On the Coast Starlight, again
I think I’ve remembered most of the important things about riding Amtrak. Like dressing warmly and bringing snacks, as the snack offerings are abysmal. It wasn’t until after I boarded that I recalled Amtrak's habit of riding over the worst rails while you should be sleeping. We’ll see if they do this again. (Not particularly.)
This train seems less crowded than I expected. I thought there were only a few seats left when I finally bought tickets. We’re already to Carquinez Strait, my favorite part of the trip on the bay. Or between the bays. So far I haven’t thought of anything I’ve forgotten. I was thinking of bringing my scarf, but that was a contingency thing. I may miss it tonight, actually.
We’re pulling into Martinez. A place I’ve only been to with K_____. I’m not sure how I would even get here aside from on the train unless I rented a car. There is probably an AC transit bus but it probably takes days.
What I didn’t bring is a book. There was one I was thinking of bringing, but it was rather heavy and I do plan on visiting Powell’s. Possibly tomorrow and certainly on Saturday before I depart.
I don't have WiFi. So of course there’s something I would like to research. Before I left home I determined that the U.S. built about 10,000 Tank Destroyers during WW2 and I’m dying to know how many similar AFVs Germany built. They had tank hunters and an array of assault guns but I suspect the numbers were more modest. The U.S. vehicles were not as good in some important ways, but in other ways they were better. As with destroyers, the IJN had more powerful ships but the USN ships were “good enough” and more numerous. (Ready? It's more complicated than I thought, but the short answer is that I was wrong. The Germans fielded three different classes of armored vehicles besides tanks: 3,535 Panzerjagers; 5,350 Jadpanzers; and about 10,000 StuGs. What makes this confusing is that while all these vehicles had better antitank guns than the USA vehicles, the StuGs in particular were intended for use as assault guns in support of infantry. This is a role the USA tank destroyers also filled, but, aside from the advantages of a turret over pointing the whole vehicle at the target, the USA guns were not as good in this role either. But, the standard M4 Sherman tank, with a 75mm gun, was excellent in the infantry support role, and the version with a 105mm howitzer was even better in the assault role. Only 1,641 of these were manufactured, but the total number of M4 tanks was a staggering 49 thousand and change. )
Also just before I left home I watched a video, a new favorite YouTube historian has produced, about the USS Texas. I’ve written about these antique USN battleships before; they would have been scrapped or used as target ships in the 1940s, as the new battleships joined the fleet, but because there was a war on they were kept in service. The Texas had served with the Royal Navy’s Grand Fleet at the end of the Great War and then went on to provide fire support for the Allied landings at Casa Blanca, Normandy, and the South of France. And then she sailed to the Pacific and did the same thing at Iwo Jima and Okinawa. She even made three Magic Carpet trips after the war bringing soldiers home from the Far East.
And unlike the Nevada and West Virginia, she didn’t require much investment during the war. They added lots of AAA and had to replace her gun barrels because she fired so many rounds at enemy targets. These targets would have included the Panzer concentrations around Caen that were devastated by the naval artillery. To the best of my knowledge this role was not something the USN anticipated before the war.
Thursday
Well, I sort of slept. And breakfast was good. Sat with an older (88) man from Vancouver, BC and we’ve been yakking ever since. Sorted out all the world’s problems and gave each other travel and life advice. He used to sing barbershop but doesn’t read music. Meant to ask him why, but he launched into a story about DC and I forgot. I was no prodigy, but reading music isn’t THAT hard. Why, if music is that important to you, wouldn't you take the time to learn? This would apply to Tori Amos as well.
The train crossed over the Oregon border during breakfast. I even saw what I think was Mt Shasta. I swear I recall waking up in my sleeping car bed well into Oregon but that seems to be impossible. Beats me.
Arriving in Portland the train runs next to the tracks for one of the TriMet MAX LRVs, the one that goes past where I stay. I also noticed the stop for where I was planning to have my vegan pizza dinner that day. I love Portland.
Friday
I’m at my now longtime favorite Fehrenbacker Hof in Goose Hollow for breakfast. This is one of my favorite neighborhoods in the world. Mostly because it reminds me of my college days, though I can’t explain why. Last time I was here the Hof was closed so I had dinner at the place just next door. And that was good too. If I lived in Portland I would spend way too much time here. And it would be more expensive than the Bank Cafe where what little I can order is cheap. Here I want almost everything.
One small complaint/similarity, they are playing music from the ‘60s. A little different music, Credence and Jimi, but still...
Sweet Jesus, I just noticed my computer automatically logged onto their WiFi. Yes!!! I’m home.
My breakfast just arrived and while I was eating they did play a newer song. And then I realized it was from the ‘90s, so, still the better part of three decades old. I’m just particularly sensitive to five decade old songs.
I’m avoiding going to Powell’s until tomorrow after I check my bag at the train station. One, Powell’s is a good thing to do near the train station. Two, it keeps me from getting stuck in a book while I’m here. That would be a waste of a visit, after all.
The air quality is getting even worse back in SF due to the fire. I’m starting to wish I had decided to stay longer, but that gets tricky with the trash situation. Still, breathing is something I enjoy doing.
