One year ago today: February 16, 2014, mysterious silver prices.
Five years ago today: February 16, 2010, reads like
I was just typing for the sake of it.
MORNING
Up at 7:10 AM to catch the Amtrak to Winter Haven. JZ did not respond in time, so he missed out on an excellent day. I’ll give you the hourly reports along with a running commentary on the trip. Here’s my favorite morning activity, a comfortable seat and a cup of great coffee. Welcome to the only travel blog that tells you what things really cost. The round trip train ticket was $64.60, coffee totaled $6.00 (three cups), I spent $8.00 at Nell’s Country Kitchen, plus a $2.00 tip there and another $1.00 tip somewhere. And a breakfast sandwich at BK, $2.60. Oh, and a newspaper, $1.06. Total trip, $85.26 and worth every penny.
Time: 8:44 - I piled on the Amtrak with plenty of time to spare. This trip differed from the original jaunt of May 13 last year to the same destination. First of all, the train was packed due to the closed airports up north. I’m indifferent about crowded trains because they are vastly better than crowded planes. And that is that. Sadly, they assigned me the dreaded seat 21, which is in the only section of the train that has no window view. The train left precisely on schedule.
Time: 9:44 – Roughly in Boynton, I say roughly as Amtrak has stopped piping the stations announcements over the PA. Which is nice for those who like to nap. I often do but today found me wide awake there and back. But to offset this, Amtrak used to check your tickey, now they are concerned with your identity. One could say over-concerned, it just isn’t right what they do. I seem to be the only passenger they did not check, but I still don’t like it.
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Time 11:44 – Amtrak not only assigned seating this trip, they scrunched everybody to one end of the cars. I find this odd, the first people on should have first dibs on the window seats. Instead, I not only got the no-view spot, I had some old guy from New York bumping elbows while the entire front half of the wagon was empty. That’s a duh, Amtrak.
About this time, the lounge car opened and that was a decent hike, the train was three times longer than usual. But the view cars were extra. Last year, same trip, they let us walk up there for free. Then again, there were only three people on the train that time around. The lounge cars sometimes do not open for the first hour and they are expensive. I have coffee only. The tables are huge, I call them map tables, and I take up one entirely just to spread out my gear. Don’t worry, the [lounge] car is never full.
NOON
I was traveling to study so let me tell you about the passengers. With one exception, when I met Mike Logan and his mom on a red-eye into Mexico City back in 1984, I have never met an interesting person while traveling. At the destinations, yes, but never when traveling. Airports, yes, ports, yes, but never on the trip. This concept that people enjoy traveling is, I think, a fabrication of travel agents.
On the other hand, it is obvious that I’m having a great trip and, importantly, I planned it that way. Fumbling with a cell phone or iPad does not compare with my books and binoculars and pens and crosswords. Which brings up the next mentionable—goofs. Whenever you have crowded travel facilities, you get your quota of goofs. If you have not noticed, 150% of all goofs are creepy men. This one in the lounge car, mercifully at the far end, sat there and glared at me for 45 minutes with this arms folded defensively across his chest.
Now, due to my family, I am completely immune to this type of disgusting, repulsive behavior. But I can see how a lot of people might find this very intimidating. You don’t say anything because these guys generally look like desperate coke-heads or like they just got out of the army. The one today, he was wearing a shirt and tie, looking a bit like those jerks you avoided all year who finally corner you at the church picnic.
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On the way out, I asked about the lady I’d met there on the way back from Cape Canaveral last year. The one who never called despite the invite, which is too bad, since I rather fancied her. The staff seemed surprised she knew me, not the other way around. The cook, this neat old European guy, certainly spotted I was not your regular tourist. Or, it could be that in Nell’s, they just don’t get that many people charting Almanac plots over dessert. That, and I have been mistaken for a newspaper reporter before.
Time 1:44 – I needed a nap or what. What a meal! So I walked instead, grabbing a local newspaper. I wound up rounding an old cemetery. I had to avoid saying I circumnavigated it, that was tempting. Oak Lawn or something like that. One one side I found a right of way that was overgrown with weeds and wild flowers. I walked right through it like a farm kid again. Just a small field where the city never build a road.
