Quantico #SkywatchFriday #AtoZChallenge

Several times now, I have traveled on the Auto Train, a daily train that runs from Lorton, Virginia to Sanford, Florida (near Orlando).  This year spouse and I made the round trip from Lorton to Sanford and back again in January.

At the southbound beginningwe pass over the Potomac River, and through a Marine military base called Quantico.  On the way back from Florida to Virginia the sun has usually already risen.  But our train was so early, the sun was starting to rise as we approached Quantico.

Things are a little blurry and there are reflections, as I am taking pictures through a moving train's window.

As the sun continued to rise you could see the first buildings of Marine base Quantico.

One last picture.

Do you like to take pictures from planes, trains, or automobiles?

Join Yogi and other bloggers who watch the sky each Friday on #SkywatchFriday.

"Q" day on the #AtoZ Challenge.

Place and Patience #AtoZChallenge

Today, I am blogging about two Places - the bookends of my life up to now, in a way.

My backyard is popping with spring.  Sometimes plants can literally pop up overnight, as these bloodroots can.

 Soon, they will be gone, replaced by other flowers and plants in the Parade of spring.

And there's my trillium.  I bought this plant five years ago. Trilliums, which produce one flower in early spring and then go dormant for the rest of the year, take years to be of blooming size.  One thing you need to grow trilliums is Patience.

The first three years there was no sign of a flower.    Last year, there was a flower bud but it never opened.  I figured "this is the year!"But spring 2019 had arrived, the plant wasn't coming up and I feared it had winter killed, just like  number of my other herbs and plants did.  It wasn't the harshest winter ever but something wasn't right for my garden.

So last night I walked in my yard after work and - there it was, leaves and flower bud at the ready!

Patience....

Which brings me to the other bookend of my life - my childhood neighborhood.

Not too many people can say that they can jump on You Tube and see lots of pictures of their childhood neighborhood.

I am one of those who can, and it's partially because I grew up near a train station in the Bronx (a borough of New York City).  Actually, make that three train stations.

First- a stop on what was once called the Pennsylvania Railroad, then became Penn Central, and finally MetroNorth.

Then, there was the Third Avenue El, which ceased to exist in 1973.  The tracks were torn down soon after but I grew up listening to the screeching of elevated trains rounding a curve.  That sound was not disruptive but, rather, soothing.  Although the train ceased operation in 1973 it remains forever in my memory.

The video above details the last train station which I used all through the first 21 years of my life, Gun Hill Road. If you look to the left about 0:25 of the video, you will see several tall buildings.  Those are part of the housing project where I grew up.

If you look at 2:32 of the above video you will get a glimpse of the neighborhood I grew up in through the windows of the train.

Another video from You Tube; one I used several years ago on my blog. This still is the Immaculate Conception Church.  I used to hang around this church (very beginning of the video) with friends. Sometimes, if there was a wedding, they would allow us to throw rice at the happy couple.

Many of the buildings in this video existed when I was growing up.  The neighborhood has changed greatly, but the buildings (in a way) remain the same.  Just much, much older.

I am amazed at the numbers of fans of trains who post videos on You Tube.  But to my surprise, there's even more.  I grew up across the street from a fire engine company.  They would have open houses and I can remember visiting the station as a child.  They even had a Dalmatian.

Their sirens, when they woke me up at night, reassured me.  They never bothered me at all.

So, imagine my surprise when I found videos of that fire station in action.   There are others but I liked some of the views of the fire station I remember from some 60 years ago.

A Pizza Parlor from my later childhood still exists, in a neighborhood that has changed so much. It started its downhill slide around 1968, perhaps a little earlier.  Many People are working to bring this Part of the Bronx back - people with love of Place, Plus Perseverance and Patience.

Thinking of growing up in the Bronx brings back so many memories and feelings - a Plethora of memories, perhaps.

Can you see pictures of your birthplace on You Tube?

"P" day on the Blogging from A to Z Challenge. My theme - Finding America through Photos.

The Tropicana Train - Music Monday #AtoZChallenge

It's been a while since I've blogged about my love of trains.

I grew up in New York City, and rode the New York subways many times.  Later in life, I was able to take a passenger train occasionally, such as the Autotrain, which runs nonstop between Lorton, Virginia and Sanford, Florida (near Orlando), a distance of approximately 900 miles (about 1450 km).

