Sunday Notes

Went into MacLeods books, right on the corner, it felt like walking into an episode of hoarders with books, stacks and stacks of glorious books.  I bought a book on Van Gogh, just to support the place. Magical.

Lat night I wanted some night shots of North Vancouver from the harbor.  It was windy and freezing, but I sat there as the sun set and toughed it out.  On my way back I found a cute little art Gallery and discovered the Canadian artist Shirley Thompson.  She has passed away, but her painting are incredible.  I found this image online, but seeing it in person takes your breath away.

There is a lot of women's curling on Canadian television, reason enough to move here.

Took the 15 minute ferry ride over to North Vancouver.  Not much there except a cute little mall with seafood and trinkets and of course three Starbucks.  It was fun riding the ferry.

They are filming an episode of Alcatraz a block over from my hotel. I talked to film crew guy and they use Vancouver because parts of it look like San Francisco.

Aboriginal Please!

Saturday, morning, after the free hotel "breakfast" I headed out to find a Starbucks with hopefully a newspaper and a place to sit.  I didn't even bring my camera.  I figured I'd be back in an hour.  There are a tons of Starbucks, as well as fifty billion other coffee houses in this city, but the Starbucks are tiny, with rarely a place to sit.  So I ended up at Blenz Coffee, there are tons of these around as well.  Before I knew what was happening, I had been walking around for a few hours, enjoying the sights.  I checked out the Waterfront subway station. I'm thinking of taking the ferry across the bay to North Vancouver for funzies.  As I'm heading back to my hotel, I come across the Vancouver Art Gallery.  Bingo.  It looks big and impressive from the outside.  I put down my $17.50 and excitedly walked in.  I don't mind the money, but that's an hour and a half I'll never get back.


First off the sign should say "Canadian Only Art Museum".  Everything seemed to have a Canadian defensive explanation attached to it.  The worst part of the museum was the headline exhibition entitled "Beat Nation, Art Hip Hop and Aboriginal Culture"  Here's the thing, you can't just do hip hop, as if your from Compton, with the  exact same gestures and dress (minus the Raider gear) as an African American and call it aboriginal hip hop. I mean, you can, but you would be wrong. I sat and watched three full music video's of this "aboriginal" art form and left in disgust. Add a little of your own culture to it and I'll listen. Fuse it with you. I might not like it but I'll respect it.  A few splashes of tribal petroglyphs does not make your hip hop art aboriginal, neither does the "Fuck the White Man" photo.   The low rider bicycles were straight out of east LA. Very disappointing and derivative.


Continuing on my path back to the hotel, I cam across a great little Japanese restaurant, and buried my freezing head in a huge bowl of steaming ramen. With that and my Canadian Molsen all was right again.  

The Pizza District

Vancouver is by far the most interesting of the three cities on this tour.  It's got the grit and funkyness of the East Village, a little bit of San Francisco,  some Seattle, and even a Gas Lamp district reminiscent of San Diego. On the bus, just after we crossed the border, the surrounding area was very neat and tidy and clean, which is what I was expecting from Canada.  But Vancouver itself is as gritty as any big American city.  Lots of great alleyways, old walls and graffiti. And to prove it, the first thing I see on the local news when I turn on my Canadian television is a story about a decades old wall that was just uncovered when they tore down the building next to it.  They are calling it the ghost wall.  First thing on my list.

This morning, after the obligatory Starbucks, I to head down Granville street to photograph the ghost wall. It's raining.  After shooting the wall, I keep heading down Granville, it's very hippie, funky.  Before long I'm walking up the Granville bridge with some great views of the city and inlets. 

Holding and focusing a camera and an umbrella with freezing hands is not as much fun as it sounds, so I duck into another Starbucks and find a cozy spot with a great view of the corner.  It starts to snow!, big heavy flakes.  It's not cold enough for it to stick, so the ground is just wet, but it's still cool to see.  I enjoy the walk back to towards the hotel so I can thaw out for a bit.

