bar.  The Sushi Chefs, two of them, stood ready and working.  Currently they were serving other customers.  We all looked through the menu, ordered a few beverages and sat somewhat unsure of how to order.  No Mike, Jo, & I are not sushi amateurs.  We know how the typical American sushi joint works.  Mark on the sushi list what you want, hand it to the sushi chef.  Sushi check makes sushi, hand sushi to you on a plate of some type.  Done.

Well that is the American way of getting sushi.  It isn’t the proper or even the Japanese way to get sushi.  In Japan I have heard that our way has influenced their way, but this place was a proper Japanese sushi joint!  The way you order is you simply tell the sushi chef what you want and they make it.  They then place it on a plate in front of you, but not your eating plate.  Assistants on the floor bring you sushi plates that you actually eat off of as the sushi is made.  Sometimes you get a new plate and sometimes you don’t, depending on the sauces and flavor mixes that might occur.  The idea behind all this is simple, the sushi and sashimi must be as pure to what it is derived from as possible.

We all received our drinks.  Jo got a Ramune & Mike & I got a bottle of imported sake to share.  In proper Japanese fashion someone immediately poured each of us a glass of sake.  Throughout the remaining dinner they made sure we did not ever need to pour the sake ourselves.  The goal with this, was that they must be the best hosts as possible.  This establishment held this traditional solidly!

When Mike ordered his sushi the sushi chef made a suggestion.  Another tradition is if you receive a suggestion from the chef you do not turn him down, but maybe only offer slight suggestions about what you do or do not like.  He then crafts a custom arrangement per the special of the day and other options available.  Since I had ordered a few basic options, Unagi, Ebi, and some others I received those almost immediately.  Meanwhile the check kept working on this custom cut of sashimi he was preparing for Mike, and each of us.

Eventually we received this amazing plate of sashimi.  Jo, Mike, & myself were informed by the sushi chef on the proper way to eat this.  Only add a slight bit of wasabi, no soy sauce.  We each tried and were amazed, enthralled with the smooth texture and flawless smooth cuts of fish.  This sashimi, we agreed in solidarity, was the best sashimi we had each ever had in our entire lives.  With a round of cheers, we sipped our sake and slowly ate this delicacy.  The night continued with the chef and each of us telling storied and going back and forth about various things.  He prepared several custom plates of sushi and sashimi for us, finishing with some special chips and finally a home made ice cream.

We all were seriously impressed.  So impressed that the somewhat large bill seemed more than worth it, it seemed a deal!  If anyone is ever out on Balboa, this is absolutely, without doubt, 100%, THE place to get premium sushi with premium proper Japanese style service.

That basically ended our night with a bang!  Amid all our trouble and missed trains, the amazing service and spectacular sushi service left all with a comfortable, satisfied flavor to fall asleep with.  That, was Day #12.

During the stay in Phoenix I’ve had a chance to converse with probably over a hundred people.  I didn’t write down every single thing everyone said, but here are a few of the notes I’ve made from random conversations with random Phoenix Residents.  This list is only the transit related conversations.  I have another entry in the works for the “suburban suburbanite” conversations, which are a jolting reminder of the lifestyle differences.

Scenario #1:

Riding the light rail from Mesa into town.  A professional lady sat across from me, she was looking out the window so I figured she’d be a candidate for conversation.

Transit Sleuth:  Hey, you ride the light rail much?

Sally:  I’ve ridden over 50 times since it has opened.

Transit Sleuth:  What do you think of it so far?

Sally:  It is great.  Before they built this I just drove everywhere, but now I get to take this a lot since I go downtown and live in Mesa.

Transit Sleuth:  Do you work downtown or something?

Sally:  Yeah, [I didn’t understand this part, a bunch of people were boarding and a loud truck was driving by].  Oh, here’s were I get off.

Transit Sleuth:  [I jump up to get off also, since I was heading downtown] I’m just wandering around downtown today, any food suggestions?

Sally:  Yeah, check out the coney place or the sandwich factory.

Transit Sleuth:  Awesome, what’s your name?

Sally:  Sally.  [Shook hands]  Have a good day.

Transit Sleuth:  You too.

Scenario #2:

Walking around downtown near the sandwich shops just referred by Sally.  I saw someone carrying a pistol on their side.

Transit Sleuth:  Excuse me, I’m kind of a 2nd amendment advocate, and was wondering are you law enforcement?

Gun Toter #1:  Nope, it is legal to carry and I have a CCW.

Transit Sleuth:  That’s awesome.  Phoenix seems to be pretty safe downtown here?  Ever need to unlatch the side arm?

Gun Toter #1:  Fortunately no.  I go through some questionable areas outside of downtown though.  Sometimes at night it gets [racial epithet for Mexicans].  I’d rather be prepared than sorry.  Just a few months ago somebody got shot for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.  That aint gonna be me.

Transit Sleuth:  I can understand that.  Do you ever ride any of the transit in town?  I’m putting together information on the light rail and bus system here, and you’d be an interesting candidate to discuss this with.

Gun Toter #1:  I’ve ridden it a couple of times.  I don’t live anywhere near it though so I don’t have any use for it.  The buses are full of [Mexican racial epithet] & [Black person’s racial epithet].

Transit Sleuth:  You ever feel those words a bit prejudice?  Not that I want to talk about that issue?

Gun Toter #1:  If they would stop killing people and each other I wouldn’t feel this way.  You grow up here you might have a different attitude.

Transit Sleuth:  Alright, well, thanks for talking to me.

So after that little conversation I ate lunch, and wasn’t particularly inclined to speak with anyone else.  I didn’t really want to get into another edgy conversation with someone that would spurt out some dumb racial epithet every 10 seconds.  I was looking for cohesive and intelligible conversation on the topics of Phoenix and transit.

Scenario #3:

Leaving the Sandwich Factory, which I might add was awesome, I saw another armed citizen.  This was the 4th or 5th person I saw armed.  Just a side arm, appropriately holstered on their side, nothing crazy like a strapped rocket launcher or anything.  I walked toward the guy and with an inquisitive raised hand asked…

Transit Sleuth:  Quick question for ya.

Gun Toter #2:  Yeah, what can I help ya at?

Transit Sleuth:  I’m a 2nd amendment advocate, just visiting Phoenix and checking out the light rail, and was wondering if you’re a law officer.  I’ve found it intriguing the number of armed citizens downtown today.

Gun Toter #2:  Yeah, I’m bit into that sorta thing.  Why you checking out the light rail though?  What does it have to do with anything?

Transit Sleuth:  Oh, that is completely unrelated to the 2nd amendment for me, just an interest in the history, economics, and function of transit and general passenger transportation.  So what do you think of it?

Gun Toter #2:  I kind of dig it.  I’ve taken it to a few games and stuff.  I don’t ride it everyday though.

Transit Sleuth:  What about carry on the light rail?  Do you know the rules are for it on the light rail?  [Context:  I have zero idea here either, I’m just asking.]

Gun Toter #2:  I didn’t think they can…  the company is a public company, they gotta follow as wrote down in the Constitution and State Law.