Auto Train poster in Sanford, Florida, 2013

To ride the Auto Train, you must have a vehicle with you.  The vehicles ride in special transit cars while you ride in comfort for (hopefully) the 16 hour trip.

On my trips on the Auto Train, there is one beautiful small town that I fell in love with from the first time I passed through on the train - Ashland, Virginia. 

The train tracks run down the center of town and you get a wonderful view of Railroad Avenue as you pass through the border of a college, a commercial district, and then residential homes.

But I had never seen the town, except from the train.  So, recently, I traveled to Ashland, VA to change that.

A downtown mural, Ashland, Virginia

Ashland calls itself "The Center of the Universe". I don't know about that, but it is an interesting small college town and what is called a "train town".  Yes, the trains run down the middle of the street several times a day.  Some stop.  Some don't. 

Some of the homes you will see if you ride the train through Ashland.

The train station, which doubles as the Ashland visitor center.

A train went through minutes after we arrived at the station.  Part of what the train was hauling was empty Tropicana orange juice train cars.  They fill up in Florida, and return, in what is called the "Tropicana Train".

Another view of the train.

I took this short video of the train coming.

You might say it was a Long Train Runnin'.(Thank you, Doobie Brothers.)

"T" on the Blogging from A to Z Challenge as I "travel through time and space".

Civil War Sunday - Does Anyone Know What Time it Is?

At 2am today, most parts of the United States suddenly lost an hour.  The clocks moved to 3am, and we (except for night workers and late partiers) slept on.  In the mornings may of us felt disoriented as the sunshine outside did not match up to the sun. Now, as I write this close to 6pm in upstate New York, it looks like there is too much light out there.  I'll feel out of balance for another day or so, and I am not the only person.

In fact, more and more of us ask - why do we do this, anyway?

This is the day we in the United States (except in Arizona, Hawaii and some territories and possessions such as Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands) go on Daylight Savings Time.  "Spring ahead, fall back" we remind ourselves. (We will get the "lost" hour back at 2am on November 2, fear not.)

But never mind Daylight Savings Time.  Did you know there was a time when there were no standardized time zones in the United States?  And, that the Civil War was fought during that era?

As important as railroads were to the fighting of the Civil War, even the railroads hadn't yet found a way around coping with possibly up to 8,000 - yes, 8,000 - time zones in the United States. Local cities and towns set their own time, depending on the height of the sun in the sky to tell them when high noon was.  So, New York City might be on a different time than a city an hour away by train.  Just think of writing schedules, when every city had its own version of what time it was.

Each city and town having its own time worked when transportation was by walking or traveling by horse.  But, trains could run much faster.  And, I found something interesting online - a map from 1861, published two months after the Civil War began - something called "Lloyd's Americn Railroad Map, Showing the Whole Seat of War." 

On the map is a device called a Time Dial, which the railroads used to try to keep track of all those different local times, at least for 28 different cities.

Who said people in the 1860's weren't high tech?

Even the Civil War couldn't standardize time.  I had a brief taste of this kind of non-standardization for several years where my spouse and I traveled through Indiana on occasion.  Part of Indiana is on Eastern time. Part is on Central time.  Part was on Daylight time.  Part wasn't. 

Time wove back and forth and back and forth as we traveled from county to county. If we got out of your car to get gas, it was our best guess (in these days before Internet and cell phones) if we were on the same time as our last stop, an hour ahead, an hour behind, or even, the dreaded two hours behind.  (This situation was somewhat fixed in 2006).

Meanwhile, back to the 1800's. The railroads finally decided, in 1883, that they had had enough of local time. If the government wasn't going to standardize time, they would.  And so, on November 18, 1883, nearly twenty years after the Civil War ended, American and Canadian railroads started to use four standard time zones in the continental United States and Canada.  Municipalities and states followed.  And that is why we have "Standard" time zones even today.

Does your county or country go on Daylight Savings Time?

The Amtrak Snack Guy

One of my co worker's daughters has taken several train trips from her home in California back home to the Binghamton area (a little difficult, as Binghamton hasn't had train service in many years).  In fact, it's been my dream to travel by train coast to coast - I only wish Amtrak had a coast to coast Auto Train, the way it does for travel from Northern Virginia to central Florida. I've taken the Auto Train several times, and I've loved each experience.

