Conversation

Notices

1. Embed this notice
   Paul Cantrell (inthehands@hachyderm.io)'s status on Saturday, 12-Aug-2023 05:35:56 JST Paul Cantrell

   Wow, the crew on this Amtrak has an unusually high asshole quotient.

   • Embed this notice
     Paul Cantrell (inthehands@hachyderm.io)'s status on Saturday, 12-Aug-2023 05:45:32 JST Paul Cantrell

     in reply to

     Rail travel in the US is such a disappointment.

   • Embed this notice
     Bruce MacDonald (rationaldoge@hachyderm.io)'s status on Saturday, 12-Aug-2023 05:52:20 JST Bruce MacDonald

     in reply to

     @inthehands And such high prices!

   • Embed this notice
     Paul Cantrell (inthehands@hachyderm.io)'s status on Saturday, 12-Aug-2023 05:56:26 JST Paul Cantrell

     in reply to

     If anybody has the Secret Amtrak Complaint Line and wants to help me return the headache for some dudes running a dining car with unnecessary police vibes, let me know!

   • Embed this notice
     Paul Cantrell (inthehands@hachyderm.io)'s status on Saturday, 12-Aug-2023 06:08:02 JST Paul Cantrell

     in reply to

     • Dr. Brad Rosenheim

     @Brad_Rosenheim Yeah. I mean, I feel for the folks trying to make these trains run within a system designed to kill them. But seems like the one thing they can still offer that planes can’t is a sense of gracious ease. If Amtrak’s not a relaxing luxury, what is it?

   • Embed this notice
     Dr. Brad Rosenheim (brad_rosenheim@climatejustice.rocks)'s status on Saturday, 12-Aug-2023 06:08:03 JST Dr. Brad Rosenheim

     in reply to

     @inthehands Oh that sucks. The dining car is like the only saving grace for Amtrak. Without that, it's like a pretty decent train for the 1930's.

   • Embed this notice
     Paul Cantrell (inthehands@hachyderm.io)'s status on Saturday, 12-Aug-2023 06:45:50 JST Paul Cantrell

     in reply to

     • Dr. Brad Rosenheim
     • 🇨🇦 Michael Porter 🇨🇦

     @MichaelPorter @Brad_Rosenheim For a better experience, or to learn how good I have it?

   • Embed this notice
     🇨🇦 Michael Porter 🇨🇦 (michaelporter@ottawa.place)'s status on Saturday, 12-Aug-2023 06:45:51 JST 🇨🇦 Michael Porter 🇨🇦

     in reply to

     • Dr. Brad Rosenheim

     @inthehands @Brad_Rosenheim Oh, come to Canada…

   • Embed this notice
     Paul Cantrell (inthehands@hachyderm.io)'s status on Saturday, 12-Aug-2023 07:04:40 JST Paul Cantrell

     in reply to

     • Dr. Brad Rosenheim
     • 🇨🇦 Michael Porter 🇨🇦

     @MichaelPorter @Brad_Rosenheim Ah. Exact same problem with fright trains here. But least LRT here in MSP and several other places is quite good.

     Re Biden: the Acela line that runs up the East Coast is apparently a whole other beast in terms of speed and reliability.

   • Embed this notice
     🇨🇦 Michael Porter 🇨🇦 (michaelporter@ottawa.place)'s status on Saturday, 12-Aug-2023 07:04:41 JST 🇨🇦 Michael Porter 🇨🇦

     in reply to

     • Dr. Brad Rosenheim

     @inthehands @Brad_Rosenheim Our intercity passenger rail regularly gets delayed because there’s only one track and fright trains have priority…

     The LRT in Ottawa was an enormous success… at convincing people they’d be better off taking they cars to work…

     Every time I heard that Biden would go to work via Amtrak I would think, “How is that even possible?”

   • Embed this notice
     🇨🇦 Michael Porter 🇨🇦 (michaelporter@ottawa.place)'s status on Saturday, 12-Aug-2023 07:04:41 JST 🇨🇦 Michael Porter 🇨🇦

     in reply to

     • Dr. Brad Rosenheim

     @inthehands @Brad_Rosenheim I’m not going to fix that typo 😄

   • Embed this notice
     Paul Cantrell (inthehands@hachyderm.io)'s status on Saturday, 12-Aug-2023 08:44:58 JST Paul Cantrell

     in reply to

     • Dr. Brad Rosenheim
     • 🇨🇦 Michael Porter 🇨🇦

     @Brad_Rosenheim @MichaelPorter
     That sounds magical. There’s a lot to be said for slow travel!

