The wee Mojave Land Rush!!! And a shout out to Wyoming.

Once upon a time: 

In 1954 Jim's grandfather bought a plot of land out in the Mojave Desert and convinced his son-in-law -- Jim's dad-- to buy an adjacent plot. The properties are north of Palmdale and about 55 miles from home here in Santa Clarita. 

The huge land plots have since been handed down to Jim and his brother, who lives on the East coast.

(I claim the plots are huge but that's cause I grew up on a small island). Truth time: each plot is 2-1/2 acres.

From 1954 till now the two brothers have paid their annual taxes on the land without ever having used it.

In fact there was a question whether they had ever actually seen the land. For sure they knew vaguely where it was located, and both had visited the general area decades ago, but may never have set foot on the actual terra firma.

We planned to rectify this, having discussed the outing for months.

Jim's daughter wanted to accompany us but she had this thing called "work" to occupy her day.

We decided to drive up on a Thursday, June 15 2018. 

Why Thursday? Well that allowed us to put Wednesday evening in the pub to good use firming up our travel plans. 

Thank you Google earth:

Jim started by researching where the plot was located, starting with the property tax bill and ending with images from Google
earth.

The fact that the property is “somewhere near Mojave” was alway a bit vague, but a visit to the Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Land Management website provided the location of it — as State: CA, Meridian: Mount Diablo, Township: 032S-035E, Section: 22,  aliquots: SE1/4NW1/4NE1/4NE1/4.

While that may look like so much Egyptian hieroglyphics, there is some logic to the description. (Logic? U.S. Government? Well, sure, occasionally.)

Surveyed townships are divided into sections, each a square of 640 acres. Each is further divided into four equal squares of 160 acres; those squares divided into four quarters of 40 acres each, then into 
four smaller squares of 10 acres, and finally into four squares of 2-1/2 acres each, the size of the purchased properties

So SE1/4NW1/4NE1/4NE1/4 of Section 22 translates (reading from right to left — alright, so logic gets a bit fuzzy) into the Northeast (upper right) quarter of the section (160 acres), the NorthEast corner (again, upper right) of that quarter (40 acres,) then the NorthWest (upper left) corner of that quarter (10 acres,) and finally the SouthEast (lower right) corner — 2-1/2 acres.

A couple of illustrations might help.

Getting there :

We knew the turnoff was off HWY 14 shortly after you cross over Hwy 58.  From there it was going to be pioneer-style exploration.

Hwy 14 is a busy 2 lane as far as Palmdale / Lancaster.

We know the route well as we usually visit Lancaster once a year for a minor league baseball game with the Lancaster Jethawks. All the pleasure of major league style baseball for a fraction of the cost. An important consideration for those of us now on a fixed income. 😀

Once you pass through the hustle and bustle of Lancaster you very quickly arrive at the fringe of the windmill farms near Tehachapi. The bigger wind-farms are closer to Tehachapi itself, but those along Hwy 14 are big enough too. The area has long been known for its constant winds sweeping through the Tehachapi pass, so that's where you want to put windmills, right?

A short digression: a comment on wind-farms and a critique of CJ Box (a favorite author of mine):

CJ Box is an American author I really enjoy.

Joe Pickett is his Wyoming game warden / detective character. I like old Joe.

I love his expression "Things may get pretty western around here".

Personal disclosure here :

I LOVE WYOMING. Tried to buy mountain land in Centennial,  got very drunk in The Wonder Bar in Casper , met the U.S. Ambassador to Ireland in that same bar, did some fantastic hiking in Tensleep, soaked in the HoBo Hot Springs  in Saratoga. And hope to return to repeat all these things again soon.

I have learned a fair bit from Mr Box:

1. Like when placing your cowboy hat on a table you should always lay it crown down.

2. To look cowboy -- and I have no idea why one would want to unless surrounded by cows, but hey --  you have to wear the uniform:

 CINCH jeans and shirts, SOREL boots and Carhartt outer wear.

(If I had known there was a uniform I'd never have joined).

and

3. The egregious errors of Federal conservation efforts which are blatantly evident to the characters of Mr Box's books, in hindsight.

But in a recent outing Mr. Box allowed Joe Pickett go on a misinformed rant about how California was polluting the beautiful windswept Wyoming landscape with wind-farms because Californian's didn't want wind-farms in their own sight line. This statement is wildly false.

