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WRITTEN ON THE TRAIN SOMEWHERE BETWEEN PORTLAND AND PASCO:
It’s kind of inconceivable that there are still places without public wifi these days. I am almost positive that somewhere on this train there is an internet connection – EVERYTHING runs on computers these days – but they seem not to have let the passengers in on the gig. There’s something that my computer kind of sort of sees, a computer to computer network connection, but if there is a setting for it on this laptop I am not sure what it is and I really don’t want to ditz around the connections TOO much. So here I am, writing this in limbo.
There is this – at least we are ON the train this year, as opposed to last year when the west-bound Empire Builder went and collided with some sort of truck on a crossing and bent itself sufficiently out of shape that it never made Portland at all which meant that we were all piled onto a coach and bused to Pasco from Portland instead of getting on the train. Five hours on a packed and cramped bus… was not the idea. We had wanted to take this train ride, to see the Columbia River Gorge, all like that – we saw nothing last year because by the time the bus had made its slow and ponderous way out of Portland and down the road, making giant detours to pick up various stranded people at out of the way places, it was pitch black outside and all we saw was occasional water reflecting occasional waterside lights. This year we were treated to a gorgeous sunset and then we saw quite a bit of the gorge before the light went completely – and we were enchanted. What a beautiful place this is. We get to see it once again, properly, in the daylight, on our way home, so this trip is already made of win.
It is now quarter past seven PM on February 11, and in a little under two hours we should be arriving in Pasco (I will be posting this whenever, in the aftermath, so there is a certain kind of built in redundancy here…) where I will be doing two school visits before Radcon proper starts on Friday, and I begin my first-ever appearance as Guest of Honour at a SF con. Blogging will likely be light until I get a chance to sit down and sort it all out in a coherent manner.In the meantime, it’s dark outside and I am on a night train and all is mystery and enigma. Tonight, I am a passing angel flying over the lightless void. Tomorrow, it’s back to work.
First con of the year. And we’re off.
It’s kind of inconceivable that there are still places without public wifi these days. I am almost positive that somewhere on this train there is an internet connection – EVERYTHING runs on computers these days – but they seem not to have let the passengers in on the gig. There’s something that my computer kind of sort of sees, a computer to computer network connection, but if there is a setting for it on this laptop I am not sure what it is and I really don’t want to ditz around the connections TOO much. So here I am, writing this in limbo.
There is this – at least we are ON the train this year, as opposed to last year when the west-bound Empire Builder went and collided with some sort of truck on a crossing and bent itself sufficiently out of shape that it never made Portland at all which meant that we were all piled onto a coach and bused to Pasco from Portland instead of getting on the train. Five hours on a packed and cramped bus… was not the idea. We had wanted to take this train ride, to see the Columbia River Gorge, all like that – we saw nothing last year because by the time the bus had made its slow and ponderous way out of Portland and down the road, making giant detours to pick up various stranded people at out of the way places, it was pitch black outside and all we saw was occasional water reflecting occasional waterside lights. This year we were treated to a gorgeous sunset and then we saw quite a bit of the gorge before the light went completely – and we were enchanted. What a beautiful place this is. We get to see it once again, properly, in the daylight, on our way home, so this trip is already made of win.
It is now quarter past seven PM on February 11, and in a little under two hours we should be arriving in Pasco (I will be posting this whenever, in the aftermath, so there is a certain kind of built in redundancy here…) where I will be doing two school visits before Radcon proper starts on Friday, and I begin my first-ever appearance as Guest of Honour at a SF con. Blogging will likely be light until I get a chance to sit down and sort it all out in a coherent manner.In the meantime, it’s dark outside and I am on a night train and all is mystery and enigma. Tonight, I am a passing angel flying over the lightless void. Tomorrow, it’s back to work.
First con of the year. And we’re off.
