http://www.progressiverailroading.com/prdailynews/news.asp?id=22679

Oh yeah, Oregon has ordered two Talgos.  What do you think of that eh?

So I don’t get some of the logistics of the matter, such as the fact that Oregon is getting two trains with 13 cars.  Oregon can’t even get 10 car trains filled up between Eugene and Portland.  Maybe they’ll be able to change the schedule for better trips?  Who knows.

Anyway, would love to hear what people think.

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.

During the Thanksgiving Holidays Amtrak rounds up some extra passenger cars and runs an extra train between Seattle or Portland.  The train usually consists of a few Amfleet 74 Seat Passenger Cars & a snack car with about 10 business class seats.  I believe the train often runs on the day before and day after Thanksgiving with even more cars, number 7-8 of the above passenger cars and the same snack car.  The extra passengers number between  300-1400 per day during the long weekend and days off.  The irony being, if we had the equipment full time Amtrak could very likely fill up the trains even then.

My father and I rode up and I’ve put together a story line of pictures for the trip.  Click on any of the photos to see a larger image.

My segment started at home.  I walked out and across a few blocks to board the north bound MAX to Union Station.  The first train that came along was a Yellow Line MAX.  During that time I say three streetcars go by which I snapped a few photos of.  I also decided a bit of sugar and caffeine was in order, so I stepped into the Seattle’s Best at PSU while waiting.  There I snagged a sellable couple of photos and sat watching the streetcars & buses roll by.

With the arrival of the Yellow Line I boarded and enjoyed by 8 minute ride to Union Station.  At this time of the morning, on a Thanksgiving Holiday, almost nobody was around.  I was the first on the LRV, which I took a shot of since it is a rare thing to see a truly empty MAX.  Upon arriving I entered the station to see, as expected, a massive line of passengers waiting to board the #502 extra.  Again, I sat and waited for the line to dissipate, and once there was only 2-3 people left, I stood up, walked to the counter and got my seating assignment.

Off to the train, seated, and rolling at a precise 9:00am, as scheduled.  We left Portland and arrived in Vancouver on time, were father boarded the train and joined me.  A short time later we arrived in Centralia, on time.

In Centralia we walked about the small one street downtown.  There is a coffee shop with their own grounds, St Lucia, that is a cool little place.  We got some hot beverages and then stepped outside to watch some freights rolling in and out of Centralia Station.

We noted the Kansas City Southern engine working the freight load, which is odd being that Kansas City Southern (KCS) is not often running anything out in these parts of the country.  After watching this train do some shoves and pulls we arrived back at the station where I took some Twin Transit photos.

After our short 45 minute wait, the Coast Starlight pulled in nonchalantly into the Centralia Station.  Everyone boarded in a a timely and orderly way, and with a few seconds to spare we were back rolling on the rails.

On the way back we enjoyed lunch on the train, with some pleasant co-riders heading to Portland themselves.  This being their first train trip I had to ask them how things were going.  Everything had been top notch for them so far, and they were much relieved that it was nothing like air travel.  Even waiting in lines wasn’t an issue while waiting for and riding the train.  I’m always glad to hear a first time rider who loves train travel.

Another train trip for the books.

Sweetness.  I was hoping this would happen one century, and it is finally in the works according to WSDOT.

That is all I have for the moment, check out their blog entry for more info.

This will be the last weekend we use the #9 as our primary transit mode into downtown, because by next weekend we will be downtown.  We’re heading out at the moment to get some lunch at Isabel’s in the Pearl.  This place has superb food, excellent quality, and downright great prices by Pearl standards!

Here’s our trip path at 23 minutes.

By next weekend our trip will be as follows at 15 minutes.

Off to some grub now.  Coming soon will be some of those controversial questions getting thrown around again, so be prepared!

Just FYI:

• BNSF stands for Burlington Northern Santa Fe
• BNSF is made up of many consolidations & acquisitions of 390 railroads over the last 150+ years.  It serves a vast rail network from Seattle to Chicago to LA and has trackage rights on other networks that allows access to hundreds of other locations.  For more history on the companies that make up the modern BNSF railroad check out their history page.