California will exceed Gov Brown's goal of 50 percent renewable energy by 2026 by building wind-farms and solar array farms across the state and still maintain the most beautiful wild spaces throughout its coast line, coastal mountains and the High Sierras.

I suspect wind-farm proliferation in Wyoming is more the result of unbridled capitalist exploitation from within Wyoming than from the desire of Californians to protect their vistas.

OK, back to it: getting there after Hwy 14:

If you look at Google Maps outside of Mojave you can see that old HWY 58 runs straight up from Hwy 14. Of course we didn't take that route.

Instead we crossed over Hwy 58 and exited at the road to California City.

And turn left onto Cache Creek.

Continue till you see this:

Then follow the sign to get your rocks. Oh, and on the way we noted a public service billboard laying out the symptoms of Valley Fever. Nice to know, we thought.

These dirt roads are actually part of an off road network of trails that until I got into the desert I knew nothing about.They are called Off Highway Vehicle Routes, for those wishing to bash around the landscape on four-wheelers and ATVs. The trails are managed and maintained by the US Forest Service. (Our tax dollars doing good work yet again).

When you get to this map

Follow trail marked MK10. The MK stands for Middle Knob Subregion. ( Makes one wonder what is a region if this is a subregion).

Some of these off road trails go for ever:

I mean look at that one it goes to the horizon.

Jim's acreage is visible on the left hand side (LHS) of the first trail photo above (MK10) just below the slightly grey triangle of earth on base of distant mountain.

We drove along MK10 and took what we believed to be the second left turnoff. Which led us eventually to here.

Jim's car couldn't get up this little hill.

Because his sump is hung too low. ( Chinese joke springs to mind but I will resist temptation ).

See sump drag marks on ground. And Jim's SUV is more the grocery-run city type; no four wheel drive.

From here we set out on foot, both of us wearing sandals or flip flops. Because we came prepared.

I find this type of High Desert landscape quite beautiful nowadays. It took a few years for me to appreciate it, but now I see it.

We figure this grove of Joshua Trees is around about where the plot is located.

That's Jim flip-flop hiking through the desert. Being the manly CA cowboy that he is, no concerns about thorns, stones or rattle snakes.

And the next few shots are where we believe the land is:

With the property line being roughly the line of Joshua Trees.

The view in other direction is very Mojave.

Note the peak in the distance. There are a string of these peaks along the backbone of the desert. Due East of Hwy 14 as you drive North. Jim described them as looking like giant ancient dinosaur vertebrae. A great expression, I thought.

We rummaged around for a while, picked up some dirt which Jim put in old glass spice jars to give to his children as evidence of their inheritance. "Some day, children, this will all by yours." 

We also found some desert ordnance. Finding ordnance is still strange to me so I had to photo it.

A dried out example of local flora made me think of the desolation that deserts denote.

But then I checked myself - changed perspective, and looked again.

Beauty truely is in the eye of the beholder. 

Objective met. Photos and dirt in hand, we prepared to leave.

We waved at one of the two neighbors as we passed.

And got a much nicer shot of the old truck as we drove out. Jim, ever the lifelong copy editor, noted that the apostrophe was unnecessary and improperly used.

Mojave:

I had heard about the airplane graveyard here and have wanted to see it for some time.

Worth a drive for sure.

I believe you can tour it nowadays with permission. Time was, reportedly, you could just walk right up and enter.

And once back in the city limits of Mojave, for your evening entertainment we have 

and a bit of desert humor.

`

or

One other billboard outside of town caught our attention, it's located at a big junkyard along Hwy 14. The billboard announced in huge letters "SYPHILIS the Silent Killer". ( Is that what killed the grass in earlier photo ?) It does make one wonder with billboards advertising Valley Fever and Syphilis what exactly is going on in Mojave?

The drive home:

We turned off Hwy14 onto West Palmdale Ave, headed out toward Elizabeth Lake and turned south onto Boquet Canyon Road. This Canyon road is a lovely drive and worthy of reasonable commentary, but that will be a whole other story.

Cole's the LA French Dip Sandwich place for adults and a Camera Show thrown in.

Newhall was looking fine this bright sunny morning as I set off to go to a Camera Show in LA with plans for lunch in Cole's afterward.

I make the same mistake every time I set out. I look at the train schedule and plan trip from Santa Clarita, when my station is actually called Newhall. Result I arrived 30 minutes early for train instead of 15.

