"Hate California, It's Cold And It's Damp"

Bridge Across the River Pecos

Don't hate it at all, but it is cold and and it is damp, in the winter anyway. Warm dry San Miguel de Allende, Mexico it's not.  But the sun is shining, the flowers are blooming and the grass is green, that counts for a lot.  The rest of the 1995 miles across the southwest went well, we pulled into LA's grand Union Station an hour ahead of schedule, which is pretty good considering we were 5 1/2 hours late into Houston.  People there were hopping mad at the delay, the station attendant had told them that a freight train had hit a truck, no one was hurt, and that the Sunset Ltd was stuck behind that.  All lies of course, but maybe she really didn't know, and just made up a story. I say she because I spent three hours there last week waiting for the eastbound on my way to New Orleans. Houston used to have a grand station of it's own, built of limestone in a streamline style, torn down in 1971 and replaced with the current dreadful little building, a so called Amhut.

The Sunset Limited is America's oldest continually operating named train, in service since 1893. It's unique in that it originated in the west, all others, save the Coast Starlight, began in the east. Amtrak does a really good job with it, in terms of equipment and customer service. The sleeper that I was in had just been refurbished (with stimulus funds, I was told), it's attendant was an on the ball Philipino-American named Efron. I thought I was on a ship! Food in the dining car was uniformly excellent (delicious crabcakes the second night and really good tiramisu twice) with cheerful stewards, although I did find the chief steward a bit pompous.

By the way, someone else the same night as the mooning incident (which occurred on the full moon, BTW) tried to mess with Amtrak and lost. This time it was a coach passenger who ordered a drink and tried to pay for it with a debit card.  He was informed that only cash or credit cards are accepted on board, and not to try to use that card again; he had no money, but they let him keep the drink. Well a little later he went to the dining car, ordered and ate dinner, presented the card, whereupon the steward called the conductor, who called the dispatcher, who called the police in the next tiny Texas town. The conductor was told to stop the train in front of the Safeway, where the police would be waiting. And so they were, and off the train the perpetrator was.  Do not mess with Amtrak!

Station stop at Beaumont on the eastbound last week

Texas view from the dining car

When I got to my brother's house in Tustin, in Orange Co, Ca I googled train death Beaumont Tx, and found an interesting story on the accident. The Beaumont Enterprise reported that Frank Bridgwater, 31 of Beaumont died of massive trauma after being struck by a train. "Witnesses told law enforcement officials that the man was looking for wild dogs that had attacked puppies at his residence. The man was standing on the tracks when the train hit him."    Hmmm. There were five comments posted to the article, ranging from caustic and skeptical to the shame on you for speaking ill of the dead. I added my two cents worth, expressing my sorrow and how badly people on the train felt.  I didn't mention the full moons, but did mention that the engineer reported two men on the track, who for whatever reason shouldn't have been there.  It's proved to be a conversation killer, no one has commented since.  I wonder why?