Onward by rail

Why do I ride the rails?  First, because it’s the mode of travel that contributes least to the destruction of the natural world. Second, because it’s miles better than the flying torture chambers of the airlines.  Third, because it’s much less work than driving.  Most of all, because it restores romance to the sense of travel. It’s adventure!

I had a hard time sleeping this trip, going north. My insomnia is unpredictable.  My trip going south, crossing different track during the night, I slept well in the roomette.  Can’t say much for sleeping in coach: it’s possible.

Think about all those train stations named Union.  Remember that President Lincoln, while he was wrestling with a civil war, promoted the building of the first coast to coast track that tied the Union together.  We can do it again.

Look for upcoming adventures: 

The rolling stock; The tracks; The politics; The funding; The cost; The alternatives.

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robincravey

Robin Cravey is a Texas poet, publisher, citizen, and lawyer. As editor and publisher if Tilted Planet Press, he has published several books of poems, including Diverging, I am a Comet, and Benchmarks. His book Watermarks has been serialized on the Austin Sierran website. A sixth-generation Texan, Robin grew up in Houston, loving tall trees, big clouds, girls, Omar Khayyam, Carl Sandberg, and Walt Whitman. He came to Austin to attend UT, loving clear water, peyote, taxicabs, women, newspapers, hitchhiking, Marcus Aurelius, and William O. Douglas. He married and had kids, loving Dr. Suess, Star Trek, Baghavad Gita, Mohandas Gandhi, and Macintosh. Eventually he volunteered way too much, published books, ran a business, fought city hall, went to law school, worked at city hall, ran a small law office, ran for public office. In recent years he has divided his time between Austin and Providence, Rhode Island, loving Wayland Square, bicycling, and long train rides.

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