On to Warren & his Purchase

Wow, the suspicion I have behind the Warren Buffet purchase of BNSF has my mind racing through ideas on why.  The simple act of a single individual owning a major railroad in the United States again is awe inspiring, suspicious, and in some ways fills me with hope for the nation.  Let me explain why.

The last private owner of a railroad that was anywhere near the scale of BNSF was a long long time ago.  Now, modern America will have a railroad that can literally act in seconds, move with the speed and innovation pushed by an individual.  Boards can’t act that fast, Governments have no hope to even remotely act fast, let alone act, and other forms of organization just can’t compare.  This of course can be a good thing and a bad thing.

Does Warren know railroads?  I don’t know if he does or not, he does seem to be able to pick investments pretty well, and he just bet the farm on the purchase of an entire railroad.  That is saying a lot.  Is he literally telling America that he believes in the underpinnings of free-market (REAL free-market, not that psuedo psycho Republican free-market ideal) capitalism?  Or is there some hidden agendas being played out?  Do these agendas possible come from somewhere else besides Mr. Buffett himself?  I have some suspicions about this, but I’m not betting anything on it yet because there are a lot of factors that haven’t shown their respective cards.

Re-regulation?

Over the last 5 years or so a lot of energy, money, and other political willpower has been put into re-regulating the freight railroads again.  This, by any turn of events, would be horrible for the freight carriers and bad for America in general.  I’m not even going to bat around the nonsense that it would be an increase in competition or anything of that sort.  This re-regulation would starve the industry, quite rapidly, by requiring the railroads to sink more money into political pandering and less into the functional investment of the railroads themselves.  Already pricing and other things are regulated by the Federal Government, we don’t need additional nonsense for them to deal with. 

Does Warren know about a death of this effort?  Because there would be zero reason for him to invest if he thought there was a remote chance that re-regulation would go through.  Indeed, this is something to ponder.

Political Positioning

The key players in the administration, which would be Obama and Biden, both are in support of high speed rail and rail transport in general.  Biden especially, loves passenger rail.  BNSF of course is not involved in passenger rail, but having a huge supporter owning the railroad puts the administration in a very powerful position to make change.  This can happen on two major idealistic fronts;  the free-market advocates viewpoint and the more socialistically minded & environmentally friendly supporting Democrat.  With Warren owning the railroad the administration could easily encourage without any legislation at all some very positive actions, winning accolades for the railroad, for the administration, and getting the administration more in tune to what is really going on at the rail.

Does Mr. Buffett have some inside knowledge on some political action by the administration?  Does he know about some major event or is guessing at some major event that would position the railroad to drastically expand operations into new realms of service?  Once again, another legitimate thought to keep in mind when pondering this purchase.

Summary

So do I know what Warren is up to?  No.  Do I think I even have a remotely logical idea about his action?  Nope.  Overall I have absolutely zero idea why he would step out this far in order to purchase an entire freight railroad.  In some ways the political environment seems to make this an absolutely bad idea, and in another it seems like a great idea.  From an economic stand point it appears to be a really odd play, without a significant ROI in comparison to some other parts of the market.  Especially with the economy in the position it is currently in.

What do you think?  Any ideas, conspiracies, inside knowledge?  I’d love to read some comments on this so light em’ up.

Ticket Taking Process #1

Sunset Limited – Boarding the Sunset Limited in Los Angeles Union Station the car attendants looked at the tickets at the door, but didn’t take them.  One aboard and in our roomettes the attendant then came and took the tickets.  I pulled the receipt part of the ticket since I usually always do so to expedite the archaic ticket taking practice that Amtrak follows still.  The attendant in Los Angeles also assigned the room that was not specified on the ticket.

