I’ll begin vaguely, the past is so very clouded, the earliest migrants followed the trails from spring to spring, on what are now I-40 and I-10, more or less, until they came down Cajon Pass or Banning Pass, into Sunny SoCal. Railways came next, following the same routes, and with them came roads for maintenance, living quarters and eventually towns like Essex, Ludlow and Newberry Springs.
Newberry Springs
Essex
So Cal was not much outside of LA, the road system followed the old Indian trails, and a trip of 30 miles to the Beach took a full day for example, it wasn’t so great, traveling through the hills on a hot Summer day, but they did, my MIL was one of them, as a kid.The thriving agricultural towns to the east and south caught the eye of a certain local Magnate, and saw a need.
Henry Huntington
From Wiki, “In 1898, in friendly competition with his uncle’s Southern Pacific, Huntington bought the narrow gauge city-oriented Los Angeles Railway (LARy), known as the ‘Yellow Car’ system. In 1901, Huntington formed the sprawling interurban, standard gauge Pacific Electric Railway (the PE), known as the ‘Red Car’ system, centered at 6th and Main Streets in Los Angeles. Huntington succeeded in this competition by providing passenger friendly streetcars on 24/7 schedules, which the railroads could not match.
This was facilitated by the boom in Southern California land development, where housing was built in places such as Orange County’s Huntington Beach, a Huntington-sponsored development, and streetcars served passenger needs that the railroads had not considered. Connectivity to Downtown Los Angeles made such suburbs feasible.”
Behold!
Older cars
The man had clout, and a vision, he opened up So Cal like never before, and the World is better for it, or was… Before the Great Car Revolution, people needed efficient Transportation, HH filled the need, my Mom could go from Long Beach to Huntington Beach, and back, (yes, that Huntington) for 50 cents,
PE, early 50’s
What a cool thing in the ‘50s. You could leave LA in the morning, pick oranges or apples, in Riverside and Redlands, and be home in time for Supper, no wonder people flocked here.
The Mother Road
Route 66 was established on November 11, 1926, although it took a year to get the signage up, it was a group of roads that kind of interconnected, but it got better over the years, and many an Okie took it from east to west, all 4 four of my Grandparents used it to get to Cali, for example. Again, down the Cajon Pass a road led to the promised land.
Cars
Before Ike’s Interstate Highways, there were Freeways, not Tollways, but Free,ways,
cutting through the arroyos and canyons in the 50’s, this was the future, and the death of PE. After the Fed started the Highway system, rail travel was doomed in the Southwest, too spread out to be viable, cars being what cars are, people left the train system altogether.
El Camino Real
And the 101 and rte1, and Pacific coast highway, got all that? If you pay attention, and follow the maps, you can drive the same path that Junipero Serra did when he established the California Missions, from San Diego to San Francisco, I confess I haven’t driven past Santa Barbara on the the trip, but what a taste of SoCal!.
Freeways
Pat Brown and Ronald Reagan basically went nuts building, the system, and work continues to this day, no matter how many lanes they add, it will never be enough.
Normal traffic
Still the most efficient, well designed road system ever devised, with limited traffic, 75 80 mph is easy,
With traffic, it’s a nightmare, but moving 12 million people with less than 10 accidents a day? Humans are pretty smart after all. It wasn’t always this way, growing up there were Ends to freeways, unfinished sections that required detours, unheard of now, SoCal is just one giant Freeway, surrounded by houses.
I left, too much turmoil, but that doesn’t mean the History isn’t anything less than cool!
- Thanks to Toxteth for the idea
- Don’t get me started on William Mulholland
- A link to some great photos, https://www.pacificelectric.org/
Bella died last night, a heart attack following several hours of heavy seizures,
My pet is gone,….
I’m very sorry, Yusef.
Aw dude… I’m so sorry, Bella always seemed like a sweet pup.
Sorry, Yusef. That’s terrible.
So sorry to hear that.
Sorry my friend.
🙁
I’m sorry Yusef.
Sorry.
Sorry for your loss, Yusef.
Sorry about your dog.
I’m sorry, Yusef. Bella has been as much a Glib here as she possibly could be. Many pictures of happier days in past posts.
::hugs::
Sorry 🙁
Deepest condolences Yusef.
Sorry man
No no no no no not fair I hate 2020.
I almost lost my Zilly last summer. She enjoy sleeping all 4 legs up like your Bella. This…. hurts.
I’m sorry for your loss Yusef. We’re hundreds of miles apart, but I feel your pain man.
I’ll drink a few to her.
My condolences Yusef.
I had a busy morning here and just got on-line – Yusef! I am sorry to hear about your Bella. 2020 continues its reign of Effed Up. Zod only tests the strong this way but I can’t help thinking that some of us deserve a break sometime.
My mom used to talk about taking the Red Car down to the beach in the summer during the Depression. Thanks Yusef for jogging a memory that hasn’t been touched for a long time. My heart is with you in your loss.