Transit Sleuth:  Just my own paranoia about states and transit authorities abrogating Federal Constitutional Rights, I’d check just to make sure.  If they had some dumb rule, would you still use transit?

Gun Toter #2:  If I got a use for it, I’ll use it, I don’t think they gonna mess with the laws.

Transit Sleuth:  That’s good to hear.  You keep riding, I gotta run and catch a light rail train.

Scenario #4:

While riding back toward the Mesa Station on the first day I rode the light rail, I came upon several short conversations.  This first one started when a young lady asked out loud,

Young Lady:  Where am I going?

Transit Sleuth:  Where have you been, maybe I can tell you where you are going.

Young Lady:  I was down there [pointing to the western end of the light rail].

Transit Sleuth:  And you’ve forgotten where you originally got on.

Young Lady:  Like, I got on to go not where I got on.

Transit Sleuth:  [Chuckling out loud, with a big grin on my face.]  Do.  You.  Realize.  What you just said?

Young Lady:  What?  Like, that didn’t make any well, like, sense huh?

Transit Sleuth:  Nope.  None at all, logic is nonexistent in that statement.  [I sat back down to let her figure out where in the universe she was at.]

Young Lady:  Do you know where you are going?

Transit Sleuth:  Yup.

Young Lady:  Well, can I like get off where you get off and call someone to figure out where I am going?

Transit Sleuth:  [Realizing she didn’t think she could use a cell phone on the light rail]  You could call someone right now while we are moving.

Young Lady:  But it’s dangerous to like, use a cell phone, while moving.

Transit Sleuth:  [Realizing this chick was a slight bit dumber than stupid]  Yeah, you’re right, better not use the cell phone while we’re moving.  You might wreck into someone huh.

Young Lady:  Yeah.  So can I get off where you do?

Transit Sleuth:  You can get off anywhere you want to, even where I get off.

Eventually she got off, before I did.  No telling where she ended up.

Scenario #5:

While on the same trip back to Mesa.  An older grungy looking guy approached me.

Grungy Guy:  Hey you!

Transit Sleuth:  [I don’t pay any attention because I don’t always answer to “Hey you!”, maybe “Hey” or Hey you.” but not “Hey You!”  I continue looking out the window on the high floor part of the light rail vehicle observing the area we’re passing through.]

Grungy Guy:  Hey man, do you know where the stadium bar is?  Where people go after the game?

Transit Sleuth:  [Now that he’s fixed his tone I jovially retort to his question.]  That doesn’t narrow it down very much dude, you’re gonna have to try harder.

Grungy Guy:  Oh, the bar near the stadium.  Do you know where it is?

Transit Sleuth:  I know about 10 bars near the stadium and I’ve only been here for about 22 hours.  But I don’t know what you mean by “near the stadium”.  Besides, isn’t there one over by ASU and one downtown?

Grungy Guy:  Yeah, but I want to go to the one on Mill Avenue.

Transit Sleuth:  [Keep in mind, I’ve not been to Mill Avenue at this point, I only know it is near the stadium]  Why don’t you get off on Mill Avenue & 3rd and just walk a few blocks down the street.  The stadium is right close by.  Worse case scenario you have to walk 5-6 blocks around the area to find what you’re looking for.

Grungy Guy:  Dude, that’s a good idea.  It’s probably right by the stadium.

Transit Sleuth:  [If you’ve read scenario #4, this statement might sound familiar, and I wanted answers]  Do people in Phoenix commonly restate the exact fact they’ve just stated, after someone answers them?  You’re the second person that has said something like that to me.

Grungy Guy:  What do ya’ mean?

Transit Sleuth:  Well…   oh you better head out, here’s your stop.  [Saved by the bell.]

Grungy Guy:  Thanks dude!

Scenario #6:

[…and yes, if you read this scenario all the way through, there IS a transit related point.] As I approached the end and pulled into Mesa two college girls and I suspect a frat boy of some sort stood with them by the door waiting to get off.  The train came to a stop and the girls stepped off first.  As the two girls exchanged some conversation, that I couldn’t understand, the guy looked at them and interjected something.  One of the girls looked at him with a sullen face.  The girl not looking at the frat boy all of a sudden dropped all of her books and papers.  The slight wind started to blow them and I immediately grabbed a few and stopped some with my foot.  The frat boy just walked off and I realized that he was just going to leave the young lady in this fix.  Her friend reached down to help and a slight gust of wind blew her papers off, she instinctually reached out to grab the papers.  Well since she was holding the books and reached out by reflex, she then threw her books forward all over the exit ramp of the platform.  I leaned down and started helping them…

Sullen Girl:  Oh thank you thank you thank thank you.

Transit Sleuth:  Yeah, no problem.  I see your comrade took the asshole route and just left you two.

Sullen Girl:  He’s a prick.  We were dating, but like, he sucks, so like, I dumped him.

Other Girly:  He is a prick, but she’s just like, upset, cuz like, it wasn’t…

Transit Sleuth:  Here’s your books.  [Handing the “Other Girly” her books she had dropped.]

Other Girly:  Thank you so much.  [Looked up with a great smile, thus I couldn’t help but smile.]

Sullen Girl:  [Stops gathering her books]  F#$% IT!  [Just sits down, she is apparently very upset, and she starts to tear up while sniffling.]  I don’t want to do this, can you just take my books [speaking “Other Girly”]?

Other Girly:  Well yeah, what are you doing?

Sullen Girl:  I just, I need time to think.  I don’t want to go home.  I can’t think at home, I hate it I want to just get away for, like, some time or something.  Please just take my stuff.

Other Girly:  Ok [She takes the rest of her books and I hand her the papers I retrieved for “Sullen Girl”]

Transit Sleuth:  [Looking somewhat befuddled, because I do NOT deal with emotional situations like this well, even when I have zero investment in the situation]  Are you ok?

Sullen Girl:  I’ll be fine, I just need to think and not be around anyone.

Transit Sleuth:  [Yes, this is what I said next, I am a transit nerd and it is my “2nd Place” where I go to think]  You ought to just get back on the light rail, find yourself a seat, and ride the line.  That’s what I always do when I’m down and out – not that I know ya or anything.

Sullen Girl:  No, no you, that, it’s.  [Tears up a bit]  Thanks, that’s a good idea.  I’m going to… [tears up a bit again]  Yeah, I’m going to do that.  Thank you.  Thanks, I.  I’m such a mess.  Thanks.

Transit Sleuth:  Yeah, hope you feel better.  Just get that seat and get lost in the ride.

At this point she walked off and got back on the train about to depart.  Crying herself into a tizzy.  I almost felt bad, because with how choked up she was, she might get a lot of concern from people on the train.  Well, did what I could.

Scenario #7:

After the wedding Jo and I had moved to the downtown San Carlos Hotel.  The first day I left the hotel to take photos I ran into some kids skateboarding downtown.  They where hitting the Chase Building grounds and hitting the surfaces for grinds and such.  Overall, they where top notch skaters.  I was impressed.

