I drove to San Francisco last Friday to have brunch with Rachel and her friend, Megan. Oh, and also to drop off the Sube to Dylan, who needed it for a few days of transporting large objects. It was fun, but noonish I had to turn around and find my way home (or near it) without a car.Not that I'm an authority on the subject of public transportation. I'm more of an expert, having lived all my life in Southern California (with a bit of time in rural Colorado), on the lack of it.
RANT ALERT!!!
I've heard all the reasons. There are myriad historical, sociological, anthropological, geographical and political (and whatever other "-al") explanations as to why there is such a dearth of good public transport options in most areas of Caleeforneeya (and the rest of west). Funding (the "financi-al") is only the manifestion of priorities, and isn't, in an of itself, a reason.
So, to follow two hours-driving time along I-80 (I don't demand door-to-door-just the interstate part of the journey) by Amtrak last Friday, took four. There is track the whole way. Many routes on Amtrak, like this one, are segmented train/bus service. One I traveled several years ago from San Diego to Fresno took all day: train/bus/train. It's not Amtrak's fault. The blame lies with us, the short-sighted, car-happy public. Just sayin'.
END ALERT
Since we're on the subject of transportation, the Nevada County airport is about two miles from us, as the Cessna flies, though it's about 15 minutes to drive. And that little airport became a beehive of activity on Saturday for the annual air show. Oddly, having lived near Miramar (of Top Gun fame) for so many years, where the air shows are huge and full of Blue Angels among other spectacles, we've never attended such an event.
I think we were both surprised about how much fun it was to look at all the old war planes (well, sobering, too), the colorful vintage aircraft, the sleek experimental airplanes, the CalFire scout planes and water-bombers, many of them doing fly-bys in turn, and more! We even loved the amazing eagle-sized radio-controlled hobby planes (like honeybees among the condors). I've always thought it would be quite a thrill to know how to fly a small plane, but it's never been, say, very practical to think about it too much. There were helicopters, ultra-lights (now THERE'S some fun!!) and micro vehicles (three-wheeled), made by Messerschmidt and BMW. And, this being Nevada County, at every event one can always plan to see lovely vintage cars and/or belly dancers. The dancers were conspicuously absent, but there were some beautiful old cars. And, now that we're getting a bit acquainted, at most events we encounter a few folks we know, which is fun.
Happy traveling!