My coolest memories, things she did I never could,,,
Mom did stuff we never could,
We used to take the RTD buses. It cost about a dollar and took around an hour and a half. It takes that long to drive a car down there, now, and costs prolly ten bucks in gas. Only got you to Santa Monica, though.
All the good beaches are north of there and you’d need a car to get up there.
My old man grew up in one of the Southern Pacific rail camps outside Reno. Hearing his stories about those times…man. It’s bizarre. Just a way of life that is completely outside my experience.
Mulholland, the scourge of the Owens Valley.
Say what you will about the SoCal freeways, but you can re-route around almost any problem. So many other places one major accident can shut you down and you have no alternative.
My Mom grew up a block from the beach in Huntington Beach. She didn’t take the train anywhere. However, during the Depression they took the roads out of town to live in the mountains during the summer. The rivers were full of trout.
MMIL went from the mountains to the Beach in summer, awesome!
I grew up mostly in Oxnard/Ojai, but I lived in the Valley 75-76 and starting in ’81 to present. I loved the beach, but Ventura county was a backwater back then. There’s a massive amount of crazy history surrounding southern California. Its a crazy place. Fascinating when you dig into the history.
Btw, the Santa Monica pier is the western end of Route 66. I-40 replaced the Mother Road, effectively killing off all those small towns like Amboy, Oatman, Peach Springs, etc. The longest remaining stretch of ’66 is from needles to Seligman ( or so..) in AZ. It still has Burma shave signs and is very interesting, especially by motorcycle.
I rode the old road on my motorcycle, wrote an article about it, and Glibertarians published it.
(can’t find the link)
I’ve ridden the western part about three times. I’ll do anything to not have to ride I-40. Any interstate, for that matter.
When I was in the Marines at Pendleton (40 some-odd years ago), on Sunday mornings I used to ride the buses up to the Unitarian-Universalist church in Santa Ana right on the hill overlooking Huntington beach. At the time the minister there had previously been the minister where I grew up.
Bella was a good Dog, my Baby,
I know my great-great-grandfather landed in Tujunga sometime after the civil war, and the family had left for the bay area by the time my grandfather was in high school.
Of course, that great-great had already been in the bay area, having done 20 at San Quentin as the last train robber in California. Somewhere I have a picture of his brother, who had taken my great grandmother Mathilda up to visit her father, standing over a brown bear he had shot on the way.
I am sorry about your buddy Yusef.
The California I remember is from the early 1970’s. I prefer to keep it that way.
I will never set foot there again.
^this, so much this
I spent one year in SF in the late nineties. It was already getting crazy so I moved to NYC and I’ve been here ever since.
Ponder that.
When I got stationed there in ’88, I thought it was going to be awesome. It was okay, but I was not impressed. By the time my enlistment was up, I couldn’t wait to get the hell out of there. I’ve been back only once to visit some lifer friends in the early 90’s.
I lived in Los Angeles/Long Beach for 25 years. I love it. The “310” in my handle is the West LA/South Bay area code.
I love Seattle, and we are doing well here. But we will most likely retire to, and die in LA. Maybe Santa Barbara. But most likely in Santa Monica/West LA. But that’s still 20 years or so away.
So the long range plan is to eventually Fadeaway in West LA?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmhcTxhDCS4
I couldn’t help myself. I seen these guys do this song a couple years ago. Great show. In my eyes, they are one of the most consistently good bands from LA.
Yes. Good band. Good song.
I spent 3 months in Palo Alto in 2016. Miserable was an understatement.
The only people I enjoyed interacting with were the people who were also in town for the same program. The locals were, almost to a person, pretentious assholes of almost every stripe. An entire culture of caricatures. I hated almost every moment there, and not just because my wife and home were 1500 miles away.
Mirrors my year in SF. We had a core of hard-partying friends that were cool but I couldn’t stand most of the random strangers I came into contact with.
I remember standing in line at the local Starbucks, listening to a gender studies professor and her student fawn over some leftist patriarchy bullshit. The whole time, I was wondering whether I had fallen into the derplight zone.
My impression of the average Californicator – from living in San Jose for 18 months in the mid-80’s (admittedly 35 years ago) – was that they thought themselves experts at whatever new fad they had just taken up a couple weeks ago.
Bella is finally catching Squirrels and rabbits, that is enough,
There used to be an ad on TV for some dog product. They portrayed doggie heaven. Apparently there is a 30 foot wide toilet where all doggies can drink at will.
I am sorry you lost your friend Yusef. On the back side of the hill where I live I have a pet cemetery with a dozen graves. I know what your loss feels like and I feel for you.
Thanks Suthen,
This is interesting.
I barely scratched the surface, Socal has a ton of history, that should be remembered,
I gave it some thought then realized,
IT WAS THE WARRIORS KILLED BELLA!