Never mind I put the time to good use and got some steps in patrolling the platform. (Knee radius has become a lesser problem for me during the past year, thankfully). ( I spoke too soon here, needed knee surgery in Dec '19)

I love/hate the step counting app on my iPhone. I disappoint myself when I don't reach 10,00 steps daily. Sad how easily manipulated I am by technology.

I am  travelling solo on this trip ... again. Himself, my buddy, couldn't be arsed getting out of bed "early" to join me. I think he is home now pruning his bushes or eyebrows or both. 😂

I am all techno'd up in regards to train tickets, having downloaded the Metrolink ticketing app and bought ticket on my phone. Metrolink App

It's a cool simple App. But for tourists it may be a bit tricky as you have to know the name of the station you are heading to. I wonder how other cities handle this problem. I have used similar app's and services in London and Paris and managed fine, probably because Rick Steve's gives nearest station name in his books. I must check out Lonely Planet and see if they do similar.

The resulting ticket on my phone is this:

The declarative "SENIOR" in the ticket heading is a bit diminishingly invasive don't you think ?

I noticed a couple of things at Newhall again. Firstly the lamp standards are quite beautiful.

Check 'em out on  bottom RHS of photo. (I promise a better photo next time).

Also the old saying "Necessity breeds Invention" came to mind when I saw this.

A commuter in need of a boost discovered :

At the bottom of each of the previously admired lamp standards there are power outlets that someone has ripped the covers off. Making them into freely available charging stations for all and sundry. This partly explains how the homeless people, who are liberally adorned with cell phones, keep them  charged.

It may also explain the strong urine smell by the wall directly behind the "charging station" lamp standard. If I were charging my phone I probably would not leave it unattended to go to the bathroom either. 😖

One possible downside of "getting my steps in" was that I may have been too self absorbed to connect with other platform personnel. There was an overdressed (too warm for a fur coat) homeless lady I considered conversing with but she appeared, sadly, afraid. So I didn't.

I couldn't help but admire all the young boys and girls waiting for the train. (I noticed mostly the girls if I am honest, I think that could be and probably is an inappropriate admission these days. Sorry.).

The good weather brings out the bright colors and summer clothes for the young girls. The boys appear to dress the same winter or summer.

There were amongst them of course some M&M outfits which would have been better left at home. Oh "What's an M&M outfit?" you ask, well the M&M stands for 'No Mother No Mirror", the presence of either of which would have prevented the public display of unflattering clothes and/or skin.

(I must admit I stole and modified that M&M expression from a line in a book I read. Unfortunately I can recall neither the title nor the author. If anyone recognizes the expression I'd love if they would let me know so i can acknowledge their influence. The original expression called it a 3M outfit but I forgot one of the M's )

The Sheriff is on the train:

Once on-board the train I was surprised to find LA County Sheriff folk doing ticket checks. A weirdly productive bit of inter-agency co-operation  I thought.

As usual, being Cops, the ticket checkers had zero personality. They were gruff, impatient, armed to the teeth and unhelpful.

Having grown up in a country where you were encouraged to seek directions from the "boys in blue" it still annoys me when I see cops being rude to citizens.

Maybe the Sheriff's guys are trying to improve their image after all the Lee Baca scandals.

How many other apples in the barrel did that bad apple corrupt?

Is corruption within the Sheriff's Department like pedophilia within the Catholic Church. Widespread, endemic, unacknowledged, forgiven by superiors and hopefully not but probably ongoing?

Union Station (An LA jewel):

The 10 am ish train was fuller than I have recently seen. And  I wasn't the only senior on an outing to LA. (At $7.50 return its cheaper to train than  drive).

We arrived in Union Station without incident. Sitting on the opposite side of the train than previous I saw a lot more beautiful graffiti along the way. I do intend driving down with my camera amd getting some shots if I can find the places. Also saw Michael Connelly homeless villages referenced in his latest brilliant book. I think I may re-read all his work shortly.

After I finish re-reading the Henning Mankell Wallander series.

Union Station is a beautiful spot. Very photogenic itself and surrounded by other equally beautiful LA locations. ( Olvera Street and  Grand Central Market to name just a few)

I took a Lyft to the Camera Show. The show was full of great stuff but in too small a venue. Also I felt totally out of my depth. And how the heck did they get away with having scantily clad female models posing in various booths to help sell camera flashes ? 

It cost me $15 to get in. I left without buying anything with 40 minutes.

