Hey my chums, I made it home! New Orleans, Lake Charles, Beaumont, Houston, San Antone, Del Rio, Big Bend, El Paso, Demming, Tuscon, Yuma, Palm Springs, Ontario, Bakersfield, Fresno, Stockton, and then back to those kitties of mine in Oakland. They are frettin', but I'll be pettin'!

It has been a great 4 days and the little dramas of travel have all fallen away. As I have said before, if someone were to ask me where I would rather be at any given time in my life, the answer could always be in my sleeping car on a long-haul train crossing this fine continent of ours.

Now that I have successfully completed the route of the Sunset Limited from end to end (if you include the change to the Oakland train that is), I have now taken every major cross-country train: The Sunset Limited, The Southwest Chief, The Western Zephyr, The Empire Builder, The 20th Century Limited, and The Three Rivers. I still have The Crescent from NYC to New Orleans, The City Of New Orleans from Chicago to N.O., and the Silver Star from NYC to Miami on the to-do list. Each of those offer sleepers, but they only have one over-night on their route. I will check these off sometime soon. I think I can get them done in the next year or two. After that, I am going to celebrate my 40th birthday by taking the train that crosses Canada end-to-end. That is supposed to be spectacular.

This trip was a big eye opener for me in lots of ways. Yeah, I like having the time to just look out the window and meditate. I also like having had the time to get some writing done (I think I did well over 10,000 words – there is plenty left to do, but I made a huge dent in getting caught up.) Then there is the way in which seeing new parts of the country is a real eye-opener. I always had south Texas on my to-do list because of the stellar bird watching to be done there. I have always wanted to see the deep bayou country of Louisiana (also great for birds) with a visit to the Tabasco Plant. I have always wanted to spend time in the deep southern mountains in Arizona, which is home to many exotic animals and birds. On this trip I got a little taste of these places, but the taste was big enough for it to dawn on me how awesome those places really are.

I can’t stand the politics in those states, and I got lucky in that I got a taste of these places without actually giving them any money. The only place I spent money was in Chocolate City New Orleans, and I am more than happy to do my little share in putting some tourist dollars into that economy (N.O. ain’t quite Red State, as the reaction to Katrina showed quite clearly.) Perhaps in 2008, these degenerate states and counties will do the right thing. I doubt it, but maybe. If they do, it will be easier for me to justify a big trip down that way. Eventually, a big trip down there will happen. There is just too much beauty down there to ignore (there are ways of going and seeing it without spending much in degenerate areas – free rental car days, free hotel nights, and maybe even a few paid nights on the Mexico side to avoid spending too much where I would rather not.) Maybe I can clean out the little casinos and spend only that money!!! It is a thought. I will definitely have to figure it out because the things I saw down there were awesome and amazing and I need to see more.

Wow. I am happy to be home. I am not really jazzed to go back to my workaday life, but I will say that my trips over the last 2 weeks have done much to recharge my batteries. I really needed this. I used to come off the trains with long to-do lists of things I am going to change the minute I get home. I now know better than to go through that canard again. I do have my list of things I need to start doing, but as Robert Duvall said to Sean Penn, I need to “walk down and fuck them all” rather than run down and try fucking the first one I see. I’ve learned caution. This comes from wis-dum-B.

Anyway, I have many back entries going up here on the weblog. I am putting them up in the order of the dates they should have gone up had I written them back when I should have. You will need to read them in that order to make any sense of them. As for the details of this trip, it is gonna be at least a week before I have the pictures organized and the stories straight. With the holiday weekend coming up, I should be able to get it done. Believe it or not, I am going to spend the entire holiday weekend at home in the Bay Area. No car rental, no train ride, no flying off somewhere. I am gonna stay home and soak up some of that awesome Indian Summer the Bay Area gets. I am gonna go into San Fran and ride the new T-Line end-to-end, which I haven’t done yet. Since the Bay Bridge is closed, the BART is gonna run all night. Just for shits and giggles, I am gonna ride BART at 3am since these are the only times one can do that (it is so JV that BART closes down overnight – lame.) I might take the bus over to Marin Highlands. I might hang out in Golden Gate Park all weekend. Before I write up my review of The Black Dahlia I might walk over to the cemetery where she is buried (it is right over the hill from me) and take a photo of her grave (the story has proven quite moving to me – but more on that later.) I might walk around the beach on Alameda. I have no idea how I will fill all the time; but since San Fran summer weather has arrived, I am gonna do all I can to soak it in. Even if that means I just take the laptop out somewhere in the sun and write up the stuff from this trip, then that is what I will do.

I bitch and bitch and bitch for months on end, but then when I finally get around to taking some time off and doing some bigger recreational stuff, I feel so much better. I will get back to bitching soon enough I am sure, but for now, I am just gonna ride the groovy vibe I am on. I needed my little train ride SO SO bad. Now that I have had it, I get afterglow (yes, I am using a sexual reference to describe a train ride; yes, I have mental problems.) Perhaps I really will get around to doing the work on my to-do list. Perhaps I will share the list with y’all – that would give you a peek into just how messed up I am (could be fun – we’ll see…)

Glad to be home. Good seeing y’all here again. Much good to come. Right now however, it is time for me to pet my kitties til my hands atrophy. That will be a pain that hurts so good!