Come out to playeeyaaaaayyyyyy
Anybody got some good news? Just perusing some old posts I missed…. 🙁
I can pay my rent and eat at the same time,
Well that’s something I guess, but you didn’t mention TALL CANS. Do you need some beer money?
Been day drinkin since early, took Pup to the crematory,
workin’
Tall Cans! for B!
My grandfather’s brother had three sons. I have heard about them all of my life but never met any of them. Recently I learned that one of them is ill so I thought I would get off of my ass and meet the brothers. Two of them played pro ball for the Redsox, one was tax assessor for decades. They were all three in a band that played a few times in the Grand Ole Opry. They complained that they did not have anything from their grandparents so I gave them my great-grandmother’s fiddle. That is their grandmother, my great-grandmother. They were very grateful.
I brought my son with me and we had the most wonderful afternoon talking and swapping tales, the most wonderful afternoon I have had in a long time.
Is that good news?
Other than the tax assessor part, absolutely! 😉
Personally the guy is solid gold. Someone has to do it.
Trust me, no one has less love for tax assessors than I do.
+1 Zacchaeus
I had three family members collect government paychecks.
We’re libertarians not anarchists. Well most of us…
That’s awesome. Glibs needs more of that. Right on, SB.
the most wonderful afternoon I have had in a long time
That sounds excellent. Pro-ball and the Opry? Cool.
I guess, I’m a little depressed about the guys at work having so many issues with family, ex-wives, and Rona quarantines. Plus, my wife and I are a bit disappointed that my MIL chose not to come back down to GA for Christmas. I hope we didn’t offend her in some way.
Always great to connect/reconnect with distant relatives. I inherited my great grandfather’s violin. We took it to an appraiser who determined it was a fake Magini likely purchased from a Sears catalog. He also said it was still probably worth $1000 because some of the fakes have become collectibles. Not that we would sell it.
*Maggini
Is that good news?
Yes. It’s a good story.
Good news! My BIL’s Christmas package just arrived at our building. It’s a giant bottle of Woodford Reserve!
I went to bed, listened to the latest Bound by Oath, then went off on a tangent from this to read about the St. Francis dam disaster, then read about Yusef’s dog dying, then went back and saw the horrors of today’s links and the derp shared in the comments, and now I am upset something fierce, somewhat because bad things happen, but also about the absolute pathological awfulness of all these moron humans, but, with the understanding that 99% of this awfulness is manifest within systems of perverse incentives and immunity from consequence. It’s also that increasingly I see the world going insane. The mask had really slipped on a couple of family members, and the shear concentrated hatred, bad faith, prejudice, and spite is horrible. This post is a mess, but, in summary, I have “contaminated” my sleep space and my mind with so much misery and worry when really I need to completely unplug from that as soon as I walk into the bedroom. Laying in bed typing on my phone in the dark isn’t healthy.
Yusef I really enjoyed your recent piece about Bella, and this one, too. Whenever people tell me about their pets I’m always demanding photos. Take lots of photos I say because you’ll treasure them. What a sweet dog.
See my post immediately above yours. There is still good in the world.
I like that.
I hear ya. I keep sane by largely shutting out the rest of the world.
Thanks, and please relax, we ain’t dead yet, this came out of nowhere, such is life, you take care Brother!
“ I have “contaminated” my sleep space and my mind with so much misery and worry”
Stop doing that to yourself. Thats what “they” want of you.
Stay positive. Do something interesting. Keep reaching for the new.
This is good advice.
Yeah, I should add that I do that too. Always learning something is great advice.
Might I suggest a language…
I have several Japanese textbooks and have dabbled in the past. But yeah, I should be getting back into something like that. Polishing up my German has been on the back-burner for a while.
I knew you spoke reasonable German. I didn’t realize you tried Japanese too.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve told myself I should have gone with Spanish…
I’ve always been a language nerd so I have textbooks in many of them. No formal classes in Japanese but I have taken Spanish, German, Latin, Italian, Danish, and Chinese classes. And there’s a linguistics degree in there somewhere that I never did anything with.
/not enough hours in the day
I try to treat my sleep like an upcoming flight: there’s a checklist of things that need to be done to prepare for sleep. Anything that doesn’t involve that checklist waits until tomorrow. I take melatonin and magnesium immediately as that takes a little time to kick in. Program my workout for tomorrow into my phone (and that’s the last ‘screen’ I look at for the day). Make sure I get tomorrow’s dinner out of the freezer and into the fridge. Make a list of things that need to be accomplished tomorrow. That sort of stuff.
It’s partially getting productive things done, but it’s also a way to erase whatever was occupying my mind all day and fill it with more mundane and less emotional crap. To me the “racing mind” is my number one sleep killer. I try not to get into bed until it’s time to actually sleep.
It’s definitely improved what was at one time terrible sleep issues. I haven’t unlocked “the secret,” but it’s way improved and that I’ll take.