I found a shade tree and sat down on my suitcase and read section 1020, houses for sale. I don’t know where Frostproof is, but the entire town must be on the block. What? Did they close the local Rice Krispie plant or something? And what kind of name is Frostproof? I’ll look into it.
Time 2:44 - Just north of Sebring, in the orange groves again, and a swampy area. I had made it back to the Amtrak station in time for the 1:43 and asked if it was all the same to them, could I hop that? Nope, completely sold out. That’s okay, the stations are nice if old-fashioned and I was on the 2:24, the 98 Silver Meteor, or something to that effect.
This time, I got an aisle seat, next to a Spanish lady with a massive head cold. She promptly cranked up her ear buds, the conductor equally promptly told her to turn it off. So she got on her cell phone. I headed for the lounge car. It was tea I had, not another coffee. Now I remember. And that is where I accomplished the 1 mile celestial navigation calculation. The only thing I need now is to meet some rich
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Here is some typical Florida wild scenery. This is not cleared land. It is low-lying areas that show you the terrain is not all cypress swamps and bayous.
Time 4:44 - Just north of WPB (West Palm Beach), I looked deeper into the next phase of navigation which still gives me trouble. This is more of a coastal type navigation where the boat changes speed and direction a lot. The concept is called “course made good” and “direction made good. You tally up all the smaller legs and convert them to a single entity.
I understand the concept, but seem to have a mental block that I have to scramble over every time I come back to this topic. I had similar struggles with vector calculations back in physics class. I’ll get it, but you know, I’m far more interested in navigation on the open seas. Or, as I’m leaning, in outer space.
Time 5:44 - Back in town, 27 minutes early and with a big, fat head cold. I scootered directly home and made a pot of chicken soup. Russian style, with cabbage. The only Russian spice is black pepper. That’s another thing I like about Winter Haven, non-cultural food. Sometimes I plain like eating in a place where if you ask for hot sauce, they have to send somebody into the back room to see if they can find any.
Again, the lounge car closed near West Palm, I do not know why. I walked back to my seat seven cars away. A bit of a hike. The only thing that stood out to me on today’s journey was there was not one good-looking woman on the entire train both ways. Nary a one. What? Of course I noticed. I’m old, not blind.
EVENING
Ha! When you get right down to it, I was better looking than most of the women on that train. And better dressed in most cases, too. Apparently it is the southbound trains that are more sold out. Time to clear out of New York. Also, the age on the train was predominantly under 30. That surprised me. When I was under 30, it was an absolute priority to own and operate a car. They say age is just a number. So is the dollars they take off your paycheck every week.
Thanks for the heads-up, but I already watch silver, the most manipulated commodity on the market. Yet the one that the regulatory commissions have declared hands-off. Either nobody is investigating silver prices or they have not done a thing about the scam for decades. Anyway, in silver I do not trust. But I trust in the human greed of others. If it hits $14.00, that’s my next buy point. This chart shows the drop over the weekend, with the red flat spot being some cagey inexplicable episode called “Penguin’s Day”.
Back to the train. I also have no problem sleeping on the train. Within minutes my system no longer notices the rocking, which can be wilder than you expect. Anyway, the one-way fare to Seattle is only $283 (via Chicago). The problem is always ground transportation once you get there. It’s a factor, but not a deterrent. Note that low fare means buying your ticket three months in advance and riding coach. And it is a 90-hour trip. Pack your sandwiches.
Yes, I looked up Frostproof on the map. South of Winter Haven. But the area is so desolate it does not even have a Craigslist section. I think it is called collectively “Heartland”. For people who like to live "not quite in Disneyworld".
Of course, Dan Lewis does it again. Here is the tape recording of Lyndon Johnson ordering pants with more room “down where your nuts hang”. It’s an hilarious nine minutes.
Last Laugh
I have NO idea. Okay, how about:
"Togla! Your date's here." (March of the Penquins?)
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