...still haven't slept yet...

41 hours....

Hour 1: 3:30-4:30pm

Stops: Pamona, CA, Ontario, CA
Soundtrack: Mirah

Family of 4 behind me. Two adult women, a sulking teenager and a toddler. As we were first leaving LA, whimpering and sniffling was audible from the teenager's direction.

Older of the two adult women: "What's a matter? Is this cause LC didn't call?"
Teenager (indignant and crying): "NO! My stomach just hurts, that's all. I don't *care* about LC!"
Silence.

An Amtrak employee comes around take reservations for dinner. He eyes my open package of sliced cheese and my bag of rice thins and says, "That won't last too long, when that runs out you call me." He winks. I smile. The family confirms they will dine at 5:00.

Outside the window: dusty, snowless mountains. Industrial/residential. A young couple making out next the train tracks.

Hour 9: 1:24am

Stop: Maricopa, AZ
Soundtrack: Iron and Wine

Sillouetted mountains behind white sand and dry brush, sit under stars and more sky than I have seen in a long time. It's getting flatter. It is the middle of the night.

Tuna, cheese and rice crackers. A movie on my laptop. A call from my sister and a call made home. Familiar voices. Gentle constant reminders that, yes, I am still crazy. Brief sleep. Hopefully more. Perhaps a nightcap.

Hour 19: 10:53am

Stop: El Paso, TX
Soundtrack: Wilco

Cotton fields. So much sky. Cotton clouds to match. I have always loved long car/train rides. As the middle child, I got the right side window seat in the back. I would stare for hours and daydream. Sometimes music in my ears..sometimes not. My parents would have to check if I was still there. Something about the movement and then side scrolling scenery, regardless of what it was, rendered me dumb, helpless to the whim of my imagination. I do some of my best thinking, goal-setting and fantasizing while gazing out the window of a moving vehicle.

Rocky dusty brush. Instant french vanilla coffee. Peanut butter crunchy oat bar. Goal-setting. I shall assemble a band when I get to Austin. I am excited.

*** that's all I managed to write on the train.*** xxx-g