“ Program my workout for tomorrow into my phone”
Yep. Good move. I run in the mornings. At night, I lay out my running clothes and make sure the pair of shoes in rotation are in good order. Check the weather forecast, add gloves, or a beanie as necessary. Then I plan my route. Pick a landmark to run to, or run a usual route.
6AM is not the time to start making these decisions.
I don’t worry if I miss or skip some thing today. I have a saying’ “That’s what tomorrows are for”
In reality I may not have a tomorrow and I know that what I didn’t get done today won’t matter.
Enjoy today and relax, tomorrow will take care of itself. The good news part for me was my favorite grand daughter and husband from Alaska were here for a few days.
It really is great to see young kids starting their grownup life with a vision and plans for the future. I understand that I may never see them again but I know they will be OK.
I raise my glass of Old Grand Dad to you, an old grand dad. Cheers, Fourscore!
Unsolicited advice:
Instead of doing that, go to YouTube and search “oddly satisfying”. Find a couple of long videos without ads, and watch those. They’ll put you to sleep fast.
Here’s a good one, even though it’s only 14 minutes. It has good sleepy-bye music too: https://youtu.be/5-_M_8Rltj0
I’ve recently discovered reading in bed. Works wonders.
I can’t. It keeps my mind going and the blue light off the words hurts. The blue light coming from the videos don’t. The vids are mindless and hypnotic.
To be fair, I rarely get in more than a page or two. But it takes my mind off reality for a bit and sort of clears it up for sleep.
I’ve only tried this with actual books, so no blue light.
I listen to reasonable podcasts from mature persons and am gone in seconds.
This post is a mess
You’re on point, good sir.
It’s not so easy there, but I still think creation is what we all need. Ideally, you create a solution folks need, that they will pay for, and you create jobs when you deliver that solution.
The problem is that there will always be impure alliances, mixed motives, and other ethical dilemmas all the way, lots of breaking eggs to make omelettes, strange bedfellows, and very difficult compromises. But when you share what you know and build other people up, beautiful things happen along the way to commerce and in spite of ugly underbellies. Having worked for so many European firms and in European firms, I can’t say I envy you, but save up so you use all that holiday well.
Yusef, sorry for your loss. And thanks for the interesting article.
I was in Los Angeles in 1983 to 87. Many people left the area for the 84 Summer Olympics – scared that the highways would come to a halt due to additional cars. It was the exact opposite: clear driving & no smog. Went to Disneyland during that time and the lines were so short, people would run through the “cattle lanes”. It was one of the best times to be there.
Sorry for your loss Yusef. I know you’ll keep on keepin’ on.
Enjoyed the article. I grew up the in the Bay Area and I’m old enough to remember the trollies.
I could have ridden in this one.
https://www.foundsf.org/images/1/1a/FB_IMG_Key-train-at-Grand-Lake-theater.jpg
I remember taking the trolley with my Mom to this theater to see King Kong.
Cool pic of the old streetcar and the Grand Lake Theater without a stupid political sign.
There’s a service station in Lovelock, NV called Two Stiffs Selling Gas. It’s the only gas for about 100 miles in any direction from Lovelock. I saw a “last gas for 80 miles” sign in WY. Fun fact: WY has the nation’s only space port, which consists of a windsock and a gravel runway.
***
The Greater Green River Intergalactic Spaceport is a small public use airstrip about five miles south of Green River, Wyoming on a mountain known as South Hill. It opened in 1963.
***
And now for something completely different
pause this video at the 0:21 mark for some lovely physical bathos
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOe6IlXr6tc
for some peculiar reason, the video she refers to is very hard to find on youtube
New Mexico begs to differ
QUIET, YOU!
“ the nation’s only space port”
Don’t forget about Winston’s Mom.
Sorry for the loss of your friend.
I’ve flown to LAX twice in my life. Once to have the tumor removed from my head at Saint Vincent’s/House Ear Institute and then a few years later my brother got married on the beach in Newport Beach. Newport Beach is very nice.
Yeah, LAX is my only experience with any part of SoCal.
That reminds me of the bad experience we had flying home from LAX after my surgery. When we arrived at the airport we immediately requested a wheelchair for me since I was about a week out from a nine hour surgery and I was unsteady and fatigued very easily and LAX is very large. Well we waited and waited and waited but no wheelchair arrived. Finally we had to speedwalk through the airport and barely made the flight home. My wife actually wrote a sternly worded letter when we got home.
Yikes. Being a New Yorker and pretty familiar with the hellscapes that are LGA and JFK, I found LAX to be a pleasant experience in comparison.
Shout out to CLE – I am not very widely traveled but that’s the best airport I’ve ever been in. ROC is pretty good, too.