     Amtrak with a family has a lot going for it. Observation car is where it’s at. My advice: pack lots of your own food, bring things to help you sleep comfortably, fully expect it to be 0-12 hours late, and embrace the idle time!

   • Embed this notice
     Dr. Brad Rosenheim (brad_rosenheim@climatejustice.rocks)'s status on Saturday, 12-Aug-2023 08:44:59 JST Dr. Brad Rosenheim

     in reply to

     • 🇨🇦 Michael Porter 🇨🇦

     @inthehands @MichaelPorter My last great train adventure was pre-kids. I went to a conference in San Francisco from New Orleans. I had a roomette on the way out, but if I had it on the way back it would have been more expensive than a plane ticket and my university would not have allowed it. Everything went without a hitch, but the train only ran three times a week, so don't miss it! We left on a Wednesday at noon and I arrived in San Francisco near midnight Sunday morning (Saturday night). Coming back, I had to overnight in Los Angeles and meals were not included with a first class ticket. Overall it added 7 days of travel to a 5 day conference, which is why I haven't done since kids were born. Maybe next time I will go with them - they are old enough now!

   • Embed this notice
     Paul Cantrell (inthehands@hachyderm.io)'s status on Saturday, 12-Aug-2023 09:36:41 JST Paul Cantrell

     in reply to

     • Pseudo Nym

     @pseudonym
     Amtrak is ver much BYOF, no matter what their marketing says

   • Embed this notice
     Pseudo Nym (pseudonym@mastodon.online)'s status on Saturday, 12-Aug-2023 09:36:42 JST Pseudo Nym

     in reply to

     @inthehands

     Lots didn't have police vibes, it just didn't have a diving car at all. After our evening flight, at dinner time. That messed with our plans. Glad I had a bag of nuts to share with family until we got to destination

   • Embed this notice
     Paul Cantrell (inthehands@hachyderm.io)'s status on Saturday, 12-Aug-2023 10:28:38 JST Paul Cantrell

     in reply to

     The snack car person is singlehandedly redeeming the whole crew with her salty good humor and utter disregard for the petty tyranny going on upstairs

   • Embed this notice
     Paul Cantrell (inthehands@hachyderm.io)'s status on Saturday, 12-Aug-2023 11:05:15 JST Paul Cantrell

     in reply to

     Train food refrigerator broke. They had to throw away a bunch of food. No more meals from the kitchen.

     No problem! Crew just ordered 30 pizzas to be delivered to the next train stop

   • Embed this notice
     Paul Cantrell (inthehands@hachyderm.io)'s status on Saturday, 12-Aug-2023 11:34:34 JST Paul Cantrell

     in reply to

     TRAINBOW

   • Embed this notice
     Paul Cantrell (inthehands@hachyderm.io)'s status on Saturday, 12-Aug-2023 11:35:27 JST Paul Cantrell

     in reply to

     (That’s as we were crossing the CA/NV border, west of Reno)

   • Embed this notice
     Paul Cantrell (inthehands@hachyderm.io)'s status on Saturday, 12-Aug-2023 11:40:44 JST Paul Cantrell

     in reply to

     In other news, neighbors inform us that golf-ball-sized hail shattered one of the storm windows on our house back in Minneapolis. This train ride has been a real roller coaster (mercifully only in the figurative sense…so far).

   • Embed this notice
     Paul Cantrell (inthehands@hachyderm.io)'s status on Saturday, 12-Aug-2023 12:06:11 JST Paul Cantrell

     in reply to

     Pizza’s going to be a long time coming: conductor told snack car person she’s on her own parceling out those 30 pizzas to the passengers.

     We asked if we could help her out somehow. She said yes: really enjoy those slices when you finally get them

   • Embed this notice
     Paul Cantrell (inthehands@hachyderm.io)'s status on Saturday, 12-Aug-2023 12:15:11 JST Paul Cantrell

     in reply to

     Traveling by plane in the US, the dominant feeling is •extraction•. You can just feel the distant MBAs spending untold sums to squeeze every last drop of blood out of you.

     Traveling by train, the dominant feeling is •disinvestment•. It’s not efficient. It’s barely functioning. The crew is always teetering on the edge of social-emotional breakdown trying to hold the operation together within a system designed to destroy it.

   • Embed this notice
     Paul Cantrell (inthehands@hachyderm.io)'s status on Saturday, 12-Aug-2023 12:24:58 JST Paul Cantrell

     in reply to

     UPDATE: The crew appear to have started speaking to each other, and have a tight pizza operation up and running like they’re a WWII submarine crew. WE HAVE PIZZA. It is entirely edible.