Lunch and Libation at Cole's:

I was looking forward to my next stop. Lunch and Libation at Cole's. 

Another inexpensive Lyft and I arrived hungry and thirsty.

Now you have to imagine that ta da music you hear when someone arrives in paradise. That is exactly what I heard when I walked through the doors. 

A real adult persons bar. 

Dark wood walls,  painted ceilings, Naugahyde clad booths and stools, actual brass bars on the bar and not a craft beer in sight.

I expected "Larry the Lounge Lizard" to appear momentarily. Larry The Lounge Lizard

Within minutes I had an Old Fashioned in front of me and a French Dip sandwich in my near future.

The first Old fashioned was made with a Jim Beam bourbon. A bit rough for me. My second was made with Jameson and all together more refined experience. I wont bore you with my complete review of Cole's but you can read it here at your leisure Yelp Review Cole's. Just a heads up from the sandwich to the fries I loved everything.

Of course being two "Old Fashioned" in and full as a tick on 1.5 French Dip sandwiches I left it a little too late for my 2 pm train which I missed by 10 minutes. I am glad I left Cole's though because I might still be drinking there today I enjoyed it that much.

Oh BTW thank you Cole's beautiful barmaid for getting my phone charged. Without it I may have been unable to access my Metrolink ticket app and may have had to buy another ticket.

I had 110  minutes to wait for my next train home but I found a comfortable chair in Union Station and spent the time in freezing cold Sweden with Mankell's Wallander.

Another overheard young girl cell phone drama : 

On return train ride.

I couldn't see who was talking except a glimpse of a manicured toe or two on her left foot. 

In this shrill Reality TV voice she announced to the world that her Granny (Grandmother) had been stealing her money while she lived with her throughout high school. 

This immediately opens up a limitless number of narrative possibilities.  Sadly none of these potential narratives were explored. 

All I learned was that she at one point confronted her Granny about where all her money was.... Granny promptly drags her to the bank and closes a bank account and drops ~1,200 bucks in the young girls purse, announcing here it is. ( I am sure there was an  "And now F. O." there in real life but not shared with us on the train). 

While this was the most money Miss Drama Queen had ever seen it was totally inadequate to meet even  her most minimal wardrobe needs, apparently. 

I think her phone ran out of juice at that point, thankfully, as I overheard nothing else.

Lessons learned on this trip:

Keep your cell phone charged if using the Metrolink App

Take a screenshot of your ticket just in case.

Also Google Blogger can access your photos stored in google photos. When inserting them insert as link. In photos open individual photo, right click it and copy address to clipboard. Then when adding photo in blogger use the "From URL" functionality.

You can't get to Yosemite by train.

Yosemite Valley is the most beautiful place on earth that I have ever visited.

A rain storm passed through Yosemite Valley this weekend in April 2018. Park was closed till Sunday due to flooding. I decided to drive up alone Monday for a few days of photography. And there is the rub, drive up alone. None of the human contact available on a train.

With no people to observe I was limited to places and scenery.

The first noteworthy observation was the water level in Pyramid Lake is practically back to the fullest I have ever seen. I smiled. So good to see that.
Pyramid Lake, CA

Crossing The Grapevine on Hwy 5:

Further up the Grapevine I noticed a bright orange flower coloring the nooks and crannies of the mountain side gullies. CA Poppies In 2017 their appearance was lauded as a rare event. "What's rare is wonderful", and it's back again this year. A beautiful sight to add to many other beautiful CA sights. Images of the bloom

I left Hwy 5 for the 99. The 99 is a little important for me since the first place I lived in CA was Modesto. Modesto is apparently and affectionately known as the armpit of the San Joaquin Valley.

Agriculture:

 San Joaquin Valley The San Joaquin Valley is described on the EPA website as ".....one of the world's most productive agricultural regions". 

I knew this because as a youngster in elementary school in Ireland Ballymackney National School we had learned that the Central Valley of CA was so agriculturally productive it could produce enough food each year to feed the world multiple times over.  

There is another great valley someplace else in the world almost equally productive do you know where ? (email me for answer) As much as two-thirds of this country's surface land consists of the so-called black earth (chornozem), a resource that has made XXXXXXX one of the most fertile regions in the world and well known as a "breadbasket".

We learned all this in Elementary School geography. Probably so we would know that Ireland's agricultural economy was facing some very stiff competition.