I love a blogger by the name of Michelle Shaeffer.  She's the real deal, and although I am not a business blogger, I admire her for what she does and also admire the honest way she presents herself.  Michelle also co-hosts the quarter blogging challenge called the Ultimate Blog Challenge. I've done the Challenge several times and highly recommend it.

Now, imagine yourself on a train in California (or anywhere else), traveling with three children.

The scenery rolls by, but, to a child, scenery only stays interesting for so long.  And, anyone whose been a parent knows that a hungry child is a cranky child.  And, if you sleep in coach, you don't sleep very well.  You barely remember where the dining car is.  You need coffee, STAT!

Enter:  The Amtrak Snack Guy!

Since I read Michelle's article, I'm wondering who this man selling snacks on a California train is.  Turns out there are at least a couple of Amtrak "snack guys".

There's the famous (and I hope, not unemployed) Marty Schall, "snack guy" on the Amtrak Hiawatha between Milwaukee and Chicago, whose job was cut, sadly, last July.  His customers even launched a Facebook page to try to save his job. I wasn't able to find any recent news about him.  Does anyone know his fate?

This gentleman is on a California train, sings to the passengers, and is also a master salesman.

These snack guys (any snack gals out there?) obviously love their jobs, and they obviously sell those snacks.

What a wonderful thing, to spread joy as you work.

Now I really want to get on a train again!  This weekend is the first anniversary of the last trip I took on the Auto Train, and I had promised you, my readers, a post last year. Perhaps later this year.

Do you enjoy train travel?

Train Travel Magic

 I love train travel.  I am not a railfan but I've ridden many trains in my life - mostly, the New York City subway system, but also the Long Island Railroad, and PATH (a commuter train that travels between Manhattan and New Jersey).  I traveled once on the late Atlantic Coast Line railroad (connected New York with Florida), and have traveled several times, most recently this past March, on Amtrak's Auto Train between northern Virginia and Sanford, Florida.  Eventually, I hope to ride a train across the United States or even Canada - that planning, though, is in its early stages.

When you travel on a train, you see the country in a way totally different from a car (even on local roads) or from 35,000. feet. It is just, for many of us, a special experience.

I love the sounds and motions of the train. I find them soothing.  Others enjoy the opportunity to make new friends, to socialize, and to be treated to excellent service (at least on the Auto Train, I have seen many examples of caring, patient service on the part of the Amtrak employees).  In some ways, it is a window to a time past.  We can get their quicker, but we make the slower decision on purpose.

My sister in law travels, a lot, on Metro-North trains between her home in the New York suburbs and Grand Central Station in midtown Manhattan.  She attends a lot of cultural events in the city.  My spouse and I have joined her twice to sightsee and shop.  It's an enjoyable trip-it even travels through the neighborhood in the Bronx where I grew up in.

Train travel in the United States  is normally quite safe. But, as demonstrated today, with a Metro North Hudson Line train traveling between Poughkeepsie, New York and Grand Central Station derailing in the Bronx, it can be dangerous.  Of some 100 people on the train, some 63 were injured - four fatally.  If this had happened on a weekday, and not on a Sunday, this toll would have been higher, perhaps much higher.

My heart goes out to the survivors, and the families, and all those who use this train to commute to and from work.  Tomorrow will be a stressful day for many.

The Hudson Line travels through some very scenic areas of the Hudson Valley - and, if you have a few minutes, please treat yourself to some fall foliage video of the Hudson Line - taken not that long ago.  So many people think of New York State as one huge New York City.  It isn't.

There's been talk, although not recently, of building light rail service from Binghamton, New York, where I work, into New York City, through Scranton, Pennsylvania. We lost our Amtrak service many years ago.  The way it looks now, it will never return.

But a part of me hopes for train travel to come back to Binghamton. We need some train romance here.  Maybe one day...

Do you enjoy train travel?

Sustainable Saturday - Sustainable Travel

How do Americans get to work? It would be no surprise to most if I told you it was by car, driving alone.  However, in New York, some 28% of people take mass transit - buses or trains.  When I lived in New York City, I took a bus to college, and took subways to summer jobs and to get to Manhattan.  In my childhood, a car ride (my parents did not own a car, which was not uncommon in New York City back in the 1950's and 1960's) was a luxury.  I learned to walk and use mass transit, and walking has remained an important part of my life. (Full disclosure, I take the bus to my job in downtown Binghamton, New York).