Skater #1:  Wanna take some pictures?

Transit Sleuth:  Sure.  [I wasn’t sure I’d keep em’, but what the heck.  I dig skating big time, and if I caught some good images that would rock.  Usually though, this is Jo’s domain and I usually can’t get good action photos to save my life.]

Skater #2:  I’m going to grind left.  [pointing to his direction.]

Security Guard:  [Guard appears from inside the building.]  You kids can’t do that skating around here.  You’ll need to move on.

Skater #3:  God D@#$!@ uuugggghhh.  [Fussing loudly]

Skater #1:  Let’s go jump on the light rail.

Skater #2, #3 & #4.  Alright, [yeah, etc., etc…]

Transit Sleuth:  I’m gonna walk over with you guys.  Do you take the light rail much?

Skater #1: Yeah, all the time.  Usually a couple of times per day.  It is way easier to go hit spots [places to skate] taking light rail than trying to drive around and worrying about parking and shit.

Skater #2: Even though the skate parks are hard to get to.  But we don’t go to those too much cuz they’re way out.

Transit Sleuth:  So there aren’t any skate parks near the light rail?

Skater #2:  Naw, not really.  They’re all out where it is nearly impossible to get without a car.  It’s usually cooler to go hunt down good skate spots than driving all the way out to the parks though.

Skater #1:  Yeah.

Transit Sleuth:  So you guys don’t take the buses out there or anything?  Don’t they go out there?

Skater #1:  Yeah, they…

Skater #2:  No they don’t.

Skater #1:  Yeah they do, it just takes forever.

Skater #2:  Bullshit.

Skater #3:  Yeah they do, but they do take like a billion hours.  It’s way too much trouble to take the buses.

Skater #1:  The drivers usually look at you funny after you been skating hard too when you’re all sweaty.  Even if the bus is empty they didn’t let me on once.

Skater #2:  Yeah, the drivers are kind of weird.

Skater #3:  True.

Skater #1:  The trains are wicked though.  You can just camp out and people don’t freak on us, there is no driver staring at us, and we can just chill after we go riding.  [Yeah, he said riding, instead of skating – often means the same thing]

Transit Sleuth:  That’s cool.  At least you guys have this option now.

Skater #4:  Yeah, it’s sweet.

Skater #1, #2 & #3:  [Various sentiments thrown about in regards to the light rail being awesome]

Transit Sleuth:  Well, I’m going to head out, you guys keep shredding, and watch out for the troublemakers and cops.

Scenario #8:

I decided to take a trip to Mill Avenue.  The light rail bridge & is near the railroad bridge, and two nice road bridges that I wanted to photograph.  While en route to this I came upon another interesting chat about skateboarding.  It appears, that the light rail is a boon to kids heading out to go skate boarding or in general, to the parks and other features available in the city for recreation.  This group of people consisted of two guys and a gal, who I’ll call skater kid, the skater boyfriend and the skater girlfriend – being that the boyfriend and girlfriend were girl & boy-friend of each other.

Transit Sleuth:  Do ya’ll mind if I take a picture of your boards?

Skater Kid:  Yes [Meaning in reality, no, no problem at all.]

Skater Boyfriend:  Sure.

Skater Girlfriend:  Cool.  [With a smile]

Transit Sleuth:  Thanks [Click]  Where are ya’ll headed to skate.

Skater Boyfriend:  Not sure what the name is, but I know what the stop looks like.

Transit Sleuth:  That’s cool.  [A couple minutes go by without me talking with them, as we’re all just looking out the windows seeing where exactly where we’re traveling.]  So what do ya’ll think of the light rail?

Skater Boyfriend:  It’s really cool & easy to ride.

Skater Kid:  We can get to places that used to take hours to get to now, it’s really sweet.

Skater Boyfriend:  Yeah, we never got to go where we’re heading today unless we got someone with a car to drive us over here.

Skater Girlfriend:  I like it.  I like to be able to easily go places with other people when there are more than would fit in a car.  We go hang out after school which would usually take two or three people driving, but we usually couldn’t find that many drivers so we would end up stuck somewhere that was boring.

Transit Sleuth:  That’s interesting.  Good to know ya’ll like it.  I’m heading over to ASU to take pictures right now.

Skater Boyfriend:  Oh yeah, ASU has good games too, I went to one of those.

Skater Girlfriend:  That was fun.

Skater Kid:  Yeah, we didn’t get to go before, because we usually couldn’t get anyone together that could take us, but with the light rail its super easy.

For now, that’s it.  I might put together another entry with some more of the entries because this is truly just the tip of the iceberg.  I do want to make a point to get the suburban chats that I had because it really shows some of the contrasts.  Until then though, this is it for today.

We arrived in Phoenix (as you may have noticed from my previous entry, “Phoenix Transit Exploration #fail and #success”.  Our first few days we stayed out close to our friends Jason & Cube so we could help out with and attend their awesome geek wedding (<3 u 2).

The ceremony was an outside ceremony, on a beautiful day with the setting sun off to our backs.  As the sun slowly set, and eventually disappeared we all sat and mingled, enjoying great food at the festivities after the vows were spoken.

Afterwards we all drove off in our paths for the night.  The newly married couple heading off to California in the morning in their Hybrid Honda, Jo and I off to our last night in the suburban hotel, and others in various directions.

Jo and I rose early morning today, Sunday ~ day 9 of our adventure, and went about some after wedding errands and wandering about southeastern suburban Gilbert, Mesa, and Phoenix.  After running those errands we headed with our rental POS Chevrolet Cobalt to the urban core of Phoenix to check in at the San Carlos Hotel.

Out Of The Burbs’

Once we checked into the San Carlos Hotel we headed back for our last suburban excursion in the ole’ rent a car.  Off to 16 miles south of downtown to check out a Brazilian Grill.  There we met Aendenne and her son, Cyrus for a bit o’ meat, tasty bits, and dessert!  Some of the meat was spot on, some of it was off a bit.  The desserts pleased all at the table.  :) 

Aendenne brought up some of the positive Phoenix points (as Jo and I are both having a time of this perpetual sun thing bearing down, and the suburbia – well, we’ll just get over that later).  One of the positives is the eternally consistent weather.  The other is when it does storm, it is awesome and epic, something that is often missed in Portland – being there are no actual storms of any sort.  Even the things Portland calls storms are merely a bit heavier rain or heaven forbid, one of the rare snow flurries (that happen maybe every 2-4 years).

Afterwards we parted ways with our farewells for the day.  I hope to make a trip out this way again soon and hang out with all.  It is really good to see friends like this.  Aendenne then headed off to do what I’m usually doing, more coding & more work!  For once I was actually heading off to just chill.

No Jo and I are downtown, and we’ve taken a bit of a zonk, and now are ready for our Sunday afternoon adventure to find something to swim in since we have a rooftop pool (oh yeah, rockerz!)   All that, with light rail at our very doorstep to lead us off to Lux, Breakfast, and the other adventures we’ll have in Phoenix.  So with that I’m off, and more to come later.

