Spring and the Moon of Liberation

Friday gratefuls: Lidocaine patch. Amtrak. Honeybee rides. Waking up at 5. Shower. Finishing last of the packing. Some coffee. Then in the car. A true start to the trip. That first transport. Breakfast at Union Station at Snooze. Boarded train on time. Overcoming inertia.

Sparks of Joy and Awe: Train in the Rockies

One brief shining: The fork at Snooze had curved tines, used them to pick up delicious chunks of corn beef, hash browns, washed down with a Blackberry Limeade, just right; after I sat on the traditional railroad benches, sooo uncomfortable.

Boarded on time, but left about 20 minutes late. I’m in my roomette,#21 on car 540. On this part of the trip I face south. Well, my window faces south. I actually face in the direction of travel. Right now, west.
We’ve been rolling now for an hour and a half. A long stretch out of Denver went north, then a wide sweeping turn found us inching up a grade, slow into the Front Range. We’ve been in the Mountains for a long while now. Passing through, on my side, walls of Rock, 17 tunnels, and lots of Evergreen. Some Snow remains, patches on the northern slopes which are out my south facing window.
Wherever we are now Winter remains. Deep Snow. Probably near a ski town. As we rode through the Denver metro, the dogwoods were in bloom. The yards were green. Spring had taken over. Not up here. However high we are.
Though the Creek running along side the tracks is full, not frozen. Something’s melting somewhere.
Snow topped Mountain Peaks, a fast running Mountain Stream, a herd of Elk, still in Colorado for sure. Guess we’re near Steamboat.
9,200 feet they just said. Only 400 higher than me. We’re in a really long tunnel right now.

My apprehension has now turned to observation. Using the p.t. exercises, the lidocaine patch, sitting down. So far not impossible. Struggled with my suitcase up the stairs to the level of the rooms. Expected that.
A really, really long tunnel.
The journey. The ancientrail of travel, of the Fool’s path. Something I need every once in a while. This may be a good alternative. Lower to the ground, no long airport walks. Slower. Which I like.

I’m using my laptop keyboard. Didn’t want to pack my ergonomic keyboard because I’m carrying rather than checking my bag. It’s heavy. Right now I’m finding this keyboard mostly ok. To my surprise. A pleasant surprise.
Writing on the tray table.
This is a very long tunnel. Did I mention that? I think I heard 9 miles long. We’ve been dark for a while.
Lunch is at noon. First come, first served. May skip. Probably got my day’s calories at breakfast.
Out of the tunnel at Winter Park near Granby where Rabbi Jamie sometimes lives. Got a quick photograph of a lift.
So far, so far. Still many miles to go. And I’m glad.

Spring and the Moon of Liberation

Sabbath gratefuls: Sleep. Ibuprofen. Lidocaine. Dennis. Roomette #21. Northern Nevada. Salt Lake City at midnight. Thin milk Sky with Great Sol riding the Southern passage. Snowy Mountain Peaks just beyond I-80. Greening landscape. Mesquite and Scrub grass. Breakfast between Battle Mountain and Winnemucca.

Sparks of Joy and Awe: Vacating ahead of another 16 inches or so of Snow

One brief shining: Roomettes are small, but private, two seats, two nighttime beds, an outlet on the wall, only one, designed before personal electronics became more and more of our lives, most important a large window, a porthole as this long metal passenger ship presses its bulk forward, in this case to the Ocean, the wide Pacific and its bays in California.

Woke up around 5 am after off and on sleep until I took an ibuprofen, previously forbidden to me. Kidney disease. Since my labs have indicated no kidney disease for the last three years-it’s a mystery, Sue decided I could chance the occasional dose when things were, well, not good.
Trying to sleep last night as my hip said, hey, I’m here! I’m here, I reached a point where things were not good. Pain made it hard to sleep longer than an hour. So I reached for my first nsaid in many years.
Hammered that pain back into the hole it crawled out of. I didn’t feel bad. I’ve done p.t., which helps. Used the lidocaine patch, but 12 hours on, twelve hours off. Tried acupuncture, no relief. Seen a physiastrist. Increased my resistance work to strengthen my legs and core.
Two nsaid’s? NBD. Now that I know how much more effective they are than acetamenophin for back pain, I’m going to press for greater clarity about kidney disease.
All in all though, painful moments have not prevented me from boarding the train, walking around, going on vacation. Mixed conclusion, but right now travel trumps pain.
Part of the trick is to avoid over stressing my back. I did that yesterday walking around Union Station and to the train itself. Had I been a bit more circumspect I may not have had the pain I did. Learning curve

Yesterday the route of the California Zephyr followed the Colorado River for a long way. As I watched its muddy, ordinary flow, I wondered how something so mundane could be so important to millions of people. It is. The Water that flowed toward the Baja collects and channels Snow melt from Mountain Tops and Valley Floors, rushing it on south toward Las Vegas, Phoenix, even Los Angeles. Agriculture is the largest user though, not metro areas. Setting up a current struggle between population focal points and fields.

Just a moment: Student protests. Then and now. This 77 year old veteran of the war against the war knows the power and the fury of going over against the war machine. Against death from the Sky, death decreed by old white men, usually, too often, the death of those seen as other, be they North Vietnamese or Palestinians.
Yet this time. Anti-semitism is in the mix. Hard.