Coast One

The speed of sound…

It’s not a sleeper car, like the one I was on last night, but it’s just as comfortable, if not more comfortable. I guess you could say I didn’t sleep very well last night, but then again, when your bed is rocking from left to right and every rock could mean disaster [and you know there’s so many of them out there], I suppose a sound sleep isn’t exactly in order. Add that to a horizontal space of less than a foot and a half, and it makes for an interesting night.

I managed to get through a few DVD episodes of “Futurama” before I felt my eyes get heavy, and I felt that sleep was imminent. Woke up around seven in the morning [I guess, to me, it’s still eight AM] to find myself still in Arizona. I guess the train doesn’t move much overnight.

Ten in the morning found me on the outskirts of Riverside County, California. It was the first time in many years I’d seen a genuine California Highway Patrol cruiser…in person, not on FOX News as part of some high speed highway chase. And don’t even get me started on the bathrooms.

The train people kicked us off at Palm Springs. If you’ve ever been to Florida’s Palm Springs, consider yourself lucky. California’s Palm Springs contains many windmills and…not much else. At least, not much else from our vantage point.

A long bus ride was in order following our arrival in Palm Springs. We arrived in Bakersfield, California around two in the afternoon. Long time in a bus, no food, and a small, cramped restroom [which was just fine as compared to the Texas Eagle’s commodes] saw a welcomed arrival in Bakersfield. It was around that time I started to take notice of the smaller things that life offered on this two-day journey throughout the Southwestern states and ultimately into Northern California.

For instance, just about a week ago, I’d made the comment that we couldn’t find LifeSavers in rolls anymore. Most people don’t even remember LifeSavers in foil rolls, since the majority of them come in either bags, or as GummiSavers in plastic tubes. However, it was in a vending machine in a very nice train station that I found LifeSavers in their classic foil roll.

It was also in the train station’s window I saw someone had made a man out of candy, mimicking a recent “Starburst” commercial, I’m sure, but this time with Bottlecaps and Double Bubble gum [the kind that comes in the tubs at Sam’s Club]. I started to take a little more appreciation, not at the big picture at hand, but the smaller stuff that this little trip had to offer…and the smaller stuff came on a nicer train than the one we found ourselves on earlier this morning.

I noticed a lone wolf in the middle of a huge, empty, yellow field. Made me feel right at home, back where I belong in the Sun City. But reality was disturbed by the images of residential homes, surrounded with green grass, trees and in-ground swimming pools and wooden fences. It’s enough to make anyone yearn for the desert…and sick to their stomach. That’s how I feel, anyway…just another way I know I’ll fit right into place in California, as a rebellious Texan at heart, or as someone who appreciates more than the eye can see.

I’m feeling rather abstract at the moment, if you couldn’t tell from my entry. That’s probably the fault of an earlier Fleetwood Mac concert I watched and the Coldplay album I’m listening to right now [I can tell you why Johnny M. says you should never leave for the road without a Coldplay album at hand…er, ear]. Either way, this is who I am slowly becoming.

Make way, this is gonna be a bumpy ride. Welcome to paradise.