At the crack of way to early in the morning Jo, Mike, and I broke out of the Balboa Peninsula bound for Santa Ana Station again.  The plan itinerary at this point in the day goes like this.

• 8:17am Metrolink departing to Los Angeles Union Station.
• Red Line to Hollywood for break fast and photo mayhem.
• 2:30pm Board Sunset Limited to Maricopa, Arizona.

At this point anything could change, except that hard 2:30pm departure of the Sunset Limited.

At 8:17am, the arrival and departure of the Metrolink Train was quick.  Jo and I boarded and put our luggage near the lower seating deck of the car.  Again, very nice that trains have this type of capacity, and another reason we rode in a car to the train instead of taking the bus.  The train has plenty of space for luggage and the bus sorely misses any remotely viable place for cargo.  Urban buses do not a make a friendly travelers aid.

Jo and I piddled around the station for a few minutes figuring out where to go grab some breakfast.  Simply, it seemed the only thing we might be able to find would be Mexican food.  That actually didn’t sound like a bad idea, as we love some Mexican Food, but really wanted some eggs, biscuits, or some such traditional style American Breakfast.  Jo and I poked away at the iPhone trying to figure out where to go.  We found this one place, that looked like it might fit the bill.  We headed off in that direction, down Main and then over to Spring.

We both made it to the exact address of where this place was supposed to be, however it wasn’t there.  Nowhere to be found, except down the block we saw something that looked like it would be acceptable.  A place called Phillepe’s stood before us and we walked our hungry selves down the street and into the front door.  What we saw was the jackpot for breakfast.  With long tables and counter ordering, we stepped into the fray to order.  We weren’t exactly sure how or what way their ordering process was supposed to work.  Diving in head first we ended up with Jo getting French toast, sausage patty, scrambled eggs, and orange juice for $6.55.  I plunked down a solid $9.50 for a pair of pork chops, two scrambled eggs, biscuits, and some hash browns.  The hash browns were made of fresh potatoes, something I honestly don’t think I’ve ever had.  We gobbled all our food and were again ready to take on some exploration.

We walked back across the street to Union Station.  Jo went into the open courtyard area and took and break while I walked around the station taking photos.  I must say, the security & staff people didn’t raise a look of distrust.  I was impressed.  LA, scores VASTLY HIGHER on the - “leave me alone I’m just taking pictures” – scale of coolness.  SF was a tomb of harassment, and LA so far has given me no lip.  Rightfully so, I’m not going to blow anything up, especially with a camera!

Subway, The Metro Red Line

After the 10-15 minute session of station pictures and Jo taking a break, we decided it would be off to the Red Line to check out Hollywood.  We headed down to the subway and jumped on the next train after buying our two $5.00 all day fares.  Once aboard we got two seats side by side and enjoyed the ride.  It was a short 25 minute or so ride and we were up on Hollywood Boulevard walking upon the stars’ stars.  It was an interesting walk, even though I must say I’ve never been much to be start struck by stardom.  I’m the dork that find impressive things impressive, actors and actresses don’t usually measure on that list of impressive stuff.  So I stood by and enjoyed others enjoyment of being star struck, not by the people who are the stars, but merely being in the place that these stars once or sometimes are.  I was entertained by the entertained.

Jo and I plied our way around and eventually dove back into the underground to board the Red Line back to Union Station.  Upon arriving we headed back to the waiting area.  But before I could bring myself to end the wandering yet, I told Jo I was going to go see what the Gold Line looked like.  I knew it was light rail, but I wanted to see the light rail vehicles myself.  Jo headed back toward the grand waiting room and I cut off toward the Gold Line.

Gold Line to East LA

With the giant Canon EOS 40D slung around my neck like a giant “steal me” I decided I would do more than just glance upon the Gold Line LRVs.  I was going to use a bit of my last hour before boarding the Sunset Limited to ride the Gold Line.  At least I would go a little ways down the line.

On the thought of, a few stops, I boarded after snapping a few photos.  I barely made it to the first stop and saw an approaching light rail vehicle and couldn’t help but think, “rats, I’ll probably have to wait 15-20 minutes before I can get another one back to the station, I may just miss my train!”  So I stood firm on the LRV I had boarded with my slight worry of missing the Sunset Limited, and possibly worrying Jo, or worse, making her angry.  We snaked through the remainder of the downtown core and immediately paralleled a field of corn & other plants.  The LRV line then increased height and crossed over the huge LA River Canal.  There one could see the railroad tracks coursing both sides of the canal, we crossed over all of these and immediately rolled into east LA.

The first stop, even amid the slight ghetto look that was encroaching the area, was a spot on perfect example of transit oriented development (TOD).  I wasn’t sure which was there first, the transit or the development, but it was a good example regardless.  We rolled to the next station which was sort of in the middle of nothing, just some warehouse yards and parked cars in the station lot.  Here I got off the light rail to wait for, what I hoped, would be another Gold Line Train along soon.  Without more than 2 minutes, a train arrived, which I snapped a number of pictures of.  I boarded, grabbed a seat on a train set that had approximately 25% of seated occupancy.  Again, I couldn’t help but wonder what the ridership was like on this line.  I also neglected to notice if 3 car trains could run on this line, but I believe they could.  The train I boarded however only had two cars.

I arrived back at the station with about 30 minutes to spare.  My adventure had not been the risk I had thought it might be.  I suppose though, I could have rode further but chickened out.  The Sunset Limited only leaves every other day or so, once can’t exactly miss the train and reschedule for the next one!

Aboard the Sunset

After our short wait, Jo and I were more than ready to board the Sunset Limited.  This however was going to be a challenge of retarded proportions.  When I say retarded, I mean it.

First off, when Amtrak does seating, they already have it all screwed up.  There is more touch points to seat a single person on a train than was necessary in 1920 let alone today.  Amtrak has seriously pushed the ticketing and seat assignment process back to the late 1890s as far as I’m concerned.  First off, they always get everyone to stand in a line to get a seat assignment after buying tickets.  Who in the world does that anymore?  FREAKING NOBODY!  The airlines don’t do it, and I can’t recall a single other entity besides Amtrak that makes their own customers wait in lines to manually receive seating assignments.  Just let the customers pick a seat assignment at time of purchase.  There is zero reason for this inefficient nonsense.

Then there is the next step.  The step of actually getting to the seat one has been assigned to.  Since the process is so manual, and often confusing for both the Amtrak Employees and the customers, people end up in each others seats all the time.  Rarely do airlines ever screw their part of this process, Amtrak however is a different story.

So with that in mind, Jo and I start walking toward the train through the underground concourse.  Mind you, the Amtrak seating assignment staff were telling everyone to go to track #11.  Here’s the problem though, there isn’t just a track #11, there is an 11A and an 11B.  The Sunset Limited is also not just the Sunset Limited, it is also the Texas Eagle.  Well all of these people go hurdling down the main concourse toward track #11, for their respective train.  These people don’t understand that the train splits, that it is currently connected as one train, and thus once the hurdling people get to track #11 and realize there is an A and B chaos ensues.  Jo and I realized this along the way and concluded through simple reason that coach cars where down #11B and the rest of the train was down #11A.