I seem to be staying in the old book store and pizza district.  There are three really old bookstores within a stones throw.  You know those old book stores where everything is in stacks and it's looks like the dust was there before the books.  Can't wait to look trough them.  Also, within a two block radius there has to be twenty pizza places.  As I get to the hotel I grab a slice of pepperoni and mushroom, it's fantastic pizza. So I guess it's a little bit Chicago as well.

Dinning with Friends

The last few days have been a roller coaster ride... on the Empire Builder.  I didn't sleep well Tuesday night.  I was not quite used to the bed and the Amtrak steak, which had been recommended by another passenger, was tougher than an MMA fighter.  Wednesday morning, I went to breakfast.  All the meals are included in the price of the sleeper room, so I ended  up eating every meal for two days in the dinning car.  The food's OK, but the fun part is getting to meet so many people.  They always sit four to a table, so every meal is with someone new.  Everyone is nice, except on this Wednesday morning, I sat with three people from North Dakota, which is going through an oil boom due to this new extraction method called fracking.  It's horrible for the environment, and as a left coast liberal, of course I had to mention that.  I was quickly reminded that people have to feed their families.  "No doubt" I calmly said, and had my dose of humility to go along with my french toast.  You quickly learn to keep your opinions to yourself while on the road.  All that aside, I meet some really nice people in the dinning car, and it was one of the best parts of the train ride. 


I spent most of Wednesday in my roomette, enthralled with making HDR versions of some of my photographs.  I can't wait to show them.  I am actually doing two versions of each because I'm trying to decide which of the two leading HDR software tools I want to keep.  After processing about 20 photos, twice, I still can't decide.  But it was enjoyable, just looking out the window, eating in the dinner, and working on my photos.


After rolling through North Dakota and Montana the sun was beginning to set, when I realized that we would be going through the real scenic part of the trip after nightfall.  I was bummed, I had really been looking forward to seeing Glacier National Park from my window.  I asked Curtis, our train attendant, and yup, it will be dark for that, if you were taking the east bound Empire Builder you could see it. Greeaaat. I reluctantly went to bed, knowing I was going to miss something incredible.


I slept good, and woke up at 6:20, which was perfect timing.  Breakfast service was short and early because we were due into Seattle at 10:30AM. As I ate with a sweet young couple from Montana, the sun came up and we were in the mountains, surround by stunning views, trees dusted with snow, winding rivers and white covered peaks.  It was everything I had hopped this part of the journey to be. After breakfast I went back to my roomette, and chatted with the elder couple in the room next to mine (we had lunch together the day before) and snapped hundreds of glorious pictures.


We ended up being put on a bus to Seattle at Everett , some fuss about a mud slide blocking our train.  Seattle was very beautiful and just got added to my list. I arrived in Vancouver on schedule and walked to my hotel, it's a beautiful day and only a mile and half from the station.  More on Vancouver tomorrow.


Most interesting site of the day: (Wednesday)  A huge frozen lake in North Dakota, with cars and trucks parked in the middle of it.  They were ice fishing.

Barreling Darkness

Outside the blackness rolls past in a rapid clatter.
Cold closed warehouses backlight with a single yellow lightbulb, displaying semi-circles of snow and parking lot.  
A railway yard 10 tracks deep, miles of frozen freight cars braving a northern winters night.
The light from the window next to mine showing me white tracks, illuminating nothingness as I watch from my dark rolling bed. 
So dark I see no reflection, only night. 
Barreling furiously through cold miles, an occasional blinding flash of red clanging bells.  
The charcoal sky silhouetting still blacker trees as we hurl through nothingness. 