In a sustainable lifestyle, we want to use the most efficient/safe mode of transportation, whenever possible, as far as "miles per gallon" of fuel-including food, for human-powered transportation.  As it happens, the most efficient use of fuel is made by riding a bicycle. 

Those who believe in sustainable living do think about their driving, and many do try to use more ecology-friendly modes of transportation.  In most parts of the United States, though, it is very difficult (if not impossible) to live without a car.

This may eventually change - people of my son's generation drive less than my generation.


Although most ecology-friendly modes of transport are safer than car travel, accidents do happen, sometimes with disastrous results.  There are many debates about the safest mode of transportation, but it may well be taking the bus. (The same website states that motorcycle transport is the most dangerous.)  When trains crash though, you have hundreds of passengers involved.

Which is what happened yesterday when two commuter trains, one coming from New York City and and one traveling to New York City, wrecked in Connecticut during the evening rush hour.  One train derailed, swung to the left, and swiped the other train.  Between the two trains there were about 700 people on board.  Miraculously, no one was killed, but 72 people were hospitalized, 2 still in critical condition tonight.  The tracks were damaged, too, and there is no alternate way to get these Connecticut commuters to New York City.

They could drive, which is not something anyone wants to do in midtown Manhattan on a weekday (even if you had a place to park, which is unlikely.)

Train travel from New York to Boston is suspended, possibly for the next 10 days.

And, in one more twist of modern life - I did not hear about this crash until today, because I was watching network TV last night.  If I had been on my computer, I would have learned about it from Twitter, with crash survivors tweeting from the scene.

Do you have access to mass transit?  Or, are you able to walk or bicycle where you live?  Or, do you have to totally depend on your car?

Fall Fancies - Electric Trains and Erector Sets

In downtown Binghamton, New York there is a small antiques store called Midtown Antiques.  Yesterday, when I passed by their storefront window, I saw someone setting up an electric train display.

Today, the set up was complete.

How many children through the years have wished for electric train sets for Christmas?  I suspect not too many children do so today, but when my spouse was growing up, almost every child longed for one.

What would he have done if he had found this under his tree?

Years ago, there was a man in Johnson City, New York (just to the west of Binghamton) who had a business in his basement (as I recall) building electric train layouts.  So many times I almost got my spouse one of those sets.  I never did, and I suspect he died years ago.  I tried doing an Internet search - no luck.

There was one other toy in the window that intrigued me - this antique Erector Set. 

Do you remember electric train sets?  Erector sets?

Highs of July 3, 1966

Two things happened on July 3, 1966, during my childhood in New York City.

44 years ago today.  The saying "time flies when you are having fun" gives me chills when I think of things I can remember so well being from so long ago, when I can barely remember what happened last week.

I subscribe to the toilet roll theory of aging-time goes faster as you get to the end of the roll.

Anyway, back to those memories.
First, LaGuardia Airport hit a record high of 107 degrees.

Second, I took my first ever plane trip, to Tampa, Florida, to visit family.  So ironically, I was not in the City by the time the record was broken.  (the record, by the way, still stands.)

I can remember the night before so clearly.  Air conditioning was pretty nonexistent in homes and apartments in those days, and we sweltered.  Boy, did we swelter.  I can still remember that night, between the heat, the suffocating heat, and my combined excitement and apprehension.  (Ironically, 107 degrees on July 3 would not have been a personal record either-that would come in 1980, in a major heatwave in Wichita, KS.)

Air travel was not quite as common in 1966 as it is today.  This was a big deal.  My Dad had flown, back in his World War II days in the Army Air Force.  In fact, he had been an airplane mechanic.

 I seem to recall the flight was on Eastern Airlines.   It was a breakfast flight, as I recall, with a totally tasteless breakfast meal.  But otherwise, the flight stuck in my mind for a number of reasons.