In Maricopa the attendant that was changing out with the crew came around and took everyone’s tickets, and handed us our receipts.  In both of these situations nobody clipped or otherwise marked the tickets so that they would show as being used.  The time, train, and origination and destination where specific and technically, the ticket is either used or not.  Again, the attendant did not put us in the room that was on the ticket.  This time we did receive a reason why we were being given another roomette instead of the assigned one.

Ticket Taking Process #2

Coast Starlight – Boarding in Portland we enter the First Class Lounge which is basically a waiting room with nicer amenities.  The lounge attendant took our tickets, handing us the receipts.  Again, no other marks or specific directions.  He gave us a room and car assignment in station.  When we boarded, we got another room assignment than the ticket.  This boarding had us go through a total of 2 assignments, before we finally got our actual assignment.  It isn’t really a big deal, it is just ridiculously stupid to need that much busy work for the process.  In reality we shouldn’t even need but ONE room assignment and we don’t need anyone to help us get into or out of the room.

Ticket Taking Process #3

Pacific Surfliner – Boarding in Santa Ana to come north into Los Angeles.  The tickets are unreserved and completely unorganized.  There is no actual seating, you just get on and fumble until you find a seat.  The conductor then comes through the train at some point, takes the tickets (and don’t you dare take the receipts off ahead of time) and clips the tickets and the receipts.  The conductor requested, after I had removed the receipts, that she clip the receipts and that the tickets wouldn’t be valid without the receipts.  It seems beyond stupid to sell unreserved tickets on a train that has reserved seating – at least, that’s what the cars are designed for.  Again, a complete failure for Amtrak to once again be logical.  I do understand that the tickets are not for a particular train, but they are for a particular day, and if I just handed them to her they should NOT BE available to any other customers.  This flow of process is again, stupid.  It doesn’t follow a smooth, coherent, or streamlined process at all.  In many ways, several of the steps are even redundant.

Pacific Surfliner – Boarding again in Santa Ana to come north, a few days before the above mentioned trip.  I removed the receipts from the tickets in front of the conductor.  He clipped the tickets, did NOT ask or take the receipts to clip, and carried on.  Why this is different than the seating before?

The Historical Facts

So really, what is the deal.  This little annoyances don’t really detract from the trip, they just add a bit of confusion to the adventure itself.  For some people, it is reason to be turned away and not try to take the train.  For some people it really ticks them off, since the processes are dissimilar between trains run by the same Government Corporation, Amtrak.  The illogical breaks in the process sow these seeds of frustration and absolutely need fixed.  So Amtrak Execs, get your acts together and get this done.  The disparities are absolutely unnecessary and are wasting Amtrak’s/Taxpayers’ Monies.  One might think these little things don’t add much cost, but they easily add up to thousands upon thousands of dollars of wasted USEFUL employee time.

Amtrak, when it formed, was supposed to fix many of this frustrations, and as is apparent, has barely updated its trains let alone many of its other processes.  I do commend Amtrak on the online ticketing, but still, they have a major labor force that consists of doing unnecessary menial labor and could be utilized doing things that are vastly more important than running what, appears to be, dysfunctional passenger trains.

Overall everyone of our trains was ok, some where great, and some where rather exceptional.  So far, my ratings for the various trains I’ve been on in the last 4 years.  I put an * by the ones that where used recently on the PHX/LAX trip.

Anyone else got any Amtrak stories?  I hate to give em’ gruff all the time, but really, these things should have much smoother and simplified process around them.  The complexities that the archaic ticketing and seating processes currently used are completely, without doubt, unacceptable and should be resolved ASAP.

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.

Sunday Night, Monday, and Tuesday Jo and I spent in downtown Phoenix at the San Carlos.  Meeting other people, seeing the wedding, and eating Brazilian in the burbs was all awesome.  But otherwise, the suburbs sucked in so many ways I would have to start another blog about all the ways that suburbs suck.  Economically, environmentally, efficiency, education, and by about every other measure, suburbs truly bring out the mediocrity in humanity.  But really, I digress, it was awesome meeting everyone in burbia and hope they come visit Portland soon so they can be effectively turned away from the soul sucking entrenchment of the burbs’.

