Category: The DayBook

The major stop today was in Kansas City. Lovely old station. Being tired of train food – I picked up an excellent scone for breakfast. 

Always fun to cross the Mississippi. This was late morning.

Then arrive at Chicago Union Station at three in the afternoon.

The highlight of my afternoon was using one of the showers at Union Station. After my very fine shower, I talked to a couple of nice ladies.  One my age was heading to New Orleans for food, shopping and gambling. The younger to DC for The Day without women March.

Now, I am on the train heading back to the Asylum.

Hopefully, I get enough signal soon to link the Mac to the iPad and update the blog. Ok, the signal fairy just blessed me with a little window of connectivity. So, I’ll just blast the out.

I had a lovely day on the train. It was about an hour late arriving at Flagstaff. Amtrak sent me several texts telling me about the lateness. So, I hung out at the saloon for a little longer. True to the manager’s promise – coffee was waiting for me. And not just any coffee, but Starbucks – Pike’s Peak with a note telling me to take as much as I wanted. 

As soon as I was settled on the train, I had breakfast. Then a little nap. Looked out the window. Read a book. And some how or the other, the train got back on schedule and arrived in Albuquerque early. So, I had a nice walkabout in the train station neighborhood. 

Then a very late lunch – which will suffice for dinner – more looking out the window and napping. 

We just arrived in Colorado. Where we are going about 3 miles per hour. Seems like there are “signal problems.” 

Chicago mid afternoon tomorrow. Then on the  Capital Limited at 6ish in the evening for the last night away from The Asylum.

Can not say that I am all that excited about getting back. Time to find another trip to take.

I completely enjoyed my time on the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. It is just a big hole in the ground. But, it is a really fine big hole.

And then it was back on the shuttle to Flagstaff. And, my hotel room over the saloon. Actually over 3 saloons and under the “Zane Grey Ballroom and Bar”. It seems like it is going to be a fine place for the night. It is only 10 minutes from the RR Station. I’ll be leaving at 0500 hours for the station and the manager said it would try to remember to set the coffee to be ready 0500. 

I stashed my stuff in my room and went walkabout. Flagstaff is a great little town. With lots of my favorite things.

Now that it is dark outside – think I’ll go check on the nightlife. Well, the very early in the evening life. Don’t think 7PM is “nightlife”.

 

I made it up in time for sunrise. And, a little 7 mile walk/hike seem like a good idea.

The mule was going down to phantom ranch at the bottom. I am going to hermit’s rest. Which is mostly flat and you are never more than a mile from a bus.

Lots of trees, ravens, elk scat, snow,ice, mud, great views and almost no people.

Carlton would have hated the trip. It costs too much. It wasn’t easy getting here. I ate in restaurants. And went on a bus tour. But, I am pretty sure he is happy that I made the trip. But I am dam glad that I don’t have to turn in an expense report on the trip to him.

After my long day, l am staying in tonight and will have a granola bar for dinner. 

Back on the bus to Flagstaff at 10 tomorrow. 

This was supposed to be a rest day for me. Well, the Fitbit says 6 miles. The legs sày climbing.The lungs say 7,000 plus feet. 

It started out easy with a bus tour. Then a little 2 mile stroll that got out of hand.

The weather is chilly but interesting. There has been unlimited sunshine. The wind is what makes it really unfriendly. I am glad that I got to see the snow. 

I took lots of pictures today, but not with the phone.  

And, frankly, I am too tired to pair the camera and Shamu the Phone to transfer some images to Shamu. I am too tired to do much of anything. Think I’ll make a cup of coffee and hop in bed. 

Photos when connectivity returns. 

This is what I see when I wake up this morning. People hopping in the snow.

Soon enough, I am one of the people in the snow. And it is 6 degrees. By and by, the shuttle bus arrives and in a couple of hours, I am at the Grand canyon, enjoying a massive breakfast. Have to be all fueled up to brave the cold. 

I put on all my clothes and out I went. 

Crappy connection. No surprise

I’ll post this and try to edit the post. It might be ugly. 

Well there just isn’t enough signal to post the last picture. 

So far so good. It is really cold. And connectivity is crappy. But the vistas are great, there are stars, my room is fine, the food is great.  If it doesn’t get colder than today, it will be all good. 

At 2:30AM, I can upload the last picture. 

It was an action packed day. Plane, 4, busses, 2 trolleys and 2 trains. Fitbit says 6.35 miles. And now I am on the train in LA, waiting for the bar car to open. 