I awoke one morning in Modesto years ago to find the town smothered in Tule Fog and the ground appeared white. Almost like being covered in snow. But it was Almond Leaves blown off the Almond trees that surrounded the town. A beautiful experience. A memory that has lingered with me over the years.

The towns along Hwy 99 are a variety of size shapes and economic exuberance. Their common feature is an abundance of agriculture based industries. Yes that's right AGRICULTURE. It's a huge unspoken part of our diverse economy here in CA. I have friends in places like Nebraska who were not aware of Ca's huge agri-economy. My friends know that when I shop for groceries I always try to buy CA Grown fruits and veg. Occasionally I am forced to buy berries from  Mexico. But that's because her ladyship enjoys berries and I'm well aware of the old maxim "A happy wife makes a happy life". It's taken me 43 years to appreciate the wisdom of that maxim !!!

Hwy 99 starts with Bakersfield home of some great country music, Basque restaurants and at one time the largest oilfield in the US. A history of oil in bakersfield. This history was of course the story in the great Daniel Day Lewis movie There will be blood. Lewis won one of his Oscars for this show.

Just north of Bakersfield is McFarland. McFraland Website

Kevin Costner made a movie about the young people in this small town. The movie in my opinion celebrates the great Central Valley Hispanic tradition of hard back breaking work and the aspiration of all hard working people to give their children the opportunity to have a good life with less hard physical work. 

Some thoughts on physical labor:

Hard physical labor is bloody hard work. And the older you get the more difficult it becomes. There is not a lot that is romantic about the labor itself. There is however romance to be found within the people who are forced to survive via that hard labor.

A common elementary school  money making thing to do while I was growing growing up was to help with the potato harvest. (We were allowed take days of school to assist with this significant event). I spent a few days on my knees in wet clay mud with hemp sacks tied around my lower legs to try to stop them from totally freezing, being a tall gangling 6 ft kid my back would scream in agony each night during potato picking time. Looking back now I honestly believe that it may have  been this experience, of hard back breaking work,  that convinced me to knuckle down to my studies at high school and college. My favorite Irish Poet Patrick Kavanagh had a bit to say about picking potatoes.

Next time I drive to Yosemite I am going to actually stop in McFarland. After that McFarland inspired Kavanagh memory.

Continuing North on 99 you come to Delano. I think there should be something more to say about Delano. But all I know about it is that it is home to 2 big prisons and it produces a lot of grapes. 

After Delano you will see road signs for Visalia. I cannot hear that name without thinking Onion, even though the onion is a Vidalia. Around Visalia I consider should I turn off Hwy 99 and go to Sequoia National Park instead of Yosemite. I never do but will drive to Sequoia on the way home. Sequoia National Park.

After Visalia it's a straight shot to Fresno and then Hwy 41 to Yosemite. Hwy 41 is a lovely drive through the mountain low lands. The towns of O'Neals, Coarsegold, and Oakhurst. 

I generally stay in Oakhurst if I am not camping. Just try to arrive well fed to Oakhurst. Despite a year round flow of tourist traffic through this little town it offers food that belies my earlier comments about the great agricultural tradition of California. There are adequate breakfast restaurants in this small town but that's because you don't usually eat veg for breakfast. I had a pizza here this trip and unfortunately the poor kid screwed up even a pizza.See my YELP Review here!

As I said don't arrive in Oakhurst hungry. But it's a convenient place to stay to tour Yosemite.

I like to get into the valley as early as possible like 6 or 7 am. Love that morning light. And I am  gone usually by 3 or 4 pm.

I cannot write about Yosemite Valley. It is the most beautiful place on earth that I have ever visited.

In the spirit of a picture being worth a thousand words ....

On the way home this trip I decided to visit Sequoia National Park. Another gem within our great National Park system.

Returning from Sequoia I took a different Hwy. I used Hwy 65 through Lindsay and Porterville and back to Bakersfield. Saw some new beautiful scenery. I never actually knew there was MORE agricultural life and magnificent beauty East of Hwy 99.

A great trip met lots of great people, But I'd still prefer train travel.

Drama on the Burbank Express (return leg at least)

Another solo flight I'm sorry to say. That's my fault as today was very spontaneous.