We bypass the herd of confused passengers and head down #11B.  However another complication awaited us.  Waddling up the concourse was an obscenely obese woman, pushing a cart.  There wasn’t anything exceptional about her at first glance except she was huge.  Jo walked by the woman with no issue and I began to pass her by too.  Now this lady, being huge, wasn’t moving very fast.  However as I was about to pass her by she swung her cart of luggage directly toward me, I leapt forward to avoid having my ankle smashed by the cart.  I looked back at her with a wicked glare and almost lapsed into obscenities.  I’m really truly not keen on getting my ankles busted, and don’t care what is wrong with someone when I am threatened by such risk. I decided nothing said was a better idea.

Jo and I made it almost to the top of the concourse and onto the platform, but even though the confused herd was in the main concourse hallway behind us, many had made it to the Amtrak Employee standing on the platform directing before us.  Now I’m not really sure what the plan was from Amtrak, but there was a guy at the end of the concourse walkway onto the platform attempting to direct the herd of passengers.  He was looking at tickets and pointing to which car to head to.  This seemed intelligent enough, yet another point of possible error.  Yes, another point of error.  In short order this staffer directing people had sent people going to the further cars directly behind us going to the nearest cars.  The problem with this was, that the concourse entrance left little space near the nearest cars to board, but had an area they could have walked to not have been impeded.

With this cluster of people gathered, there was little people could do but stand in line.  However there was a rude couple that just started babbling about getting by, so myself and a few others squeezed over since they couldn’t wait.  From their cries and whining to get past it appeared they thought the Sunset Limited was going to leave and their idea was we were in the way boarding the Texas Eagle.  The couple got by but a scourge of others poured through our line, now disabling me from being able to give the car attendant my seating assignment so he could direct us to the correct part of the car.  Then, of all twisted evils, the obscenely fat woman poured herself through the cavalcade of people and ran her cart directly into Jo & my things.  She blurted out in stupidity, “I’m sorry, I can’t drive real well.” to which I replied, “I know”.  After my curt response she stammered another statement of, “I’m big and have a hard time steering.”  To which Jo and I managed to tell her to hold on a second while we moved the things she had ran into out of the way.  We finally moved our stuff out of her way, with enough clearance for her to move forward.  She uses this opportunity to plunge into another person, yet this time she falls forward also.  All of her excess largess she pushes the cart into this person.  Fortunately the other person moved out of the way a bit and didn’t take the full force.  The large woman straightens herself out and manages to finally get by.

I finally am able to step forward and hand the seating assignments over to the car attendant.  He directs us up the steps and to the left for our seating assignment.  Finally, the process of seating assignment was complete.  AARRGHBRAAA JEEEEEEEEZZZUUUUM!!  Ok, now that I’ve finished that outburst…  I’ll continue.

Phoenix & Hotel #1, Hampton Inn

We arrived in Maricopa on time and Jo’s friends swooped in to rescue us from the train full of stupids.  My brain immediately shutdown as the only thing either of us could see from the car our friend where driving us in was empty black darkness.  The road went on into nothing, and one couldn’t even see the prospects of the city.

On that note, I’ll continue in the next entry.

The day started out pretty normal for a Saturday, slow and chill.  I suspect it was about 74, give or take a few degrees, and the sun was out.  Jo and I decided after finalizing our packed luggage to head for some biscuits at Pine State Biscuits.  With that we where out the door and headed for the east bound #4 Bus.

We arrived in short order.  The bus stop at 20th & Division is pretty cool.  It happens to have no shelter, but is near a New Seasons.  So nearby there are chairs and tables just off the paved sidewalk, near the side entranceway.  There are windows all along this part of New Seasons, which give it an open feeling of welcome to any bus riders waiting or coming.  Near the corner of the store there is a art piece that also acts as runoff from the roof.  The piece is kind of a metal scare crow man, holding a wheel of some sort where the water runs in and down.  From there the water runs into a bioswale (spelling?) where it is cleansed and sent into the river runoff.

We stood patiently and waited about 5 minutes for the arrival.  We were a little carried away with getting biscuits so had arrived excessively early.  The bus arrived on time and off we headed toward 39th, where we would transfer to the #75 north bound.  After arriving and transferring we were off again.  Finally we arrived at Belmont, got off the bus, and walked the remainder of the few blocks.

Pine State Biscuits

In standard Pine State Biscuits fashion there was a 30+ minute line for biscuits.  Thanks to some TV shows who showcased their awesome biscuits, we now had a line every Saturday and Sunday of out of towners and suburbanites.  I couldn’t really blame either group of people, the biscuits are awesome, and you just can’t get food like this in the burbs or most other towns for that matter.  But seriously, I’m sickened by the burbites most of the time.  As the statistics point out, urbanites are generally in better shape, healthier, and all around much nicer to look at.  Burbites tend to make the stomach spin and the skin crawl.  The IQ points tend to drop too, just like the general statistics of the bell curve.  One doesn’t have to assume, it is on display by their very actions.

But I do digress.

We got our biscuits, sat down and enjoyed them as one properly should.  Afterwards we left and walked back, a mere few blocks to the bus stop, and boarded the #75 for our return trip.  After the return trip transfer and the short walk from Ladd & Division (the west bound stop parallel to 20th & Division), we got our luggage together and prepared for the grand mileage of this vacation.  The real journey, our multiple hundreds of miles to traverse upon the Coast Starlight to LA.

Back aboard our trusty #9 bus to downtown and Union Station.  As we walked out the door and up to the bus stop the $9 pulled up for our transport.  We boarded with the largest set of packed luggage we’ve ever traveled with and took up almost the whole back seat of the bus (that’s 5 seats for those bus newbs).  Fortunately we didn’t feel too bad about it being that we actually managed to get on a bus that only had about 15 people on it.  This was very strange for today, and for the #9 route.  Often we don’t see buses with only 15 people on this route until about 10pm or so.

We got to the station at 2:35pm.  We had checked earlier and our #11 Coast Starlight was an hour and a half late leaving Seattle.  We figured we would be plenty ahead of her then if we arrived 10 minutes after the original scheduled departure time.  Of course, we were right and took a relaxing break in the Metropolitan Lounge in Union Station.  It is always nice to travel first class like this and have access to the lounges.

The Coast Starlight arrived and we all boarded.  We departed from the station at 3:24pm, exactly 59 minutes late.  A time that could theoretically be made up easily.

#11 headed out across the Willamette, plying the rail bridge as thousands of trains have before us, heading across and turning south for our journey.  We made really good time all the way through until the mountains just before Chemault before we had any additional delays.  This delay was merely a few minutes at that, which left us with a good potential to make up the tardiness.