   • Embed this notice
     Paul Cantrell (inthehands@hachyderm.io)'s status on Saturday, 12-Aug-2023 12:30:15 JST Paul Cantrell

     in reply to

     • T. Thorn Coyle they/them

     /me weeps
     https://wandering.shop/@thorncoyle/110874498309631835 (from @thorncoyle)

   • Embed this notice
     Paul Cantrell (inthehands@hachyderm.io)'s status on Saturday, 12-Aug-2023 12:38:50 JST Paul Cantrell

     in reply to

     The pizza is all served on single-use Amtrak-branded plastic plates. Snack Car Hero Lady informs me this is a COVID countermeasure. Me: ?!? Her: Because less touching the plates. Me: ??!??!? Her: Yup

     In the meantime, we’re in a crowded coach car with what appears to be at best light external ventilation. (We are the weirdos wearing masks here, of course)

   • Embed this notice
     Simon Anderson (futur1st@mastodon.social)'s status on Saturday, 12-Aug-2023 12:40:22 JST Simon Anderson

     in reply to

     @inthehands the storm was sudden and lots of heavy rain here on Bde Maka Ska. Only a little hail here though, I guess we got lucky. Sounds like an amazing train journey!

     Here's a photo of the clouds reflecting the sunset over Lake of the Isles tonight to remind you of home:

   • Embed this notice
     Paul Cantrell (inthehands@hachyderm.io)'s status on Saturday, 12-Aug-2023 12:40:22 JST Paul Cantrell

     in reply to

     • Simon Anderson

     @Futur1st
     Thanks!! Tell the lakes we’ll be back soon, bringing word from their cousins in the Sierras and the Rockies.

   • Embed this notice
     T. Thorn Coyle they/them (thorncoyle@wandering.shop)'s status on Saturday, 12-Aug-2023 12:50:00 JST T. Thorn Coyle they/them

     in reply to

     @inthehands I’m sorry that the poor choices made by generations of greedy, shortsighted people is directly impacting you in this moment.

   • Embed this notice
     Paul Cantrell (inthehands@hachyderm.io)'s status on Saturday, 12-Aug-2023 12:50:00 JST Paul Cantrell

     in reply to

     • T. Thorn Coyle they/them

     @thorncoyle
     Thanks, that’s graciously said. But hey, I’m used to being alive on this earth! We’re finding our joy along the way.

   • Embed this notice
     Paul Cantrell (inthehands@hachyderm.io)'s status on Saturday, 12-Aug-2023 12:57:40 JST Paul Cantrell

     in reply to

     • skry

     @skry
     Definitely no open windows allowed on the cross-country lines. Honestly I’d feel fine about I if I knew what the ACH rate in these cars is like. Not nearly as crowded us a plane or bus — but if they’re recirculating the air…

   • Embed this notice
     skry (skry@mastodon.social)'s status on Saturday, 12-Aug-2023 12:57:41 JST skry

     in reply to

     @inthehands Thats nuts. I’ve wanted to travel on #amtrak but won’t do it if I can’t open a window. Science matters.

   • Embed this notice
     Paul Cantrell (inthehands@hachyderm.io)'s status on Saturday, 12-Aug-2023 13:42:03 JST Paul Cantrell

     in reply to

     The observation car here is utterly frigid, though still approximately 2000 degrees warmer than my parents’ sleeper car. This may explain where the snack car’s refrigeration went.

   • Embed this notice
     Paul Cantrell (inthehands@hachyderm.io)'s status on Saturday, 12-Aug-2023 13:49:03 JST Paul Cantrell

     in reply to

     My mother is surviving these frigid conditions thanks to a truly superb personal space heater. The space heater also happens to be the trainbow photographer: my daughter

   • Embed this notice
     Gen X-Wing (breadbin@bitbang.social)'s status on Saturday, 12-Aug-2023 14:56:02 JST Gen X-Wing

     in reply to

     @inthehands WWII submarine makes me think of Das Boot.

     Good luck.

   • Embed this notice
     Paul Cantrell (inthehands@hachyderm.io)'s status on Saturday, 12-Aug-2023 14:56:02 JST Paul Cantrell

     in reply to

     • Gen X-Wing

     @breadbin More Yellow Submarine vibes here, tbh. And thanks!