I am searching for ideas to decorate the under stairs empty space in our living room and also decorating ideas for our bedroom. ( I was going to say ideas to liven up our bedroom but decorum won out). Hence a spur of the moment decision to take the train to Downtown Burbank and visit the new enlarged Ikea there. https://www.ikea.com/us/en/store/burbank

And who am I you wonder. Am I Loco or Motive.? I shall not say. I will say however "I am an ordinary man, nothing special nothing grand" while he is a mechanically able mighty minded musician. I also enjoy a little alliteration every now and again.

$5.50 for a return trip. With gas at $3.25 a gallon its great value. It's 40 miles to Burbank and return. In my truck at 11 MPG that's 4 gallons. You do the math.

I was parking by the Community Center when I watched the 2:10 train depart. No worries I am retired remember. And have recently bought a road map http://maps.randmcnally.com/ because Google  https://www.google.com/ gets me there too fast.

While awaiting the 3:00pm train a 55 year old homeless guy came and sat beside me. I didnt intuit his age .... he told me.

He was smoking his filtered cigarette and sipping from a wee airplane sized bottle of Jim  Beam. The no smoking signs surrounding us are obviously losing their deterrent effect. I wasn't bothered by either, the signs his smoking nor his drinking, and we chatted intermittently during our wait.

Another great mystery of the world - how come homeless guys can keep loose cigarettes in their pockets and manage not to crush or break them ? Is this a superpower ?.

He was originally from Virginia, Richmond to be precise.

He was wearing shower flip flops over white socks.

And was supposedly heading to Palm Springs. I had no idea you could get a train to Palm Springs and told him so. He was unsure too so I looked it up for him. Two trains and two buses would get him there in about 7 hours. I explained this to him as briefly as possible.

My insight is my super power and I had determined his retention ability was being imapired by his imbibing. He asked repeatedly if I knew how he would find the train he needed at Union Station. Unfortunately I really didn't know and told him so. He was not unhappy with that answer.

He then tried to claim that whatever river it is that runs through Richmond, Va was the longest in the USA. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_River Perhaps my immigrant accent led him to believe that I was unaware of the great Mississippi. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mississippi_River I promptly corrected him telling him  I knew my Tom Sayer / Huck Finn stories.

He smiled, I thought acceptingly at me, but in retrospect it could have been the Jim Beam hitting home that brought the smile to his face.

Unfortunately for him he had failed to acquire a train ticket and therefore was left abandoned on the platform while the other 3 passengers and my self scurried aboard for Burbank.

I was once again struck by the lack of WiFi on the train. I was reminded of a recent trip to Dublin, not a wealthy city at all, but there even the buses have free WiFi. Not only that there is an electronic bill board that clearly displays both the upcoming station as well as the expected ETA there. There are similar facilities on-board trains on the Eastern seaboard of the US. Why not here in sunny SoCal .@Metro https://www.metro.net/ .

Had a minor disappointment at Burbank Downtown. It's less than a mile to Ikea but I was unsure if the streets had sidewalks or not. So I called a Lyft. https://www.lyft.com/ One was supposedly coming 5 minutes away, 4 minutes away, 2 minutes away. Then I get a notification that another car was coming and it was only 10 minutes away. I decided to let Google Maps walk me to Ikea.

Does Google Maps only give walking directions on  streets with pedestrian sidewalks ? I think it may as the 18 minute walk was all on sidewalks.

Ikea, once I figured out where the pedestrian entrance was, was its usual inspiring self for my decorating projects and provided a very satisfying Chicken Cordon Bleu, mixed veg and mashed potatoes smothered in gravy, with salad and unlimited delicious coffee. All for less that $10.

When I was ready to leave I tried Lyft again as by now I was at 7,000 steps on my Apple step counter and was a little tired. I hate that step counter as I always feel lazy if my step count at the end of the day is less than 10,000 steps. It's at 8,069 as I write this.

I had to call the Lyft driver twice to help him find me at the entrance. He had driven down  to the underground parking and was waiting for me there at that entrance.

A $5 Lyft ride and a $5 tip and I was at Burbank Downtown Metro station awaiting the train back home. https://www.metro.net/ It was after 6 and so lots of commuters.

When the train arrived I had to first check if it was the correct one. The schedule on the internet  https://www.metro.net/ said the train number was 221. Of course that was NOT the number displayed on the train engine that stopped. But it was in fact the train I needed. So all aboard.

I had entered via the handicapped door. No worries there were able bodied seats available. Although at least 2 of the handicapped seats were occupied by able bodied people. I sat behind one of the handicapped seats and only noticed after I sat down that the other seat by me was filled with someone's stuff.