Solitaire

[Tuesday, Feb 21, later in the day]


This is mad crazy good.  So far I have the best of both worlds.  I can retreat into the cacoon of my single roomette, as they call my room in Amtrak speak, or I can head back three cars into the real world of the observation car, where dem coach folk hang out.  My part of the train is full of old white people, who are booooring. So after my complimentary champgane, which I'm sure they give me as a primer, so I will head to the cafe car and buy more alchol, which totaly works by the way. Once in the observation car, I feel home again.  With my Corona and lime, I sit down to draw and peek at the beautiful Winconsin country side.  That's not sarcasm by the way, this state is beautiful.  The gentelemen behind me is playing solitaire and singing, loudly.  And it's not that he's playing cards by himself that's a little odd, but he is playing the deck with extreme vigor, cards are slamming down on the table as he makes up words to slow songs.  The white people around me are looking over nervously and tossing disapproving glances like hand grenades.  I have a big smile on my face. This is delightful.

Brandy in the Dinning Car Sir

[Note: the following were written on the train, but with Amtrak being liers about their Wi-Fi, I'm just now getting to publish them, enjoy]

[Tuesday, Feb 21]


So this is what first class feels like.  From the moment the Amtrak guy at the ticket counter realized I was "hello, in a sleeper car, and not some funky coach passenger" it's been first class the whole way.  Entrace into the special lounge, free coffee and snacks and a restroom that didn't have a homeless guy taking a bath in the sink. Sorry my brother. As we exited through the special double doors, I could feel the lack of stress from hoping I could find a window seat in a car packed full of rolling eye balls, people hoping I didn't sit next to them.  I felt like a 6 year old heading for the train around Dinesyland. 


My indivdual cabin, is snug.  It was two seats facing each other and a folded up bunk bead overhead.  But it's my own space, and I don't have to worry about leaving my stuff as I wonder about to the observation car, and more importantly for the next two nights I'll be completely horizontal.  Not trying to fit my ass betwwen the metal bar between two recliners, with something metallic sticking in my ribs; and that's only if I'm lucky and have an empty seat next to me. This is the only way to Amtrak if you're going any where over 28 hours.


Listen to the places the Empire Builder is passing through during the next 46 hours as it heads along the northern top of the United States; Glacier National Park, Mississippi River, Gateway to Mount Rainer, The Rocky Mountains and the Columbia River Gorge.  It passes through Winsconsion, Minesota, North Dakota, Montanna, Idaho and Washington.  When I land in Seattle I still have a four hour bus ride to Vancouver, but I could do that standing on my head.  I believe at this point I am road hardened.


p.s. They are bringing me some champagne in a little bit.

A Chicago Walk

I have to say, so far on this trip, my two favorite days are the days where I do nothing but walk around, explore and photograph. On a gray overcast day in Austin, I walked the west side and got some great city shots of grit, grime and graffiti.  Today, I spent three straight hours walking this great city, stopping only long enough to take shots of the city with big shoulders.  This is a robust, muscular, masculine city. It seems to be even more compact, with more tall building than Manhattan.  Looking down the street in any direction from the corner of Adams and Clark and I feel as if I am standing at the bottom of the grand canyon of concrete.


I started off by heading back to Union Station to make sure I know where to go tomorrow.  It's a big station and I'll be carrying my 70 lbs of gear.  After that I headed along the river north, then over to Millennium Park, Chicago's version of Central Park.  It is an amazing space, and it makes me want to come back in the summer. I headed for the Navy Pier but from what I could see it looked like a bunch of  carnival rides.  So I decided to head back south, along the lake to the other end of the park.  As Solider Field was on the south side of a stack of museums there, I pushed on.  I as able to get close to the stadium, but I could't see the field.  It was still cool for me to see what the typical Bears fan would see on an NFL Sunday as they head to the stadium.


I must have walked 6 miles today, but it was great.  Unfortunately, the photographs do not do justice to the city, the camera can only capture so much. The rest is in my dome.

click on image to go to the Shutterfly album

Rabindranath Tagore

"Clouds come floating into my life, no longer to carry rain or usher storm, but to add color to my sunset sky."
—Verse 292, Stray Birds, 1916.