I need to buy nail clippers (the thing I forgot to pack) so just looked to see where the Walgreen's were. In SF you don’t have to go more than a couple blocks to find a Walgreen's. There’s one two blocks from me and five more within six blocks, maybe more. Here there is one in the entire downtown (west of the river) area. Strange. And it’s not like there are many CVS or RiteAid locations. It’s like all the pharmacies decided to leave this market alone.
Had lunch with D___ and G__ at a brew pub with vegan food. I had heard about the Reuben sandwich so two of us ordered that, and we also shared an order of tacos. Everything was good. Was lovely talking to them again. D___ is retiring from teaching next month so it will be interesting to see how she deals with that.
For dinner I went to Bye and Bye, for a third time. Turns out they also have a vegan Reuben, which I wish I had ordered, but I went with the spaghetti and meatballs instead. No complaints, but it would have been fun to have compared the two Reubens.
I would love to have comparative statistics on construction of buildings of greater than four stories in Portland and SF over the past thirty years. I wouldn’t be surprised if more units were built in Portland. And the ratio of residential to commercial in the two markets would also be interesting. My guess is the ratio of residential would be far higher in Portland.
Saturday
It turns out mid November is a great time to visit Portland. It’s a festival of leaves. Enough are still on the trees to give you the beauty part, but more are on the ground. Today was windy and they were blowing in drifts. And the smell was heavenly.
My pre-train day went pretty well. I had a breakfast snack at Powell’s and lunch at Sizzle Pie. I made a quick trip to the Pearl Hardware Store and bought breathing masks for when I get home, since the smoke has still not cleared. The only down side was that, for the second time, I took the streetcar to the closest stop to Union Station, which is not really the best way to get there. I had to walk blocks out of my way. I think there is a way to do this, but that would require boldly dropping down into streets the destination of which are not obvious. Maybe I should try to do this next time when I’m not actually catching the train.
Powell’s was it’s usual wonderful self. I love that they have these large, formal label/dividers for nearly every philosopher you’ve ever heard of. The selection of Foucault titles was pretty daunting. I couldn’t find anything “about” David Ricardo, but I didn’t look that hard. The area with tables/shelves of featured titles was a little disappointing. I though they would have groupings more to my thinking, but they were mostly groupings convenient to the bookseller. Not that I didn’t find anything I wanted to read. Since size and weight was a primary consideration, I had to pass over some of my first choices, but ended up with Carrie Fisher’s The Princess Diarist. She’s always fun to read.
I had remembered the cafe in Powell’s as being a bit funkier. It was okay, but certainly not as nice as the Hof. Sizzle Pie is great for the pizza but otherwise a pain in the ass. I guess when you stay that busy you don’t have to think about improving things. Not that different than Tartine except that at Tartine I don’t recall my shoes being stuck to the carpet.
Looking out the window at the cafe in Powell’s I noticed a new tall building with four small wind turbines on the roof. I went by and got the name of the company that had worked on that. With luck I can contact them by email and ask some questions. They were spinning like mad today. (No luck.)
Just grabbed a reservation for the last seating at dinner. As I recall, breakfast is awkward as we arrive in Emeryville fairly early. I could be wrong about that but I wouldn't mind having breakfast at home in the morning.
Paragons. Because of C___’s travels in the subcontinent, I’ve been thinking about the Buddha and other paragons. Which got me thinking of Stan Lee: isn’t he a kind of paragon of living a full and productive life? Reaching enlightenment is an achievement, I suppose, but isn’t it also a form of cheating? Penetrating Maya and seeing beyond this reality is like finding the answers to all the quiz questions in the back of the book. What’s more interesting is what people do while playing the game without cheating. This reminds me a bit of that "The Other Side of the Hedge" short story.
How many of the “homeless” would be good monks under different social circumstances? Some of them are of limited intelligence and have emotional issues, so prime candidates for faith. Would a religious structure like that of the Buddhist monks in South and SE Asia provide structure and meaning to their lives? I should ask C___ about this.
With permaculture, what could you do with 40 acres and a mule?
Perhaps one reason I think of Portland as being Midwestern is that two of the terminuses (termini?) of the MAX system are Cleveland and Milwaukee. But then there’s also Beaverton and, my favorite, Clackamas.
For my sins there are a plethora of little kids on this train, and most of them are in my car. I may be spending the night in the lounge car. Or possibly a bathroom. One is having a screaming fit as I type this. Why would so many kids be traveling in mid November? Thanksgiving! Didn’t think of that.
Another interesting meal in the dining car. A couple that had moved from Seattle to a barge in the Netherlands. She had once lived in Noe Valley and he had once lived in the San Fernando Valley. And a younger guy from Sunnyvale. The Silicon Valley. The Valley table.
Sunday
The Princess Diarist. Not her best, but good. She says the elephant in the room was his family or the nature of their relationship, but I think the real elephant was her bipolarity (?) You can’t let that out of the bag and then pretend like you haven’t. The problem isn’t just Harrison, though it probably was him too, but, as she says herself, everything going on in her head.
I’m back in SF, North Beach in fact. It’s smoky but I’m not going to shave my beard if the weather is breaking in a couple days. I didn’t sleep well last night, of course, but I napped for a couple hours after getting home. Now I need to get organized again. Just enough of a trip to get me out of my rut, I hope.
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