So, on what I think is a positive note, someone steps up;
“Now, once again, Fairytale[of New York] is under attack. The idea that a word, or a line, in a song can simply be changed for another and not do it significant damage is a notion that can only be upheld by those that know nothing about the fragile nature of songwriting. The changing of the word ‘faggot’ for the nonsense word ‘haggard’ destroys the song by deflating it right at its essential and most reckless moment, stripping it of its value. It becomes a song that has been tampered with, compromised, tamed, and neutered and can no longer be called a great song. It is a song that has lost its truth, its honour and integrity — a song that has knelt down and allowed the BBC to do its grim and sticky business.”
It’s a minor thing, but seeing someone with as much gravitas in the British music world as Nick Cave push back on the evil of the BBC, let alone even recognize it, is a sign that people have gone to far, and other people are starting to react.
+1 “that little faggot’s got his own jet airplane…that little faggot’s a millionaire
Wanda Sykes, save us from wrongthink!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWS0GVOQPs0
comment gold:
“I rember my elementary school played this and other videos like it because a kid said gay and a teacher heard it. That’s one recess I’ll never get back.”
Destroy the past so you can implement your own authoritarian future. That which can’t be said sure AF better be said because the alternative is worse.
Growing up in SoCal in the 80s-90s was gold. I lived in West Covina/Covina area so we were 25 minutes to any desire. When those freeways are moving or clear it is heaven.
The known joke is you don’t measure in miles in Cali, its in minutes/hours. It wasn’t til I started driving did I realize HB or Seal Beach were 20 miles away.
If you can’t walk where you wanna go, I don’t wanna live in that city. Put a 15k perimeter and I’ll walk or bike it and leave the car at home.
One of the things I’m sick of here in GA are all the sidewalks to nowhere. You walk out of your subdivision, and there are sidewalks that run the length of the front of the subdivision. And then they just end. County rules? Hey assholes, you stole my tax money, now build a sidewalk that takes me to the grocery store.
“Where the Sidewalk Ends” would make a good limerick.
Wow. That’s a blast from the past.
Yeah, walking to the grocery store is important to me. My neighborhood (Bay Ridge, Brooklyn) was famous for being shitty for grocery shopping but it’s improved dramatically in the last five years or so. It’s nothing like the gigantic suburban meccas of my youth but it’s way better than the bodegas that were the only realistic option around here a few years ago.
And after my recent surgery, I’m walking like gangbusters now, when I used to be lazy af.
I’m walking like gangbusters now,
That’s great. I am trying to make myself walk like I did during my time off from work, but wandering around in a small subdivision is boring. I’d like to walk to get groceries, but I’d probably get run over.
It’s amazing how sometimes you only appreciate something after it’s been taken away from you for awhile.
Like, I could barely walk for a couple months. The pain got so bad I bought a cane at Rite-Aid while I was waiting at the pharmacy counter for bowel prep. Now I’m back to “normal” but instead of dreading a mile walk I look forward to it. OK, when it’s not so damn cold out.
That’s cool. A mile or so is a perfect after work walk.
OK, when it’s not so damn cold out.
Cold? I’ve heard of this. I would like some.
*Still wearing short-sleeve shirts*
That’ll make you lose unneeded hubris.
A bunch of my friends when to SF after high school thinking they could get rid of their cars. Within about five years they all moved to car-friendly cities.
Wimps.
Yep. I don’t get it. Walking and thinking is the exercise of the gods.
Same in metro NYC. You measure distance in time.
Although in NYC proper you can walk and/or subway most places.
Yes, but it’s still measurements in time. Distance is meaningless underground.
True enough. I was making the point NYC is quite doable without a car.
My joke in Manhattan is everything is 20 minutes. You walk if it less than 20 minutes. Or you take a subway and the ride will generally be 20 minutes.
Insane Japanese lady 40’s with a black guy 40’s at the coffee shop. She was giggling and rolling on the floor. The guy goes over and tries to coax her back into her seat. She complies and then does it again 5 minutes later. After 30 minutes a cop shows up and talks to them for a while, jots down info and leaves. Now they are sitting at their table and I can see the next episode building up already. WTF wouldn’t the cop or the shop make her leave? Yup. There she goes again.
Dude, that’s David Lynch weird.
David Lynch’s Dotour. I can see it now.
Why are you messing with the cops and gaijin stereotypes.
I was about to say is she drunk, but it is morning there. Doesn’t preclude that of course…
The gaijin is doing his best. I’d help him but he obviously has some connection to her. Husband? Caretaker? Good guy.
Interesting.
Never good when a friend/date puts you in that position.
How come you don’t show us stuff like that on zoom?
No real time face pixelation app?
Not gonna put these people on camera. It’s embarrassing for everyone except the insane lady. She’s having a ball.
Yes, good reasons. I was just giving you hard time. I don’t actually want to see something like that, I would just feel bad for her.
Husband posts some lame meme on Facebook about Biden not being elected fairly, then his stepbrother and my SIL jump all over him.
What happened to rolling your eyes and scrolling past?
Some people scan social media looking for prey.
Some people save a video of a teenage girl saying the N-word for years because she would not date them.
You ain’t wrong … ?