Notes from The Art Institute of Chicago

This museum is amazing, second only to the Metropolitan or MOMA in New York.  I was one of the first in line when they opened at 10:30 and quickly ran to the Van Goghs before the thundering herds of philistines would block my view.  I found his self portrait and was almost moved to tears.  He is quickly becoming one of my favorite painters.  They have a room full of Van Goghs and Guaganins mixed together, and other rooms full of Degas, Monets and many Toulouse-Lautrecs.  It was a delight.


I made a magical discovery, one of those things that only seem to happen in a museum.  I followed a sign with a beautiful painting of a women's face, and the word Tagore.  When I entered the room there was a huge photograph of a bearded gentlemen, probably in his 60's.  His name is Rabindranath Tagore.  Putting aside the fact that he is a Nobel Laureate in Literature, a poet, novelist, world traveler and was knighted by the British Crown, at the age of 60 he started to paint and draw.  The exhibition at the AIC was captivating. The tenor of his works are dark, with rich tones of orange, browns and black.  Partially due to his color blindness, but more to do with the sorrow his life imparted on him, three of his five children passed away while he was alive, as did many of his family and dearest friends. Searching the web when I returned to my hotel, I could not even find a fraction of the incredible works on display at AIC.  Sometimes you have to leave the computer in order to learn something spectacular.

I ran across three American painters from the 19th and early 20th century, Thomas Moran, Albert Bierstadt and Thomas Doughty.  Their technical skill are amazing, the light and shadows and foliage are stunning.  My only critique is that its hard to tell these American landscape painters apart.  Even my untrained eye can easily distinguish the unique styles of Monet, Modigliani,  Gauguin and Van Gogh.  But the Americans are very similar in style and hard to differentiate.


Marc Chagall’s "America Windows" was beautiful, don't miss it.

Sometime in your life, go to this museum, it is a must see.

Zombpocalypse

The train ride from Austin to Chicago was 28 hours.  It was not uneventful, as these train rides tend to be, or... not be? On Friday, pulling into Fort Worth we were vehemently told to remain in our seats until explicitly told we could get up.  Weird.  Then we were told there was a "situation" on the train.  Myself, in the window seat, served as lookout to my fellow travelers on the other side of the train.  I debated whether to tell them about the guy I just saw walking by with "Arson/Bomb Squad" on the back of his vest.  He didn't seem to be in a hurry, that's good right? Seriously, would I cause a panic if I yelled out "the bomb squad is here".  And why in the world are we not being told to "RUN LIKE HELL YOU MF'ers"  In these days of global connectivity, the guy in front of me with the iPad gave us the scope on what was going on in the car right behind us, literally 50 feet away.  "Suspicious" package found on Amtrak train in Fort Worth. Turned out to be an empty lunch box.  HAHAHA, all that terror for nothing, that's funny.  Oh yeah, and also, somewhere between us and Dallas a chemical freight train had derailed.  It's always something on the Amtrak.  All was fine in the end, we didn't blow up and went around the hazardous derailed freight train.  Another day on the road.

The next day as we rolled along through St Louis, Missouri, and most of Illinois, something strange hit me.  I see lots of towns, but no people walking around.  Sure people are driving their cars, but where are the children playing in the yard, or people shopping in the small town shops. It's a Saturday, and we must have rolled through 2 dozen small to mediums sized towns. I see no people.  I had only two possible explanations.  First of all Illinois is one of the cleanest states.  Compared to Texas, Arkansas and Missouri, the yards are neatly kept, the houses are nice, it's a comparatively neat and tidy state.  Maybe everyone is just so tried from keeping everything so clean, come the weekend, they just veg out in front of the TV.  Or, maybe the train has lost communication with the outside world, and the zombpocalypse is occurring.  Given my recent adventures on the train, I'm going with the later.