Train People, British, and Conversations

When we boarded, my mother and father had boarded in Vancouver, Washington to ride with us to Eugene.  We decided after pulling out of Portland to head to the Lounge Car and hang out with them for a bit.  We started walking through our sleeping car, enjoying the slight rocking of the train.  Jo mentioned how she had missed this, as I did myself.  We made our way through the next sleeping car and into the Parlor Car.  We got halfway through the car and there on the lounge couch chairs sat mother and father.  We plunked down and immediately dove into conversation.

Jo & my mother began knitting away in turbo mode while father and I discussed various aspects of the voyage as we travelled along.  We passed through Milwaukee and into Oregon City.  In Oregon City we moved through with a slow order for the work crews doing maintenance on the tracks.  As we crept out of Oregon City we viewed the Willamette, and the water crashing over the dam for the industrial facilities along the river.

Father saw a lady sitting across from us with a book titled “USA by Rail” and inquired where she had boarded.  She answered, “I boarded in Chicago and took the Empire Builder across to Portland.”  He immediately, as did we all, picked up that she had a good and true British accent.  He, and I, discussed aspects of her trip so far.  She was happy to discuss and asked a few questions about various things along the way.  We pointed out a few tidbits for her to keep an eye out for.

We kept a steady banter up almost all the way to Eugene.  In preparation for detraining mother and father decided to head back to their coach seats about 25 minutes before their Eugene arrival.  Jo and I headed off to the Sleeper to enjoy the view and relax while we waited for our 6:30pm dinner reservations.  The view, as always, was magnificent.

6:30pm Dinner Reservations, More Friendliness & Tasty Foods

The announcement was made over the intercom that 6:30pm dinner reservations were ready.  Jo and I immediately shoved our ready feet back into our shoes and off we marched for dinner.  As with all meals in the dining car, all seats at all tables are filled, so often couples sit with other couples, loners sit with others, and the arrangements go on and on.  Needless to say, at any meal in the diner on a train one gets to meet new people.

Jo & I got to meet a couple from Connecticut for dinner.  The couple had just visited Portland for the first time.  The husband of the couple had flown in earlier in the week for business.  His wife, who hates flying, flew out later in the week.  They both had decided that they’d then take the train south just for fun.

We discussed with this couple, as we often do with anyone when they visit Portland, how absolutely amazing the city is.  The conversation ranged from the amazing transit that even tourists feel fine using, the easy access to all parts of town, the beautiful parks, and more.  Basically, I don’t recall ever meeting a single person who isn’t amazed at what Portland is.  They brought up their nearest comparison, Hartford Connecticut and described how horrible it is compared to Portland.  Stating simply, “their mayor of Hartford needed to come spend some really time in Portland to get their city of Hartford straitened out.”

It is moments like these I realize how awesome Portland really is, amid the random bitching and griping that often goes on among a select few of us that push hard for things to be even better.  Portland truly is, one of the best cities in America, hands down no contest.

We finished our dinner, Jo with her Mahi Mahi & I with my crab cakes.  Dessert was a must have of apple tart.  After a tasty dinner topped off with some great Pinot Grigio Wine we headed back again to our roomette.

We carried on about the rest of the night, eventually heading back to the Parlor Car for a late night chocolate and a cappuccino.  Of course, all this being part of the new Parlor Car Service of the Coast Starlight.  Eventually midnight struck, and we both managed to pass out after a great first day of vacation and a grand day around Portland and aboard the Coast Starlight.

Day 2 – Coast Starlight Arriving in Los Angeles

We awoke north of Martinez, California.  The train was back on schedule and making good time.  We were easily running at 79mph, the legal speed limit.  We made it across the water and along the shore, into Martinez.  In short order we were out of Martinez and on our way again.

We pulled into Emeryville and then on to Oakland’s Jack London Station.  There we, for whatever reason, got a third engine attached to our train.  So even though we were back on time, this addition put us back about 5-10 minutes.

As we rolled out of Emeryville we ran parallel to the BART tracks, and along came a 6 car train parallel to us.  At first it easily passed us up, being we had just pulled out of the station.  We gained speed quickly, probably thanks to our additional engine, and kept pace with the BART train.  We gained a little bit on the BART, and then as it came to a station we finally overtook the train and rolled past.  We rode along for another 5-6 minutes and finally caught another BART train, the tracks still running nearly parallel to us, about a block away.  We easily overtook this 4 car BART train and kept rolling fast.

Catching Up From Day 1 PM

The last night somewhere rising in the mountains Wad (a writer from the Metrorider LA blog) had managed to get a call through to me.  Even though my connection was horrible I picked up and we talked for about 10 seconds before the phone lost connection again.  I tired calling back, but unfortunately we’d moved just far enough to eliminate any signal whatsoever.  The iPhone read, “No Signal”, and so I gave up trying for the night.

This morning when we awoke I realized, still here in California just west of Sacramento heading into Martinez that I had really cruddy signal.  Since it was 7am I figured it wouldn’t be prudent to call about at this time anyway.  I stashed the phone away and watched as the scenery flew by.

South of Oakland

After the little BART races, we kept a well intentioned 79 mph through southern Oakland and points further south.  Jo was livid over not being able to photograph the graffiti (mind you, not the tags, but the large pieces of graffiti).  While eating breakfast we determined we would have to make a trip sooner than later back to the area and make a real endeavor to capture some of the graffiti.

It might seem odd, but it is almost like anthropological study of peoples.  The graffiti tells a story, showcases the lives and emotes an expression of various individuals in an area.  Sure it is frustrating and often times, defacement of property, which I am adamantly against.  But once it is there, a sense of history can be derived by capturing it in pictures.  If I used this explanation to state a fascination, at least of my own, with graffiti I may bore any of those graffiti artists into picking up a new art form.

The train, just like so many along this route, travel directly through a lot of industrial areas.  These areas have thousands of pieces of graffiti (and unfortunately tagging) on the buildings.  The train also passes through hundreds of neighborhoods that have popped up over the years along the rail line.  Some sprawl, some urban zoned, some just sporadic catastrophes in the making.

San Jose and Beyond

We pulled into San Jose Diridon Station along the side of a CalTrain Commuter Train (that really sounds redundant).  The station was really fairly nice from the outside.  If I had known that we’d be sitting at the station for 10 minutes (like we seem to do at Sacramento and every station south of that.  Whatever the reason, if we do this heading north, I’m going to go picture taking crazy.

So far, Jo and I haven’t been too motivated to photograph much of anything.  Much of what can be viewed from the train around Emeryville, Oakland, and San Jose make California seem more like a third world nation than part of the the 1st world United States.  I know there are beautiful parts of this area, but the train skips much of it around the urban areas.

We headed out of San Jose for the remaining 10 or so hours of our journey.

As the Conductor Says, “Let’s talk about walking the train.”

