No kidding, Orrin--the absolute worst part was when the tore out the tracks leading right up to my front yard!

Ah, yes, the enforced opportunity to relax and breathe in the aroma of Orrin's damp back fur. No society can survive without such.

joe:

Don't you use "Gee, Your [Back] Hair Smells Terrific"?

oj,

Have you ever made a 200+ mile car trip on a crowded 2 lane road? I have, in Wisconsin and the U.P. of Michigan. A never ending series of 25 mph towns makes the journey excruciating. The interstate highway system is a blessing for those who have to travel long distances and need to have their vehicle available at journey's end. Which is almost everybody, I would bet.

I drive extensively for work(We haul all of our needed equipment around with us) and I have logged a 1000 miles in one day more than a few times.

If we had to travel on 2 lane roads exclusively, we would get less work done and be less productive. Our companies bottom line would suffer. And since I participate in the company profit sharing program, my retirement account would suffer.

Pete:

Ever travel that far by train? It's awesome.

That's the railline that King County exec Ron Sims wanted to convert to a bike trail. Then again, he just got reelected, so the pressure to pander to his Seattle base while sticking it to the Eastside has been reduced. As for "scenic", I guess that would be the case if you like seeing the industrial parts of Renton, Bellevue and Kirkland from the backside.

I think everyone would be better served if they'd just take some of these old dining cars, put them up on hydraulic jacks, project scenery on the windows, lock everyone in for a few hours and then bounce them around. (Like some sort of "Mission Impossible" episode or the Pullman car exhibit at the Calif. State Railroad Museum in Sacramento.) Would save time, energy money and cut down on the number of grade crossing collisions.

The purpose of railroads is to move stuff, and they've gotten really good at it. Passenger services just gets in the way of real commerce by providing feel-good experiences for people with too much time and money on their hands. The people on these Dinner Trains aren't even going anywhere but back to where they started.

(And I used to travel by train from Chicago to South Bend. Awesome isn't exactly how I'd describe it, especially the being stuck at the Gary station for several hours.)

Maybe you could just put up a poster over the window on the way through Gary--have driven it numerous times a car is even worse.

Not many of us can afford the $100.00 plus round trip fare for the kind of service described in this article. Traveling by rail is fun in the same way that camping in a tent is fun, but when it comes to daily life, my car and my house can't be matched.

LOL.

erp:

Conserve two tanks of gas this year and you can treat yourself to a train trip.

If you like trains, good food and nice scenery there is the wonderful Napa Valley Wine Train. Leaves Napa, cruises up the valley and back. Not a long trip, but the location is probably a bit nicer.

There's also the Napa Valley Wine Train. You could make a West Coast swing.

Not traveling through Gary, but being in the station, and having to wait for the late train headed east, because the RR management changed the schedule but never got around to replacing the ones posted at the 59th St. station.

What is it about bus stations and the like that attracts a certain kind of people who aren't actually traveling, anyhow? The only "Wine Train" they're waiting for comes with screw top and is wrapped in a paper bag.

Hey, money's no object. We can take a train ride whenever we want. We don't need to save up. We're retirees whose lavish pensions are being paid for by the younger generation.

Thanks kids.

Orrin:

We hate the ordered, crowded, sweaty humanity of trains and love the privacy and freedom of our cars, but don't ever forget that, as Darwin said, man is a social animal. Do you think he was talking about Larry's Sports Bar on Friday nights?