The owner of the stuff was a good looking 30+ year old who had moved up a row to try to chat up another attractive 30+ year old. He got slightly agitated when I offered to safeguard his stuff. He wasn't having any of that thank you . So he pulled his expensive Lowepro backpack and hefty garbage bag and his windbreaker jacket up alongside him and her in the wheelchair accessible seat. Thankfully he was 100% engaged in chatting up his attractive seat neighbor and left me alone. I couldn't figure out where he was coming from. But I guessed hospital as he had left a crumpled up face mask in a clear plastic bag on the floor of my seat. I hoped he was well on his way to recovery.

I became a little agitated my self when another wheelchair came on at the next station and Lothario made no effort to give up his seat. Neither did the young lady who was enjoying his ministrations. No worries the driver of the wheelchair was very skillful and he maneuvered into another seat vacated by the train's ticket taker. (What is his title ? Conductor ? )

Next thing you know there was a loud female screeching from a young lady behind me. All other noise on the train stopped. We all listened in to the one sided conversation she was having across her phone punctuated by her screeching that "they were going to take away my baby" and it was "your fault. You are starting trouble for me. I told you not to answer the phone. They going to take away my baby ... "

Scary life changing consequences indeed.

Within  a few moments silence had broken out and I dared take a look at the screecher. She was young and extremely beautiful with a gorgeous little energetic tyke struggling on her lap. I was instantly sad and a bit depressed. What roads had she traveled that led her to the belief that "They" were going to take away her son. And who the hell was creating trouble for her at home.

After we exited the San Fernando tunnel https://scvhistory.com/scvhistory/lw2137a.htm I stood up to get ready to exit. There were a number of other folk exiting too. The train ticket guy opened the door and looked up the line while the train was moving. He was greeted by a strong stench of something awful and promptly looked at a young black guy standing by the door and asked him if he had farted. Seriously has asked the young fit muscly guy had he farted. The guy answered No! in a surprised voice. I cracked up and laughed aloud which prompted several others to laugh as well. I admonished the young ticket collector that he should not now look at me "The Old Guy" as the source of the odor. This elicited another snicker from those of us who had heard the original encounter. Several of  us were still laughing at  the ticket collector's audacity as we walked down the platform My depression was lifted that quickly.

I was aware I hadn't spent too much time agonizing about the plight of the beautiful young screecher. But I was committed to finding beauty and cheerfulness now.

As I drove down Newhall Ave past Hart High my search for beauty was rewarded more than once.

First it was the sight of a 40 something Hispanic couple strolling arm in arm on the sidewalk, their beautiful chocolate colored skin shinning with happiness. ( I envied their skin tones. Bet they never had to deal with skin cancers on their faces unlike my Celtic visage ).

I rolled down my windows as I passed Hart High and was rewarded with the wonderful smell of fresh cut grass coming from Hart's new soccer fields. The smell of fresh cut grass is very evocative for me. But that is a story for another trip.

I was once again embraced by the warmth and comfort of the SCV suburbs.

Vol 2 Santa Monica (It's much faster by car)

Exploring LA by train from Santa Clarita

Vol 2 Santa Monica

By Loco & Motive (being two friends embracing retirement with open arms -- and bad knees)

October 9, 2017

Back at Newhall Station, must be honest, though, I was flying solo on this second trip as my partner in crime was unavailable and I had a good reason to get to Santa Monica. My bride of 42 years and I had gone to a movie in Santa Monica the previous evening at the Laemmle theatre and she had left her glasses behind in error. So being the dutiful husband that I am I volunteered to ride the train down to pick them up.

The movie we went to  was called School Life,  an Irish documentary about a pre high school boarding school. I didn’t know such a thing existed. They are a funny bunch these 1%’ers. Locking their kids away in  boarding school at age 8 or 9.  My parents didn’t lock me away in  boarding school until I was 11. But then we were not 1%’ers.

I attended St Macartan’s College in my native Ireland. It’s all co-ed and cozy these days with no boarder’s. But when  I took my kids to see it in the ‘90’s they both commented on how like a prison you’d see in a movie it looked.  Shure it’s grande, didn’t it make a man out of me.

I digress, apologies.

To get to Santa Monica using METRO Trains from Union Station you need two METRO lines, The Red Line to 7th Street then change to the Expo LIne to Santa Monica.