So what happened on day #10 & 11, well Jo and I left the suburbs.  We left for the urban life style of downtown Phoenix.  We got some help from Tony (lightrailblogger) and Nick (raillife) to find the elements that allow one to live  without the ever tightening noose of the auto oriented lifestyle.  Out of all the places we went to, these really stuck out in our minds as places that just kick ass!  :)

Gallo Blanco

Gallo Blanco was amazing.  We actually ended up going back to Gallo Blanco because it rocked so much.  This place is something we honestly did not expect in Phoenix.  Our assumption, especially after all the milling about in the suburbs was suburban food, which rarely breaks from big generic corporate food.  Think Applebee’s, TGI Friday’s, and all that crap.  But this was a slice of sanity, a bit of beauty, taste, elegance, modern, and above all Gallo Blanco was delicious.

The Clarendon Hotel

The Gallo Blanco is located within the Clarendon Hotel.  This hotel has a somewhat grisly history.  A reporter was killed by car bomb by a mafia operative in the parking lot of the building in the 70s.  In one of the hallways they have the descriptive story of what happened.

The Clarendon has a super modern, minimalistic, and artsy.  The hotel was absolutely stunning.  The outer facing of the hotel seems at first glance to be somewhat boring.  With a white and slightly blue striped design the outside is a single face.  Without too many windows facing outwards from the building.  However upon stepping inside the hotel has a liveliness in the central courtyard.  There is a pool with an artsy design to it.  In the center of the L shaped pool there is a multi-colored separation that disconnects the pool ever so slightly from the short part of the L, which is a hot tub of massive size!  The rooms all face from a balcony walkway into this courtyard.

We toured through two of the rooms, the largest and mid-sized room.  The large room had a living room type area with a couch, coffee table, and TV, with the bedroom in the back room.  The windows that faced external to the building and internally toward the pool both had no blinds.  Instead, large pieces of art display over the window on sliders, sort of an industrial design.  These could be pushed aside to view either direction.  The rooms had various amenities one would expect, the difference being they were artfully designed and used modern pieces for the vanity and other parts of the hotel room.  The mid-size room was basically the same styling and amenities, except a bit smaller and under a single space.

Jo and I both decided that upon our next trip, we’d definitely be staying at the Clarendon Hotel on our next trip!

The San Carlos Hotel

We stayed these nights in the San Carlos, which is definitely in the urban core were as The Clarendon is a few stops from the core and a block off from the light rail (which remember, a block in Phoenix is about 4 blocks in Portland).  The San Carlos also has a pool on the roof, which is rad.  Even though it was a nice hotel, one has to be in the mood for a boutique hotel to stay here.  If you are in that mood, I’d definitely suggest it!

Tempe Transit Center & the Bike Cellar

I managed to travel to the Tempe Transit Center twice.  Once myself, and once with Jo and I both gallivanting about.  The first time when I went, I merely took a few photos of various vehicles pulling into and out of the transit center during operations.  Very nice transit center, but this first trip didn’t expose what really makes it unique.

Jo & I went back, on Tuesday, to check out the part that really makes the Tempe Transit Center unique.  The Bike Cellar is located in the transit center building on the ground floor.  The Bike Cellar is this awesome, secure, clean area of the center that is operated for bicyclists to have access to bike parking and showers.  In addition there are lockers, tools, and other services.  In addition the owner even sells bikes if you’re in the market for one.

One of the things I love about the Bike Cellar is that this is a private business run by people that have a real passion for the bicycle lifestyle.  This isn’t some random experiment from some random Government Department.  This I find ideal, real private interest and involvement in connecting and working toward a connected populace that doesn’t involve building massive roads that expand over vast tracts of land.  A beautiful idea!

While speaking to the owners of the Bike Cellar and mentioned that this is something that should absolutely be built in Portland.  After closer thought, there are a few issues to getting something like this built in Portland.  For one, I’m not sure how TriMet would work with a private business trying to provide a service in a transit center.  In downtown, there just isn’t all that much space, making it difficult to build out something like this.