-the airline was happy to have us. We were treated quite nicely.
-I lost my fear of heights that day.  On the other hand, I am more and more a very reluctant air traveler.  It's been years since I've been on a plane.
-I had never been out of the NY metropolitan area, and Tampa...well, it was so different.  It stuck with me for years and years.  I ended up living in Tampa as a young adult, for nearly two years, partially due to the impression it made on me.  I still love being around palm trees and clear blue skies.
-Finally, when we got off the plane (on an exterior staircase thing, whatever they are called) the Florida heat was such a relief - it was cooler than New York!

One other thing I remember-Tampa was on standard time (NYC was on daylight savings time) so we didn't cross a time zone but still lost an hour.

We didn't fly back, because the airlines went on strike on July 8, a day or so before we were supposed to come home.  We ended up taking the train, the Atlantic Coast Line, for my first long distance train travel experience, back to New York City.  (it would take 40 years for me to make my way back to Florida on a train-which I blogged about last year.)

Ironically, the Atlantic Coast Line railroad ceased to exist on July 1, 1967.  Eastern Airlines?  Well that doesn't exist any more either.

But the cousins I visited on that day, they both are still alive, and they both still live in Florida.

As for those impressions of Tampa, so different from New York City?  Those will have to wait for another day.

The Auto Train as Spiritual Journey Last of Three Parts

In 2006, it had been 30 years since I last set foot in Florida.

Now it was time to go back. How much had things changed since I lived in Tampa between 1974 and 1976?

I can remember a lot about what is now called "old Florida" from three visits between 1966 and 1972. I can remember Busch Gardens in Tampa when it was a free brewery tour followed by a free trained parrot show. I can remember Disney World when it first opened (my first visit was 10 months, I believe, after its opening.) and you paid separately for rides.

I can remember riding one of those rides, It's a Small World, when it was at the NY Worlds Fair. In fact, it was part of Disneyworld when the park opened and still operates today: http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/parks/magic-kingdom/attractions/its-a-small-world/

So how did I prepare for this nostalgic visit? By researching it to death. I discovered various Tampa landmarks were gone-Mirabella's, Maas Brothers - and others had been bought up or had name changes - Robinson's. The Tampa skyline definitely was not what it was (or, more like it, what it was not) back in 1976. But absolutely nothing prepared me for what was to come.

And now...how to get to Florida?

I remember seeing ads for the Auto Train in the early 1970's when I still lived in NYC. I think, back then, it was private. I had always been curious about it. So we booked it, myself, my spouse and my 16 year old son-and our 1999 Altima.

Once the train pulled out of the station in Lorton, VA, there was the amazing sense of getting ready to complete a journey that had started in 1966. Thirty years earlier, an Atlantic Coast Line train had brought me home from Tampa, FL during an airplane strike. Once again was the sense of being one with the land we were passing through. The rocking, the train sounds, the whistle blowing. In Fredericksburg, VA we passed near Civil War battlefields we had visited years ago. At Quantico, we went right through the marine base and watched helicopters in flight. We passed over a beautiful lake and had close up views of the countryside. In Richmond, VA we passed so close to a highway we could see the faces of drivers heading in the opposite direction. It was so tempting to wave!

We passed people going home for their supper hour. In one town we passed right down the middle of their main street, with driveways backing right into the path of the train.

Even after darkness fell, and the hours passed, I would peer out the window every time lights and the start of whistleblowing, announced a town. We passed through southern North Carolina as I fell into a fitful sleep. The train seemed to speed up. When a train passed in another direction sometimes it seemed as though the train would rock right off its tracks. Finally, we pulled into a well lit station - our one stop, to change crews and do maintenance only: Florence, South Carolina. We stayed there a while, and then traveled on.

At some point I woke up in time to see a huge, well lit billboard for a Crab Shack on Tybee Island and didn't know if it was part of a dream or not.

The next thing I knew, it was 6am and time for breakfast. I had no idea where I was - it turned out to be southern Georgia.

As darkness made way, my son and I gazed upon a southern greenscape. What a feeling it was to share this with my son, pointing out the southern vegetation and other landmarks as we came across them. How awesome is it to share a piece of your life with your teenage son?

The sun was already so high in the sky as we crossed over the St. Mary's river into Florida, glaring down with the promise of a boiling August Florida day. After breakfast, we slowly wound through Jacksonville, FL. Jacksonville is the largest city (area wise) in the United States and the Auto Train gives a very good view, taking a good 20 minutes to pass through. To my delight I saw names I had not seen in 30 years...Kash and Karry, Winn-Dixie. They had survived the 31 years since I had been last in Jacksonville.