We libertarians get a lot of practice of lots of people not being on our sides politically. So when we see cringeworthy political tribe stuff on Facebook we learn how to just saunter on by.
I’m doing a whole lot of not correcting people on social media on factually untrue things, because why?
*Shrugs* people don’t push back on me cuz I push back on their push back. Why are you so argumentative? Because you’re so wrong.
Yes they are. And? It’s selfish, I suppose, but nothing good is going to come to me by going down that road with them.
EG, trying to convince people that this overwhelming evidence they assume is there on the effectiveness of masks is, in effect, non-existent and is the exact opposite of what Western medicine was saying as recent as 9 months ago…
…doesn’t convince them that they are wrong. It only convinces them that I’m sort of crazed anti-vaxxer Qanon Trump worshiper to believe such an absurd thing. People don’t believe these untrue things, they _know_ these untrue things. They are 100% certain they are right when they are wrong. The room to convince them otherwise doesn’t exist.
I disagree. 😉
That.
It’s not worth arguing. They’re not going to come off their position.
You’re not going to change your position.
Some people (alot of idiots) have swallowed the bait, and we’re going to just have to deal with it. I believe that truth and “goodness” will prevail, ultimately. But it could get stupid and ugly before truth prevails. In fact, it will get stupid and ugly before truth prevails. Be prepared. Keep your head on a swivel. Keep doing good for you and yours.
The point is that if someone comes at me for saying something, you’re damn right I’m going push back if I think they are advocating something that ultimately leads to mass death. I’m not going out looking for them, but I do have respect for people that do go out into the darkness and fling some light. I’m not gonna self censor. I’m not gonna be quiet. They don’t like it, tough titties. Go somewhere else.
Update: They made her leave. I talked to the cop. The guy was her husband and she hadn’t taken her meds. I say to the cop, “Oh, good. Glad she’s being taken care of.” He looks at me and replies, “Dopemine. Pwww.” as he makes a circle gesture around his ear. Fuggit. Maybe I’m the one who is high.
Yikes. Sorry not sorry, Pats fans.
I think it’s just you and me now, Rhy,
I watched the game approvingly as well.
Glad Jim Kelley is still around to enjoy it.
So is Scott Norwood, I suppose.
Meh, 20 years of dominance, I can’t complain about a shit year.
MNF crew pointed out that the Bills fans won the “best fans” award and took their “free billboard” award – and chose to have it near Gillette Stadium.
I have some bad news for those Bills fans if they think that’s some sort of sick burn to the Pats: https://youtu.be/LlOSdRMSG_k?t=40
Perhaps, after a decade or so of losing to the Bills, we might. We’ll see. Or not.
“Not thinking about the Bills at all” is one of the charms. Nobody thinks of them.
My travels to California: Palm Springs to work on the tram, Santa Cruz to work on ride along the boardwalk and Lake Tahoe area to work on ski lifts. There seems to be a pattern.
Off to the farthest point north in Michigan tomorrow.
Mount Bohemia? I’ve been wanting to do a ski trip there for a couple years, but haven’t been able to coordinate a trip with any friends. I might snowmobile by there later this year if I do a couple day backpack trip with my brother.
Yup, Bohemia. We have converted a few Michigan trail sledders into north Idaho back country riders. This is just another work trip. One of their lifts is making a funny noise and they want an expert to go look at it. They got me instead, lol.
Cool. I’ll have to get your opinion on the place after your trip. I’ve heard good things from a few people. I had never even heard anything about the place until a couple years ago. Hard to find someone to go since it’s about a 7 hour drive for me and 9-10 for most of the friends I normally ski with.
One of my friends from my Air Force days has skied there a few times. Sounds like it is a bit more challenging than a lot of the other ski areas in that region.
I pretty much grew up at ski area across the valley from Mt Washington in NH and my dad laid out a few ski trails there. So I have a few opinions on good area layouts and mixtures of terrain.
The challenging part is why I want to try it out. I’ve skied all the bigger resorts in the UP since I was a kid and there’s really no challenge, unless you want to ski short, icy, over-skied mogul runs.
I used to do a week long trip out west every year with the same group of friends, but it’s getting so stupid expensive we haven’t done one in the last five years. I’m guessing that ship has sailed.
My brother does 3-4 snowmobile trips in the UP every year. I’m considering getting a sled and getting back into it. They aren’t late night drunk fests any more like they used to be when I rode with him and another group. The UP has a great trail system. I’m sure it’s not like what you do out west and Alaska.
In my mind, the pricing is nuts everywhere. Of course I remember when $25 a day was a big deal. Lutsen is the only other mountain I’ve been to near lake Superior. There are some good smaller areas in the Idaho/Montana region. Not sure if the prices have gone nuts there too.
We have some good trails out here but they aren’t developed as a point to point system like the midwest or northeast. I generally ride about 10 miles of trail and then we are in “free range” areas where there are no trails except for old forest roads. I splurged this year and bought a brand new Skidoo with a 850 factory turbo and a 165″ x 3″ track.