I send all my wishes of success to the Bike Cellar Crew!  I imagine Tempe can really use a service like that, especially in the summer!

Lux Coffee Bar

I have to mention Lux again.  We returned a couple times over the course of our stay.  In addition we even purchased a half pound of beans ground for our French press.  The Stumptown bean supply had run out on our 8th day and the Lux beans provided a great substitute for the remainder of the trip.  In all honesty, Lux produces beans that could compete in Portland – and that is extremely hard to achieve.

Mill Ave & 3rd Street

The Mill Avenue & 3rd Stop of the light rail system exits directly on Mill Avenue.  Mill Avenue is basically a small block, street level commercial business area.  This area is what one desires and expects of a college area.  Lots of awesome niche restaurants, nick nak stores, custom t-shirst, bars, pubs, and more.  I imagine that this area is bumping on Friday and Saturday nights.

Valley Metro Light Rail

Of course, I have to mention the light rail.  This being one of the major things I wanted to see and check out while in town.  I’d been curious that Phoenix, one of the least …  [big list here]  …cities was going to get light rail.  At first I couldn’t help but think, “oh dear, it will for sure be a complete and object failure, the pro-road Republicans Socialists will surely jump all over this when it bombs out”…  but oh was I wrong.  I started studying as they where finishing up the line and saw that it did have some slight potential, it might just succeed.

Well when the light rail opened it exploded into success.  Running every 10 minutes I believe the average per day has been approximately 30,000 trips.  That measures well against our Blue Line, and TriMet’s Blue Line is a little longer even.  Mind you, Phoenix has a lot more potential for ridership growth.  They often run three car LRV trains, the line can handle more trains during the course of a day, and thus a multiplier over what TriMet’s lines run is fairly high.

Overall, the light rail is absolutely well built, which is surprising for a city like Phoenix.  They do have a few distinct advantages such as the high population (4 mil vs. Portland’s barely 2 mil), and the biggest advantage I see is that the line is built on level, flat, easy to build on ground.

Phoenix in Summary

Overall Phoenix has sprawl, the kind that really should be wiped from the face of the earth and replaced with a market based, intelligently built transit system mixed with automobiles that actually compete with each other.  Instead it is a massive Government subsidized sprawl of Interstates and Highways.  The Feds have dumped so much money into Phoenix and Phoenix has suckled upon the teat, feeding upon this cash flow.  However amid this cursed sprawl and disturbingly soulless expanse of ticky tack housing as far as one can see, the urban center of Phoenix exists.  It is beautiful in some regards even, contrary to some commentary.  Here, slowly, a new birth is taking place for Phoenix.  One with culture and humanity, one with life and opportunity, art and design, and heaven forbid, a break of the ticky tack.

Don’t get me wrong, there is still a lot to do before a place like Phoenix can stand upon the grand enclave that Portland exists in, of art, design, life, opportunity, humanity, and culture that only massively larger cities like Chicago, San Francisco, and New York can currently provide.  But Phoenix finally has the infrastructure groundwork laid to become a great city that can harbor and grow a lifestyle that would have these great traits.  I look forward to visiting again, maybe in just a few months, and definitely over the years I’d like to see how the effort is taking root.

But There’s MORE!

That’s right people, Phoenix is not alone in this effort.  The city’s of Tempe and Mesa are also working diligently to gain a foothold in the creative class, the cultured individual, the high earner urbanite.  Tempe has Mill & 3rd, the Tempe Transit Center, and the growing urban core around these two great examples of development.  One of the first expanses, that I’ve heard at least, is that Mesa will finally connect its downtown soon too.  That will be three core urban areas connected by a good effective, highly ridden light rail system.

My best wishes go out to Phoenix, Tempe, and Mesa in their efforts to turn their cities into a connected, culturally relevant, livable city within the United States.

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.