The Do's and Don'ts of Austin

Lets start with the Do's:

• Visit South Congress street, even though it's trying to be, it's still kinda hip and fun.
• Visit the Blanton, it's a very good art museum.
• Eat, food is a key ingredient of what makes Austin, Austin.
• Get a great cup of coffee at Medici Cafe, near 2nd and Congress, and sit outside and enjoy the city.
• Take the free tour of the State Capitol building.  Very interesting and a beautiful space.
• Sit on the pedestrian bridge, just a hair east of the Lamar street bridge.  Great view and magical when the train comes by.
• Visit Fortney on W 6th avenue, an antique, curio, anything you can imagine shop. This place is special.

Don'ts

• Be over 30, this is a city for the young. In this city you are either young or homeless.
• Walk anywhere, the intersections here are truly frighting, pedestrians are invisible.  I would rather cross the 405 at rush hour.
• Look for the million bats on the Congress street bridge before mid March, apparently they have commitments in Mexico prior to that.
• Spend a minute at the Art House Gallery, I like weird art, but that was pushing it and the space is tiny.
• Come alone, this place is all about going out to eat and hitting the incredibly interesting bars downtown.

A Beautiful Day in Austin

One of my best days in Austin.  It started out cold and rainy, and for some reason that made it all that much more beautiful.  Yesterday I didn't go downtown, the day was black and white and eleven shades of grey. Today when I stepped off the bus at 4th and Congress everything was in vibrant color.  Downtown is humanity concentrated.  It's business men walking next to homeless guys, it's moms and students and black and white and artists and scientists and all with some sense of purpose.


I wanted to capture some of Austin's gritty, but no less beautiful side, and of course most of it sits directly next to the railroad tracks.  The grey skies didn't dampen the mood, it seemed to highlight it and give everything a powerful glow.  Here is the photo shoot as it happened, minus the repetitive shots.

After this I went to the movies and saw a great film from Iran, "Separation". It was very intense and gripping. Highly recommend. When I came out of the movie the sun was out and it was warm and perfect outside.  Dam it.

Oklahoma Twilight

Some days on the road feel like accomplishment. Yesterday, I put aside a few demons from dark days past and hopped on the city bus for the first time.  The goal for the day was the Blanton Art Museum, which sits on the University of Texas campus. I got there early so I walked around and explored. It's a beautiful campus, with the highlight being the Darrell K Royal football stadium which sits right on campus.  Fall here must be magical. It was a thrill to just peek inside the stadium from a gate by the end zone.

The last couple of days I came across two pieces of art that really inspired me.  The first is called Parsonage Garden, by Vincent Van Gogh.  I have been so enamored with the painters of Paris from the early part of the 20th century, I have not really taken the time to look at Van Gogh.  I found a big coffee table book full of his incredible art, sat in a big comfy chair and soaked in the magic. 


The second is a piece I discovered at the Blanton by J.Jay McVicker, titled "Oklahoma Twilight"  Both pieces have a dark, monochrome tenor and captivated me with there stark lines and shadow and highlights.  Both are beautiful, rich and dark.


I've decided my artistic goal for this trip is to draw 100 faces in pencil.  Nothing fancy, just little faces with the basics, shape of the head, eyes (two) and a nose and mouth.  At the Blanton I sat and drew faces from paintings and from the Greek statues.  I have a long way to go, but hopefully I'm on my way.

Images from Austin Texas

Austin

Well, I've been here in Austin 6 days now.  It's a beautiful city and I feel comfortable here.  It's quiet, relaxed, lots of runners and places to run, cute restaurants and very dog friendly.  The only problem seems to be, I think I've seen everything already; it's not very big.  I'm not sure what I'm going to do for another week plus. 


I do love walking around a city though, which has to be from my childhood days of adventures over the First Street bridge and into downtown LA.  It's wonderfully exciting to be walking down strange streets, looking down alleys and not knowing whats around the next corner.  It truly feels like a concrete jungle where I half expect to come into a clearing and see a tropical beach just ahead.


