she left for the train station.
(Photo © J. Maus)
The first leg of my journey begins this afternoon, barring any delays on Amtrak (that’s been known to happen before).
I’ll be on the Empire Builder to Chicago for two nights, and then spend a third night on a less cushy train to DC. It will be nice to have a break from email, phone calls, the internet, and just about everything for a few days — though it would be nicer if it weren’t quite that long.
And who knows, maybe a few years from now it won’t be. There is plenty of speculation about an Obama administration’s support for a national high speed rail network, perhaps as part of the forthcoming economic stimulus package.
The first time I rode the train across the country I was 19. My mom had given me James Howard Kunstler‘s The Geography of Nowhere, and I spent much of the ride sitting in the viewing car, alternately reading the book and looking out the window at examples of the shifting rural and suburban geography Kunstler describes in the book. The experience definitely changed the way I see the world.
This time around, one of my projects for the train is to write a letter to the Obama transition team about my perspective on livable streets and transportation issues. I’m hoping the passing view into back yards, industrial areas, run down city outskirts, and small farms is just as inspiring now as it was a decade ago.
— Follow Elly’s trip on the Elly’s East Coast Tour page