South of Jacksonville, we saw many shade houses, and the conductor announced these were fern growing areas. Certainly nothing you would have seen from the Interstate.

Finally we got to Sanford, and the circle started in 1966 was complete. Well, almost complete. We still needed to get to Tampa. We did end up in Tampa after visiting some other parts of Florida -some of which we knew from 30 years ago, and wanted to share with our son.

And no, we didn't visit any attractions in Orlando. I'm strictly (well, somewhat strictly) an Old Florida type of person.

But other topics call, and - well, this is a ramblin' blog. I'll write about my 2006 visit some more one day soon, I promise.

The Auto Train as Spiritual Journey Part 2

In July of 1966, my father and I flew down to Tampa, Florida to visit family. It was my first "real" trip outside of the general area around my native New York City and my first time on an airplane. We were supposed to fly back home except...the airlines went on strike. Every single one.

My Dad had to get home and get back to work. The way back home turned out to be on an Atlantic Coast Line train. Tampa to NYC. The ride was about 26 hours long.

I was familiar with the NYC subways and had even ridden the Long Island Railroad, but this was something different.

I can still remember portions of the journey 43 years later. A dinner (I remember how expensive the prices seemed), served on china. Many people carrying Atlantic Coast Line bags; how I wish we had bought one. At one point they told people the train was going to split, and if you weren't in the correct car you would end up going somewhere else. But most of all, the scenery stayed with me. When you are on a train, there is an intimacy totally unlike seeing the country from the Interstate. On a train you travel literally through people's back yards. Their everyday lives are yours to observe as you speed past. We traveled through Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina. Rural poverty unfolded around me, almost close enough to touch. It wasn't the war on poverty from television. This was reality.

I don't remember much about the big cities, although I know we later traveled through Baltimore and Philadelphia. It's the countryside I remember. And the countryside that called to me the next time I would travel on a long distance train, 40 years later, back to Florida.

The Auto Train as Spiritual Journey Part 1

Now that spring has come, I can admit that this is actually my second spring of the year.

My first spring was in early March, when spouse and I took the Auto Train to Florida. And, unexpectedly, back again.

For those of you who live on the East Coast and do not enjoy flying, the Auto Train is an alternative. It is an Amtrak train that runs non stop (well, one stop, but not to take on passengers) between Lorton, VA (just south of DC) and Sanford, FL (just north of Orlando). If you are lucky you leave around 4pm (either way) and arrive the next day around 10. In another hour or so, you have your car and you are on your way.

Catches? A couple....
1. You must have a vehicle (doesn't have to be a car-can be a motorcycle, SUV or something large) to ride the Auto Train
2. Planning to sleep? Don't. Expect to be sleep-deprived the next day. Sleep is a bonus. But more on that later.

We have taken 3 trips on the Auto Train. There are some very nice features to it.

1. The sardine-can mentality of the airlines has not hit the Auto Train. You sit two across, and there is a ton of legroom. And, of course, you can move around.
2. Lots more ability to carry luggage on board. There is security, but it is very unobtrusive. To date, we haven't been picked for random searches. On the Lorton end, our car was "sniffed" without us having to get out, my guess was for explosives.
3. Lots of "included in the fare". Free coffee, free water, free fruit (apples, bananas) to munch on, free snacks (a mixture of pretzels, corn chips, cheeze doodles-if you want nutrition there is the fruit) free dinner, free continental breakfast. Free wine with dinner.
4. The crews are very customer service conscious. At least the ones we have traveled with. A lot of snowbirds travel this train and Amtrak is very service conscious on this train.
5. A big plus for us, with apologies to those traveling as families with children - separate cars for family and adults traveling without children. On our first trip, with a 16 year old, we were able to sit in the adult car.
6. There are electric outlets, so you can bring a laptop. A lot of people do that to amuse themselves. There isn't much entertainment, unless you count your fellow passengers as entertainment. Don't depend on the "movie" they advertise-it is in a lounge car, on a small TV screen.

In my next post, more on our travel experiences with the Auto Train, and how I renewed a love relationship with trains that started when I was a young teenager.