Today I went to the movies, mostly to rest my feet, which are a little sore from so much walking the last few days. The theater was unique, when you buy your ticket they show you a seating chart and you pick your seat. Tomorrow I'll visit the Art House, one of the few art museums in Austin, it's been closed for the last few days. The dearth of galleries and museums is disappointing.  Friday is moving day, to a house further away from downtown, so I'll have to force myself to start taking the bus. Lots of demons to conquer there. 


I can't wait to get back onto the train. 


p.s.  ISOD - while walking downtown, a food "truck" being run out of a smart car. No idea what they were cooking, but I will endeavor to find out.

Super Sunday

2/6/2012 - Monday
Yesterday was a blur of pizza and beer and donuts, as any good Super Bowl party should be. I'm still not sure how I ended up in the parking lot, looking up at the rain, shirtless and screaming "He was a Charger for half an hour, don't you people care!!"  Lucky for me houskeeping was able to quietly usher me back into my room.


Today is moving day.  Dropped off the rental car, which I really didn't need, and feel a little bit more free.  I'm going to drop my stuff off at the new place.  I'm renting a room from a couple through AirBnB.com.  It's kinda like couch surfing, except you have to pay.  Not sure what to expect, first time doing this. 


Made BIG travel plans last night, while I was mostly sober.  Here's the funny thing, as tough (and stinky) as that 40 hour train ride was from LA to Austin, I miss being on the train.  It's somewhat addicting.  I think I need to be always moving.  I had contemplated taking the train back towards El Paso, renting a car and driving to Las Cruces, NM.  I looked at schedules and car rentals, etc.  I couldn't seem to work it out and renting a car and a hotel for each day would have cost a lot. Plus it felt a little like backtracking, and less adventurous.


So here's what I have come up with.  Friday the 17th, I'm on a train to Chicago, about 21 hours, which I feel like I can do standing on my head.  I'll spend three days in downtown Chicago, it won't be cold in Feburary, right?  Then I'm taking a 46 hour train ride across the top of the United States (the train is called the Empire BUilder, how cool is that) to Vancouver.  BUT this time I'm getting a sleeper car in the train.  Yes, my own BED! OK, so then 5 days in Vancouver and then probably home to see family, friends and Kaelynn. 


YES, I'm a genius.  Just don't ask me how much it costs.

Explore Austin Day

2.4.2012 - Saturday
After 3 hours in a fruitless internet search for a more semi-permanent place to stay, I went for a drive around the fringes of downtown Austin. I am constantly looking at Google maps but even with street view it's hard to get the flavor of  a neighborhood unless you put eyes on it. The east side is definitely out.  Driving down 5th, on the westside, found a really nice little art gallery, stopped and went in and wrote down the names of some artists I really liked: Rebecca Patrick and Alexandre Zerbe.


Today is Saturday and South Congress (or SoCo) is hopping.  There is a chili cookoff in the parking lot across the street from my motel. I'm beginning to think the core of Austin culture is music and food. Both are very good. 

Decided to walk into downtown and explore.  On the way stopped and got some fried chicken at one of those mobile trailer eateries.  I think it's called Mr P's Electric Cock.  It's cute. The food trucks here are all in those 50's style mobile trailers.  Found some great walls in the downtown area, including one of the top 5 of all time.

Interesting Site of the Day (ISOD)
Two guys having their picture taken while "Tebowing" outside the big sign for the Texas School for the Deaf. I wanted to ask them if they just go around Tebowing in front of everything?  As far as I know the TSD is a state run school and has no religious affiliation.  Huh?

The Journey

PreScript:  I'm writting this at the noted times, but Amtrak's WI-FI has yet to appear, much like Bigfoot or the city bikes of Copenhagen, they are marketing myths (AKA untruths).


Interesting sight of the day:
Coming into LA on the Metrolink out of San Bernadino, a trip I highly [don't] recommend (it's like taking a tour of  the longest slum in the world) I saw the site of the day. On a very large dirt lot, someone had placed a barbed wire fence around a 600 x 200 foot swath of bare, good ole fashion,  piece of dirt.  Barbed wire fence, not a regular fence but one with barbs on it.  Why in the world would someone work so hard to keep people off of that was exactly the same as the all the dirt around it. Maybe it was an art project.