Almost out of battery. So, that’s it for today.

Nice surprise – friend Billy called at 6am and hauled me for one last beach walk, talk and coffee. 

I have since then attended to to mail and donate piles. And the trash, pack, leave piles are 95% done.

I just finished off the last of my food – a peanut butter and banana sandwich. 

All the travel documents have been printed. And the toys are being charged. All the empty spots in my luggage have been filled with my favorite granola bars. Plenty of audiobooks and Kindle books are downloaded and there are a couple of 1950s sci-fi movies on the iPad. If I am bored – it will be because a Carrington like event. 

Here is the plan: Fly out at 9:45 to LA. Fly LA to San Diego. Train back to LA. (don’t ask. plane ticket craziness.) Train to Flagstaff. Bus to Grand Canyon. 3 nights in Grand Canyon. Bus to Flagstaff. Overnight over a saloon. Train to Chicago. Train to DC. Metro. Bus. Walk. Home. 4PM March 7. The Goddess willing. 

The Blog will be updated as often as connectivity permits. I think that even cell is iffy in Grand Canyon. 

Time to charge up the Airness…

It was all downhill from breakfast. Time to get serious about leaving – in about 25 hours from now I should be heading out of the hotel. 

How hard can it be. Five piles: Trash, donate, mail, take, leave. Somehow, I am managing to make a production out of it. 

When I called a halt to the breaking camp madness – I was bored. I am never bored. I consider boredom a character defect. So, I cleared the images off my phone. Now I have room for trip photos. And, I looked in the “Happy Stuff Folder” on my computer.

Where I found this picture of Carlton.

And, I one of my Facebook friends posted this – in total seriousness. 

You know what? I have been trying to DO reincarnation for the longest time! I just can not seem to get the hang of it! Fortune Cookies??? Fortune Cookies??? Really. 

Needless to say, I am over being bored. 

Seriously cloudy today. But that didn’t stop the early morning swimmers. 

Every Saturday, old dudes bring their old cars to breakfast at the hotel. 

The nice shiny cars and trucks provide fun opportunities for selfies. I figure if I ever want to replace Mr C – this would be a good place to hunt for a man. They are age appropriate and know how to take care of old equipment… But, I am so not in the market…

Working on those five piles:  trash, donate, mail home, take home and leave here. 

Checking the weather in Flagstaff and Grand Canyon. Much snow on Monday and Tuesday in both places. Seriously cold on Wednesday – when I arrive. The just plain old cold for the rest of the time – I’ll leave at 5:30 AM on Sunday. 60° and sunny in San Diego. I’ll spend about 6 hours there, before catching the train to Flagstaff.

I thought Wednesday was the last cruise ship day. And today the Westerdam showed up. It is 833 feet long and with 1800 passengers and 800 crew.

The little boat behind is the Safari Explorer, 145 feet, 36 passengers and 16 crew. 

I did “spring” into action. I am starting to break camp. I divided my stuff into 5 piles:

• Trash
• Donate
• Send Home
• Take Home
• Leave Here

Yesterday, I addressed the hardest “trash” issue. What to do with the “Carlton Dust”. Regular readers will remember that Carlton was a “member” of the 2016 Class at Georgetown Medical School. Mr C came back from Georgetown in a heavy plastic bag in a sturdy black plastic box. The plastic box came to Kona via UPS with my wetsuit. I put most of the ashes in the Bay next to a fine fat puhi at 19°38’21” N 155°59’40” W back in November. But, the box and bag were dusty. With “Carlton dust”. The box and bag have been in my room. Waiting on me to “do something”.  It didn’t see too respectful to just toss those dusty containers in the dumpster. It didn’t seem right to rinse them out in the bathroom, either. So, yesterday morning, down to the bay.. for one last swish of ocean. Today, I took the label off and pitched the containers. 

A friend told me today that he still had those dusty boxes from his Mom and Dad. Grateful, I had the ocean for my little “purification ritual”. 

BTW: when I checked on the temperature in Grand Canyon it was 18° at 9AM canyon time. Went to the thrift shop and added a fleecy vest to my travel gear! The Grand Canyon detour might not be the best idea I ever had… Oh well, whatever happens is what I planned.

Today, very little was done getting ready to go back east. Today was about swimming.

My best find was a fine occupied conch shell. 

I didn’t have to bother it to know that it was still very much alive – it was hanging on to coral. 

Longnose butterflyfish are always fun.