Yeah, lift ticket prices have about doubled everywhere in the last 10-12 years, and everything else has went way up in price around resorts. Lutsen is the best place I’ve skied in the midwest. Second would be Whitecaps in Montreal, WI by Ironwood, MI.
That sounds like a badass sled. I’ve only rode on trails and never even used spiked or deep tracks, so what you do sounds exciting and scary.
While you’re up at Bohemia, you’ll have to stop at the Gay Bar. It used to be owned by the Dicks family.
https://thegaybar.com/the-gay-bar/
I should make an article about the libertarian experience of back-country riding.
“Where we are going, there are no roads”
You should. I’ve been intrigued since reading some of your past posts.
I’ve only skied Tahoe once. It was great, but I couldn’t afford accommodations at the time, and so the drive was not worth it.
Also, Tahoe has too many people.
“…so nobody goes there any more.”
For at least 30 years or so. 🙂
How are you, and yours?
I’m fine, though a bit tuckered from an…adventurous weekend. Mine is doing amazingly well under the circumstances. (See my reply to HS below.)
(See my reply to HS below.)
I can’t. We’re in a loop. ?
I took the California Zephyr from Chicago to San Francisco. About 58 hours.
It was amazing scenery, some of which could only be reached by train.
I don’t regret it, but I don’t know if I’d do it again. The beds weren’t terribly comfortable, but the food was good and the other sleeper car passengers were fun to meet and dine with.
I have also done Chicago (actually, Buffalo) to San Francisco.
And back.
But it was more for financial reasons. Flying was expensive af at the time.
Sleepers? LOL, fancy.
I took it once from Omaha to the Bay Area, but due to delays we went through all the best scenery at night. There were some seriously pissed off people on that train.
Ooh! I’ve wanted to do that for years! Take the Zephyr out to SF, then the Coast Starlight down to LA, and back east on the SW Chief. Maybe we should shoot for doing that for our SECOND 25th anniversary next June. (Our first 25th anniversary is Wednesday, and I’ll be visiting Mr. GT in physical rehab after the mild stroke he had on Christmas. The good news is he’s doing remarkably well – talking & eating normally, walking well with a walker, & working on regaining dexterity in his left hand [contradiction in terms? Don’t care.])
Glad to hear it!
Ignore my previous question.
Glad to hear it.
A relief to hear.
The western runs on Amtrak are pretty good. If the trains are on time the “boring sections” are at night.
The Empire Builder (Seattle of Portland) to Chicago runs along the edge of Glacier NP and is spectacular. The Zephyr from the Bay Area to Chicago crosses the Sierra Nevada by the original route and crosses Colorado the next day. The section from Moffat Tunnel to Denver is a third scenic highlight. The SW Chief runs through Flagstaff and northern NM and is scenic. The Sunset LTD through TX and AZ from New Orleans to LA is the least scenic.
Chicago Union Station is still magnificent and the historic Palmer House Hotel is walking distance away.
The Coast Starlight is a great run up the California coast from LA to SLO. The trip through Oregon the next day is scenic as well.
The eastern routes are decidedly less special. They have they moments and if you are interested in American RR history they have some interesting sights. The DC station has seen better days but still has the bones of the old Union Station. NYC Penn Station sucks if I am going to be kind. There are MTA subway stops with better conditions and history. A visit the Grand Central Terminal should not be missed.
Just going to suggest the Empire Builder. Or Via Rail’s Canadian.
A long train trip is one of those things that always struck me as really cool in the abstract but not so much in reality.
Yeah. Riding the Trans-Siberian for 6 days got really old, fast. Being able to see some parts of that corner of the world was cool as an idea but the scenery really didn’t change while watching it.
+14hr NYC-NRT
Anyone heard from the author?
OT, and it may be old news (something drugs, something ass,) but this is my current favorite commercial, discovered this weekend while bingeing on Yank BBC’s Doctor Who marathon in Mr. GT’s hospital room. It explains this year completely.
That’s good. He’s gonna really like 2021.
Funny. If he liked 2020 so much why was it the rest of us he was fcuking all year?
Damn sorry about your dog Yusuf, that really sucks.
Good article, I look forward to another part. California was such a great place, a paradise in many ways, and they fucked it up badly. It still is a natural paradise, especially up state, but in SoCal as well. I’d love to see it split into two states, with Jefferson being one.
Three states would be my vote. Coastal Cali from the Mexican border to Napa extending in a f. Inland Empire from the current eastern border to Coastal Cali and up to Sacramento. Jefferson everything north of there.
I want Riverside County going to Arizona. That way, escape would only be an hour away.
K Sue! I had a nightmare about trying to drive/park in your city. I take it you’re on the flat foggy side. And ditto that even if gerrymandered.
Really, could anyone who has the author’s details contact him?