2/1/2012 (Wed) - 6:57 PM
Somewhere outside of Palm Springs, I'm sitting in the observation car, mainly to get away from the smell of alcohol and cigraettes that permeate the air around me.  I'm almost certain that they have mistakenly put me in the alcoholic car of the Texas Eagle. There is no way I'm getting any sleep tonight. The train is full and the guy next to me is talking to his girlfriend on the phone trying to get the explanation of why she had him arrested.  There seem to be a lot of those stories around. They are nice folk really, but I get the feeling if alchol was not readily available this would be a whole different train ride. Some of the train stops are long enough for the smokers to stop and inhale the Marlboro desert air.  Those stops are very popular and the train empties. I know I'm being a snob, but I'm pissed.  My relaxing 40 hour train ride has turned into an uncomfortable endurance contest of not looking out the window from my aisle seat.


2/2/2012 (Thurs) - 6:30 AM
Woke up in the observation car as the sun is starting to rise on the New Mexico desert.  I can tell which way is east because to my left is all dark, to the right is a firey orange glow.  My GPS says we are just outside of Las Cruses New Mexico.  I got a few chunks of bent sleep on the J" shapped, three seat bench seats. I went back to my seat around 11:30 last night to try and sit in my seat but my seating companion had already spread himself across both seats and I didn't have the heart to make him sit up.  I was glad I did though, neither of us would have been able to sleep if I hadn't relegated myself to the glass ceiling car. The nothingness of the desert is beautifull.


Interesting sight of the day:  I'm in the dining car having breakfast and sitting across from a guy even older than me, unbelievable I know, I notice the run down condition of the houses a few dozen yards from the train tracks. I verbialy make note of that fact and he says "That's Mexico." That fact is quickly confirmed as I notice the half dozen border patrol trucks spread out, parked and pointed at the border. The train is literaly yards away from Juarez, one of the most deadly cities in Mexico.  I ask the waiter in the dining car if he can get the train to go faster. 


2/2/2012 (Thurs) - 10 AM
Back in my seat for a bit. The thing about train folk is they are down to earth and honest. There is none of that "everything is fine and beautiful and my life is fantastic" corporate veneer that I have always hated.  They will tell you, a complete stranger, about their marital problems, arrest record, illegitimate chilren, drunken whore of an ex-wife without even a second thought. You quickly feel comfortable with them. We are stopping for about 8 hours in San Antinio, yuck.  Still not sure about the logistics of the whole thing, I just want to make sure I stay on the same train as my bags.


2/2/2012 (still Thurs) - 4 PM CST
Texas is big.  We have been moving for over 8 hours, with many more to go before we even hit San Antonio.  All Texas, all empty scrub brush and hills, all the same. I'm over the nothingness.  Texas is big.


2/3/2012 (Fri) - 6 PM CST
AHHHHHH.  It felt so good to get off that fucking train.  As I'm standing in the door way, with other happy people departing the train, we talk about how bad our two cars stunk.  In San Antonio they took the two cars that were heading north and split them from the other cars going to New Orleans.  We then got attached to another "fresh" train.  Walking betwwen the two sets of cars, there was a noticeable difference of aroma.  Nobody in the orginal two cars had showered in two days and the air was putrid.  I couldn't wait to take a shower.  


Interesting sight of the day:  Killing time before I could check into the motel, I walked down to the river, where it's primarly a huge dog park.  A guy is riding a bicycle around wearing nothing more than an eye patch over his junk with a string up the crack of his ass.  Nobody even turned to look, this place is a lot more hip than I thought it was.


Footnote:  Sad really, when the trip started everyone was giddy with excitement and the best of friends.  By the time we rolled out of San Antonio, feelings had been hurt and alliances were being formed.  I'm pretty sure the guy in row 8 had found the immunity idol so he was not going to get voted off the train.