The other side of the sign
At long last, here’s the other side of that trail marker sign from Wyoming. Now wasn’t that worth waiting for? I thought so. Just remember, you asked for it.
I’m delighted to report that we have a new Loyal Reader! Please join me in a Very Special Morrowlife Welcome to Carl, my new Loyal Reader Number Fourteen. Carl’s an old friend from San Diego days, although he actually lived in the Cleveland area all that time. We saw each other frequently back in those days and I’m really glad we’ve gotten back in touch. Welcome, LRN14! Email me a picture of yourself if you like, and it will be featured prominently in this location on your own Very Special Morrowlife Day. What a thing that will be.
Another flawlessly beautiful day in both the bay area and the Secret Undisclosed Location. It was a little bit warmer today, but still nothing approaching uncomfortable. Heaven forfend.
I’m still trying to figure out how my Wednesday evening meeting schedule works. I showed up last night at the Court of Honor ready to stay afterwards for the 8:30 meeting, only to find out it was cancelled because yesterday was a fifth Wednesday. No complaints, of course, and I didn’t make a special trip over there. I guess the drill is that we have PEC on the first through third weeks and home visits the fourth week. Fifth weeks are Special Bonus Free Days. Cool.
Loyal Readers One, Two, and Four went to a railroad museum and Jelly Belly factory tour today. They were with a homeschooling group of some description. LRN4 told me the railroad museum was small but interesting. They took a short, bumpy ride on a little electric train. The Museum People were a little embarrassed by the bumpiness of the trip and expressed their hopes that it won’t shade their passengers’ attitude toward train travel. That must have been quite the bumpy ride. The jellybean factory was kind of a canned event, but they at least got some free candy out of it. All in all, they don’t regret going.
I forgot to mention earlier – America held hostage, day I-don’t-know-how-many. That’s right, there’s still no WiFi on the train. Maybe next week. My train-riding colleague tells me he spoke with a guy who knows a guy who knows a guy who works for the railroad. He heard that the guy who was supposed to install the system in the train quit, and his replacement knows what the word “WiFi” means and not much more, so the system is pretty much indefinitely delayed (link warning: very slow to load and not really all that interesting either). Maybe Loyal Readers One, Two and I really should bid on that contract.
On the other hand, it’s nice to be back on the train after four consecutive workdays of driving. Sure, I’m getting there a little bit later, but I’m a whole lot more relaxed. Interestingly, I concentrate a lot more on the podcasts when I’m in the car than when I’m on the train. I suppose there’s nothing much else to concentrate on (other than the traffic, of course, but who needs to pay attention to that?). I learn more in the car, but I do more on the train.
There’s certainly some beautiful scenery along the tracks. There are also some pretty pathetic-looking houses. I’ll have to bring a camera along one day soon and snap some Blog Fodder. One of the more interesting things about the ride is that there are a couple of tunnels – a long one and a short one. The long one lasts a minute or so (maybe I’ll time it today) and the train sways back and forth like a rowboat in the ocean practically the whole way through. I guess it’s too dark in there for the Railroad People to work on the tracks. Strange coincidence – we just went through the long tunnel! It took almost exactly two minutes. That’s a function of our speed, of course, which varies widely from day to day. I’ll have to start keeping track of the Tunnel Time. Sounds like fascinating research.
It’s the last day of August! My, how this month flew by. I’m hoping to finally get another home teaching assignment during September. I miss having somebody to visit.
Well, that’s about it for today. See you tomorrow for the Exciting Week-Wrapup Post.