Departing San Jose Diridon Station the conductor came over the IC to welcome everyone aboard.  In this new era of train travel there really does seem to be a new exuberance among the employees.  When I say new era, I’m referring to the “Obama Era of Train Travel”.  The conductor explained to people, that at 79 mph along this stretch of rail the walking gets a little bit difficult.  With a short explanation of feet at shoulders width, and walk with purses slung, make sure to have a hand ready so you don’t fall.  I could help but think, “newbs!”  :)

The Popular Choice, Light Rail

Leaving San Jose station we passed over the Interstate and what did we have in the right of way, but none other than the transit mode du jour, light rail.  A single unit LRV was making its way parallel to the Interstate, to which we where running parallel to on the other side.  It seemed to go on for quite a few miles.  This however is one light rail system I literally know nothing about.  Don’t know where it goes, don’t know the ridership, and in all honesty, didn’t even realize it was here.  I will absolutely have to check it out and see what the specs are on that route.

Anyway, we arrived at 8:35pm, 35 minutes ahead of schedule.  I have to say, fairly impressive for the ole’ Star Late.  Our friend actually came an picked us up, as we could figure out reasonable transit to get to Balboa Peninsula.  The rest of this evening I’ll conclude in the next entry, for now, off to the metropolitan area of Los Angeles.

Next big trip, includes a few thousand rail miles.  I am sure Jo and I will land on a few buses during this trip.  If any auto usage is incurred, it will be through absolute necessity and with slight disdain.

1. September 26th departing Portland Union Station @ 2:25pm on Amtrak Train #11.
2. September 27th arriving Los Angeles Union Station @ 9:00pm on Amtrak Train #11.
3. Chilling the OC life & roaming the LA mega sprawl via Metro.
4. September 30th departing Los Angeles @ 2:30pm on Train #2 and Arriving Maricopa @ 10:07pm on Train #2.
5. October 1st-4th will be staying at the Hampton in Gilbert (Mesa)
6. and then
7. Hotel San Carlos on the 4th-7th
8. October 7th departing Maricopa @ 1:02am on Train #1 and arriving Los Angeles @ 9:40am on Train #1.
9. Chilling in LA again, and shredding the OC.
10. October 9th departing Los Angeles @ 10:15am on Train #14.
11. October 10th arriving Portland @ 3:40pm on Train #14.

Morning #9 Bus to Union Station

I boarded, the bus appeared to be about 2-3 minutes late, which was odd.  It wasn’t tracking with the transit tracker system and just showed the scheduled arrival time instead.  Kind of par for the course since I’m going to get on a train that leaves on time.

The last stop before the bridge a lady boarded with her dog.  Mind you not a service dog but just the pet.  News to anyone that drags their pet around with them everywhere.  Keep in mind, we humans are odd like that and place emotions, thoughts, and ideals on animals that they have no knowledge or thought of to have.  On that note an animal isn’t promised a service to ride.  Your animal is NOT allowed on transit.  Just because you think he doesn’t bite or what doesn’t mean squat, so please when riding transit step out of your little dog universe and realize you’ll be around a lot of people.  They’re not really allowed in Target, or a million other places.  They’re also not allowed in places that serve food.  People, please realize that Portland is no being progressive, nor intelligent about the lackluster standards around where you can bring you animal.  People worry about stupid things like guns, more dog attacks have occurred in this city than gun attacks.  So seriously, think about this and keep it in context.  Portlanders’ are spoiled about pet ownership.

When this rider boarded she got a polite lesson about the fact her regular dog can’t just board transit.  I love seeing driver’s take charge of their jobs and not be the standard lump of a human sitting in the seat.  It is contagious and makes me have pride in what the driver is doing.

When we arrived at PSU one rider walked up, didn’t notify the driver, and got off to retrieve his bike.  The rider paused for a moment before jumping in front of the bus which almost gave the driver time, if he had not been noting who was going where he might have hit the guy.  Fortunately for the cyclist the driver had been paying attention.  He gave the guy a friendly scolding (yeah, it does seem possibly to get a friendly scolding) about notifying the operator so they wouldn’t accidentally take off, with the guy stepping in front of the bus.  The cyclist seemed to understand, but hey, it is early and people tend to be a bit dense on an early Saturday morning.

Amtrak Cascades #500

Arrived at Union Station.  There was a bustle of activity for National Train Day already.  In the station stood one of the Great Northern’s Empire Builder cars and beyond that the Cascades #500 stood ready for departure already.  It must have had a good run from Eugene to get here that early.  I didn’t see steam engine #4449 yet.  It theoretically is supposed to be here today.  A boys choir was also singing in the station and tables where being setup in the side wing.  As always, for #500 there was a huge line of people already standing, getting their ticket seat assignment from the conductor & assistant.

As the clock ticked toward departure time and the ticketed passengers where given seating assignments, I did my normal non-line standing sit in a seat routine.  I just wait until the last minute, stand up and grab a seat assignment, and then sit down, then wait again before boarding.  This whole routine of standing up while waiting to get on the train is asinine and I sure wish Amtrak would modernize the process.  Even though, on a day like this it doesn’t bother me in the remote, I get to ride on a train and that is what I’m here for.

When I headed out to the train I did see the #4449, the Empire Builder car, and also two Union Pacific cars.  Looks like the day should be a blast for Union Station.

Within 2-3 minutes I had joined a conversation with a couple of people heading to Centralia.  They where en route for a family meetup.  We talked about the old Pionneer that run from Denver to Portland, and joined the train that heads to Chicago once it arrives in Denver.  It was a split train kind of like the Empire Builder.

The train smoothly rolled out of Union Station toward Seattle.  Passing through the north pearl really made me ponder what the area would look like in a few years.  Post recession and a few years back into solid growth the area is planned to really boom.  The local economy and business demand downtown will however dictate how that really goes.  Beautiful area and I’m sure it will get even better after a bit of clean up and such of the industrial warehouse area.  We rolled into Vancouver and I had to bid farewell for this route of my trip.  As always the crew rocked (Even Ray, who wasn’t technically being crew, just heading down line), Amtrak even amid my Union complaints, has a very jovial crew on the Cascades and I am always stoked to board one of the trains bound along this corridor!

OMG, WTF, The Bike Just Left Without Me!!!!

Ok, it wasn’t my bike, but a guy with a bike on the Amtrak Train was standing waiting to get his bike off of the baggage car and the train up and left!  I was shocked, but not too surprised.  The crew of the train had been having a bit of an issue with seating and was continuing to have some communication issues.  This though, really baffled me, someone had obviously and SERIOUSLY dropped the ball for this customer.  After writing the above blurb about the great Cascades Crews I was really kind of bummed to see this happen for this guy.  Fortunately he seemed calm and collected, unlike some customers who just freak out about things like this.  Staying calm will get things done a lot faster than freaking out about it.  Hopefully they toss the bike onto a south bound train and get it back to the station ASAP.  Totally unacceptable but hopefully it can be rectified with some calm and collected, quick communication.  Get that guy back on his bike and hopefully keep him a happy customer.

Downtown Vancouver

Father met me at the train station in Vancouver.  Upon arrival he was standing talking with a guy he just met named Ben.  We both chatted a bit and I passed around some of my Transit Sleuth Business Cards (always trying to get new readers, so hey, pass the word around – always good to expand the transit & transport conversation).