Db, I could get behind three states with slightly different borders. I would extend it up to Sonoma County, and I start just north of San Diego, giving SD to the Inland Empire.
Yo Tox, I drive and park throughout the City every day in all places. I am everywhere. I get nightmares about it too, and then the fog.
And I think Yusef is likely just sleeping as he is a couple hours ahead.
Hope you’re right. Haven’t been to your pretty city in an age.
I like you people.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=bfDrF9s27ec
Uh, meant as reply.
It’s hard for me to remember now, but I really loved California at one point. I had relatives around LA back then, and we flew out to visit every few years. Freshman year of college out there was great (i mean, shit, I went to Pepperdine – how many college freshmen have a million-dollar view of the Pacific from their dorm room window?), but for financial reasons I transferred back home for that in-state tuition. Always intended to go back, and so I did after graduation. And…..it was good for a while, then it was less good, and after a couple of years I was desperate to get the hell out. And that was a much saner California. It’s a damned shame what it has become, because there are a lot of great things about it. My relatives from there all fled too, to Florida mostly. At this point I have no desire to ever return, even for a visit.
Still miss the weather, though.
Produced two R presidents! (whom some of us might still remember)
KS, best thoughts to you; YKWIM.
One of whom was not a crook.
Heh. One of whom is generally more fondly remembered than another.
Tricky Dick?
Back at ya Tox.
It’s also about where you are in life, a place can be incredibly beautiful and meaningful to one person at a particular time and then lose that magic, through nothing of the place itself but merely the person experiencing the place. I spent three mostly terrible months in Spain in my 20’s, but then again I wasn’t just vacationing there but trying to live and get work there. I switched countries and had an unbelievable next few years until that place wore itself out as well.
I’ve mentioned it before, but by any reasonable measure (weather, natural resources, geography, etc.) California ought to be paradise on Earth. And they spent much of the 20th Century trying to become that.
But it takes true genius politicians to fuck something like that up. The massive natural advantages it has is the only thing preventing it from becoming Detroit or Cleveland, but worse.
Hilaria-ous.
https://twitchy.com/sarahd-313035/2020/12/28/alec-baldwins-wife-hilaria-keeps-digging-after-getting-royally-busted-for-allegedly-how-you-say-in-english-lying-about-spanish-heritage-videos/
In more California news…
https://dailycaller.com/2020/12/28/kiley-we-are-winning-the-fight-to-recall-governor-newsom/
A boy can wish…
But wouldn’t it be something if the Gav got ditched as a result of this shitshow of year? I’m still collecting signatures.
jinx!
I think I last signed in summer; should I again? (preferably in person)
Ah go on! Haveh cuppa tea wouldja?
Finally saw your new avatar. Me gusta.
¡Ga *wahn*! (she said phonetically)
I like you. Haven’t been to your area since the analog age: once in an RV, once in a manual; once in an automatic (chronologically speaking).
Still fecking worried about the author.
This is one of the very few political trends in California which I’d love to see get copied across the country.
You know what’s sad? I told my 75 year old mom (who lives here in SoCal and hates newsom) about the recall effort and said I could get her a page to sign the recall petition and she said no, because she didn’t want to end up on a list of political enemies.
And I had to take a moment, and wonder if she was just being paranoid, or she was right.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0107002/mediaviewer/rm4040728320/
I signed it. I had looked it up on my phone and the first several search results were just articles about the petition.
So I went to the CA GOP page which led to a place where I could see businesses that had petitions to sign. I wrote down all the nearby businesses so I can visit later. My husband and I signed the one at a local winery. Business owner didn’t enforce masks and he let a group of friends drink on premises outdoors.
Here’s a pic of their sidewalk sign:
https://imgur.com/a/PRwUcqo
Have seen it reliably at Wally World .
Good! A little surprising, but good.
Thanks for all the kind words, I just woke from a drunken stupor, loss does that to me…
I keep looking around, then I remember she’s gone, I’m still fucked up over this,
Damn it!
Back to work today after an…eventful weekend. Probably not for the whole day. Thank goodness this is a bit of a lull week, though the boss wants to get certain expenses paid before year-end. And the full moon is tonight… : /
GT, Hope Mr. T is doing well, God Bless ya both!
Thanks, Yu! I think he’s doing remarkably well. Blessings and hugs to you! : )
[Pssssst! Someone was worried about you! ; ) ]
I have that effect on people,
^^^^ This!
Thanks for your kind words yesterday and today, Fes! Sorry not to have replied – I was a bit preoccupado.
De Nada. We care about the people here. You guys are always in my thoughts.
One thing I’ll say for working these crazy hours is that my delts and traps are coming along quite nicely. Holiday Season glib-fit for the win! Happens every Winter but more so this year. All of us Deplorables should get in some more exercise. Maybe farm work? In a special camp set aside for us? Just spitballin’ here…
I know of a place in Manzanar California that would be just right for that Camp……….