Metrolink / Metro TAP link

Mystery solved. Notice the letters “tap” in the top right hand side of the ticket. Well this signifies that the rider (me) can  transfer one time from Metrolink to Metro using this ticket. Ta daaaa.

Now to get to Santa Monica one needs two Metro trains. So you should invest in a TAP card in any case. I still have mine loaded with $20 from our maiden voyage.

Still puzzled by which track to use at Newhall, I found a security guard who advised that all Southbound trains through Newhall always use Track 1. I don’t believe him but today he was right.

The first freight train to pass through almost deafened me and the next one caused our departure to be delayed. Delays on METROLINK do appear to be a common occurrence. And seating at Newhall is not comfortable, I  may bring along my camping chair next trip.

Surfboard Storage

The following sign over the train door lets you know you are in Southern California, doesn’t it?

Oak Groves outside Newhall

Before you enter the San Fernando Tunnel look around you outside. There are some old growth original oak groves just on the edge of town. Really beautiful California Oak trees.

Now the ride from Newhall to Union Station is not high speed rail. But since we are retired and not in a rush that is OK.

I recently visited Barnes and Noble and bought a Rand McNally Road Atlas, when  checking out the attendant asked why I’d bought it, my response was “Because Google gets me there too fast!”.

Union Station

It’s worth taking a few moments to wander around this small, knee radius friendly  but beautiful station. It’s LA so you know it’s going to be cool and funky.

And entertaining

This guy was really talented on the piano. I couldn’t figure out if he was a well nourished hobo or an underpaid musician. But he was very very good.

To get to Santa Monica from Union  Station  using METRO Trains you need two METRO lines, The Red Line to 7th Street then change to the Expo LIne to Santa Monica.

Finding your way around Union Station is easy.

I was looking for the RED line - see spot above.

Once I walked downstairs this is  the view.

A little dark and intimidating at first but it’s ok.

A lot of signs on the train and on walls tell you to go to METRO website for information. But down here there is no signal. A bit Pennywise-ish if you ask me.

On my first train (Union to 7th Street) there were good on train announcements. So getting off at correct station was not an issue.

However once in 7th. Street station  it was unclear how to get to the Expo Line. Signs were all over the place but I had to ask one of the many attendants that were hanging around.

It was up and over a stairs to get to the Expo Line platform.

Metro Train Photos

The Expo Line

The line is named "Expo" after Exposition Boulevard, which it runs alongside for most of it’s route. Exposition  Blvd. gets its name from Exposition Park which was re-opened in 1913.

I got onboard the train that said it was destined for Santa Monica, just got settled in and was told over the announcement system to please exit this train as it was going out of service and another would be along promptly.

We did, it left and along came another within 15 minutes.

I am  beginning to suspect that METRO may just be playing at trains at this time. Perhaps in a few months or years they will understand that public transport only works if you don’t have to think about it. It’s just always there and reliable.

There are 19 stops along this line. A lot of them run through USC campus area.  I will pay more attention to these stops on another trip as I am sure some of them offer things of interest in their locale.

The Expo Line is not a subway, so  it shares intersections with cars. This makes the journey a little slow.

The station at Santa Monica is located very nicely on Colorado by 4th. Street.

The pedestrian Mall in Santa Monica is on 3rd.

And in case you doubted that you are now in what we affectionately call The People’s Republic of Santa Monica the following photo will remind you.

As my brother likes to say “The “Land of the Free” as long as you have a permit.”

We love Santa Monica anyway.

I  had lunch at Uovo. Food was fantastic. The no tipping was awkward. The ambience was a wee bit arrogant. But I would go back because of the food and it’s so close to the Laemmle movie theatre.

A further comment on these no tipping restaurants - there was a 15% service charge auto added to my bill at Uovo. I enquired if this was a gratuity type thing and shared amongst the staff. The cashier I spoke to had no idea. 60 Minutes did a thing on this emerging trend at restaurants, on last night’s show actually. We will see I guess.

The journey down to Santa Monica took 2 hours. Google told me I could drive it in 45 minutes. But hey who trusts Google.

Return took 2 hours also and was uneventful.

Perhaps I could have speeded up the return by timing my trip to the return train from Union to Newhall. But see previous note about public transport.

A Beautiful Flower in Newhall

Spotted outside library on way back from Santa Monica.

Next Outing : The LA County Fair