At this juncture we headed to downtown to grab some breakfast at Dulins in downtown Vancouver.  It is located at the cross streets of McLoughlin and Main.  We had a tasty breakfast where I met a Carolina southerner named Duane.  He jams in a band called Lincoln’s Beard, so check that out.  Interesting music, so it’s worth the time, so go now, right now, and go check it out.

Amtrak Cascades #501

After a solid breakfast and chat with the station attendant about the lost bike, we boarded the #501 south bound to PDX.  The train was almost on time, only 4 minutes behind.  The bike, just to give readers a bit of closure, was going to be turned up route.  What had happened was rooted in the seating fiasco that had started in Portland.  No one had told the station attendant that there was a bike to retrieve, so he had not gone to retrieve a bike.  Go figure, again, this is a management problem.  Being the consultant I am I see this issue for exactly what it is.  Amtrak management screws up by not providing the tools and means to communicate that the employees need.  The Union fails to allow the employees to do these things, for rather idiotic reasoning.  So what Amtrak and the union ends up with is a demoralized employee, a frustrated crew, and a perturbed passenger and a misplaced bike.  If management would and could do their job, the politicians would shut up and get out of the way, and the union would stop demanding absurd stupid working conditions (I’ll elaborate later) the employees could be proud and run a train exponentially better.  Overall I’m having a blast on National Train Day, just seeing and running about, however I just have to point out this goof up.

We pulled into Portland in short order and on time.  Which means we had zero delays and also where able to run full all the way into the station.  Usually it takes a solid 20 minutes to get through the yard and into the station, but today we rolled right through at full allowed speed.  I believe we did it in about 13-14 minutes flat.

Father and I then walked about Old Town/Chinatown and checked out various places, picked up a real sugar imported Coca-Cola at Floyd’s Coffee Shop.  Walked back to the station while enjoying our real sugar beverages and I saw him off on the north bound #506 (I didn’t see Erik, where were ya?).  I walked about and visited the TriMet, AORTA/NARP Booth, and did some chatting.  Then I headed back out for my home bound journey.  I took the scenic route from the station;  #77, MAX Red Line, #75, and then #9 back home.  All in all, a great National Train Day.

After the week, or pseudo week of commuting I'm glad to be out of the suburbs and back downtown.  Every trip has turned into a 10 minute bus trip, with super frequent service, or a short walk between 5-20 minutes.  No necessity for a car, no necessity to visit a gas station, no necessity for dealing with traffic.

The WES is awesome, don't get me wrong, but I'm glad to be back downtown where everything is within a stone's throw.

First, the absolute negatives.

• TriMet got ripped off by Colorado Railcar.
• TriMet paid WAY too much for equipment that is not standard and should have gone with traditional equipment.
• TriMet hasn't aligned the transfers and other parts of the WES appropriately.
• TriMet does NOT have a green vehicle unless they remedy their lack of ridership.
• The politicians won't be harmed enough by the overruns, and will take too much credit for the positives.

Now the positives.

• Portland & Western is doing an amazing job running the WES.  Words like flawless, impressive, relaxed, and endearing come to mind when riding the system.
• Portland & Western has a great mechanism for spreading the word about passenger rail and provides a good example (amid the negatives) of how to setup and operate on local carrier lines with good cooperation.
• The WES, because of the new tracks, definitely helps out rail traffic in the corridor and extends the freight capability of rail.  This is by FAR a good thing, probably in some ways more important than the WES passenger runs.
• The county gains a competitive advantage because of this rail line upgrade.
• The WES is without doubt more comfortable, more up scale, more reliable, and internet ready than any other thing in the TriMet Fleet.
• The politicians now have a tool to provide an example of partnerships between public and private entities to further desires and requests of the public.  This is a mix of positives and negatives, but mainly is positive.

Ridership:  The peak I saw was 40+ for one single trip.  This is acceptable from an environmental point of view, but still far too low from an economic and budget point of view.  The City of Portland, Metro, and TriMet can't keep making decisions that build out infrastructure and such at such high prices for such minimal return.  They HAVE to meet more of the existing demand and stop running off on their fantasy trips to commuter rail land.  They HAVE to make sure ridership demand actually exists before doing these things.  I'm glad they built the WES, I think it can serve a good purpose, and it can provide a great example of what to do and not to  do, but overall should they have built it? No.  Should they have upgraded the tracks, or at least provided cheap, tax free, loans and such to get the tracks upgraded?  Yes.

If anything commuter rail could be setup in areas around Portland that could and would be far more utilized.  Salem to downtown Portland, Eugene to Portland, there are a host of places.  Hopefully, the next option is to get service to Salem, somehow or in some way.  Hopefully they can do it without too much cost or unnecessary shutdown of companies.

My best wishes go out to the awesome Portland & Western Crews running the WES, and to TriMet, I hope you guys get some serious ridership increases so they system can prove viable!  Keep rolling, and I'm sure I'll be out to ride again some day.  Until then, I'm back to 100% urbanite lifestyles.

On the south bound stretch of the WES my father and I got to ride on the cab car instead of the DMU.  The sound is different, and quieter than riding on the DMU.  Ride quality is flawless just as the DMU.

On departure from Beaverton we actually had our tickets checked by the conductor.  I was rather stoked by this as I thought there wasn't going to be any enforcement.  The conductor asking, being they have that railroad matter of fact-ness about them, is the prefect candidate to be asking for fare.  One young kid didn't have fare, but I admit he seemed to be a bit perplexed by the whole "train" concept and how fare was supposed to work.  The conductor explained it to him and let him grab a fare at Hall/Nimbus Station.

We then cruised smoothly with our double unit consist on down toward Tualatin.  Without the engine noise of the DMU.  For kicks I decided to ride back and make possibly another round trip of the whole affair.

Once we arrived in Wilsonville we sat tight for the 20+ minutes for the return trip.

The stats so far are:

• One non-paying customer that became a paying customer.
• 43 people boarded in Beaverton.
• 12 more en route and others offloaded.
• 17 passengers detrained in Wilsonville.
• Peak load was 43.

Our departure was then set for 4:53pm.  At 4:53pm we headed north.  In Tualatin we actually picked up a number of people and barely lost anyone.  In Tigard we gained approximately 16 people on board and lost no one.  Peak load so far is approximately 30.

In Tigard we, as usual, met the south bound train.  The south bound train had an approximate load of 35-38 just from viewing the seat load.  We departed, on time, north for Beaverton.

On this north bound trip father and I sat in the DMU for a comparison.  Since I had ridden on the DMU for every other trip I've made this week I was able to compare that with the DMU under load of the cab car.  Let me tell ya, the vibration and extra effort the DMU had to make to get going was rather extreme.  Compared to single car operation it felt like it was just going to give a piston away at any moment.  We however got going after a few moments of acceleration and everything would quite down to regular operational levels.

At Hall/Nimbus we had 9 on, with one runner at the last second making 10.  I think at this point we lost 3-4 people, it however is rather hard to tell with the dual unit train.  I don't think I've ever struggled to count so much.  With the platforms and configuration though it is not easy to see all the egress points.

• 14 People north bound.
• Peak load north bound was 32.

That's it for the day.