train travel

Four days of training, and I have arrived in portland, oregon. A fine city. I've passed through New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, Montana, Idaho, Washington, and Oregon.

A conversation I had in Union Station, Chicago:
Old Southern Man: Where you from?
David: I'm from Rhode Island.
Old Southern Man: Shoot, why the hell you talk so normal?

Milwaukee is one of the more depressing cities I've ever traveled through.

Dinner involves sitting with three strangers at a table in the dining car. Me and a middle-aged pharmaceutical sales man were chatting amiably when two women were shown to the table (mother in her 80s and daughter in her 40s). The older woman looked at me with disgust, horrified at the prospect of being seated with me.
"We're sitting here? I don't want to sit with them. I bite."

The salesman laughed nervously, like a salesman would: "Ha! Let's get some drinks in these ladies."

The mother replied, stonefaced, "I'm not joking. I'm really crabby."

Arlene (the biter) and I eventually hit it off. She was concerned about my dad becoming a Deacon: "I'm looking out for you, really. What if your inheritance goes straight to the church when he kicks the bucket?" We chatted about the middle east and anthropology and art. She wanted me to make sure that I understood that "the brain breathes mind as our lungs breathe air." She taught and showed me what a coulee is. And finally, because of her foul mood, we got a free cup of coffee.

Chicago:







North Dakota:








Montana:






Columbia River, Oregon

trains > planes