   • Embed this notice
     Paul Cantrell (inthehands@hachyderm.io)'s status on Sunday, 13-Aug-2023 06:07:07 JST Paul Cantrell

     in reply to

     The boaters and rafters in this area frequently observe a custom with passing Amtraks that has earned this stretch of the Colorado the nickname “Moon River”

   • Embed this notice
     Paul Cantrell (inthehands@hachyderm.io)'s status on Sunday, 13-Aug-2023 06:48:45 JST Paul Cantrell

     in reply to

     Passing the town of Rifle, CO. There is a miserable cesspool alongside the track here, perhaps the very one from which Lauren Boebert emerged

   • Embed this notice
     Paul Cantrell (inthehands@hachyderm.io)'s status on Sunday, 13-Aug-2023 07:47:59 JST Paul Cantrell

     in reply to

     New crew, new conductor full of chipper commentary, and suddenly it’s a whole different train ride. The petty authoritarians may come and go, but the train will outlast them all.

   • Embed this notice
     Paul Cantrell (inthehands@hachyderm.io)'s status on Sunday, 13-Aug-2023 08:39:34 JST Paul Cantrell

     in reply to

     Looking out the ceiling window of the observation car, s t r a i g h t u p the walls of the canyon. Dizzying.

     Looking out the other side of the train, across the canyon, there is scale, context. But here, we can hardly see left or right — only straight up. Every few feet bring a new world.

   • Embed this notice
     Paul Cantrell (inthehands@hachyderm.io)'s status on Sunday, 13-Aug-2023 08:42:09 JST Paul Cantrell

     in reply to

     There is no way of seeing a place quite like seeing it by train. “Slipping through the landscape,” my mom says.

   • Embed this notice
     mazianni (mazianni@hachyderm.io)'s status on Sunday, 13-Aug-2023 09:25:51 JST mazianni

     in reply to

     @inthehands Seems a bit insulting to the cesspool...

   • Embed this notice
     Jenna Pederson (she/her) (jenna@hachyderm.io)'s status on Sunday, 13-Aug-2023 09:34:19 JST Jenna Pederson (she/her)

     in reply to

     @inthehands ooh I love that phrase. It’s perfect.

   • Embed this notice
     Paul Cantrell (inthehands@hachyderm.io)'s status on Sunday, 13-Aug-2023 11:03:52 JST Paul Cantrell

     in reply to

     My daughter became obsessed with capturing The Moon (see upthread) in slo-mo video. We warned her it’s late in the day and besides the train had probably already passed that area, but she remained glued to the window, hawklike, and it was as if her tenacity willed The Moon back into existence.

   • Embed this notice
     Paul Cantrell (inthehands@hachyderm.io)'s status on Sunday, 13-Aug-2023 11:33:45 JST Paul Cantrell

     in reply to

     UPDATE: Parent phone now holds an extensive collection of blurry butt videos

   • Embed this notice
     Paul Cantrell (inthehands@hachyderm.io)'s status on Sunday, 13-Aug-2023 12:30:31 JST Paul Cantrell

     in reply to

     Watching trend of scheduled vs actual times for each stop, playing playing Lyft roulette with our scheduled pickup time. If only I were a real statistician…

   • Embed this notice
     Paul Cantrell (inthehands@hachyderm.io)'s status on Sunday, 13-Aug-2023 13:00:52 JST Paul Cantrell

     in reply to

     (actually more like blackjack, but “Lyft roulette” rolls off the tongue better)

   • Embed this notice
     Paul Cantrell (inthehands@hachyderm.io)'s status on Sunday, 13-Aug-2023 15:02:32 JST Paul Cantrell

     in reply to

     Off the train, on the road home. Farewell to our new train friends:

     Darren, it sucks that Yellow went under. You deserved better after all those years. Good luck with wherever life takes you next. I know you will rise to meet it.

     Marta, good luck recording the new Pure Hex album. It’s going to be worth all the sweat and tears, and kick ass.

     Gabby, thanks for what you do with the kids in your autism classroom. They deserve the best, and that’s what you are.

   • Embed this notice
     Paul Cantrell (inthehands@hachyderm.io)'s status on Sunday, 13-Aug-2023 15:09:04 JST Paul Cantrell

     in reply to

     Ricky, keep cycling and keep mapping, and keep doing the desk part of the job too. The environment needs all of us pulling the way you are.

     Aisling, thanks for playing together with my daughter, and sharing your joy with each other. You’re great kids.

     Kendall, keep playing. Music is vast, and that world is for you. For everyone, yes, and that means for you.

   • Embed this notice
     Paul Cantrell (inthehands@hachyderm.io)'s status on Sunday, 13-Aug-2023 15:39:59 JST Paul Cantrell

     in reply to

     Overconfident 18ish-yo dude holding forth on how European art is religion but Native American art is merely decorative because they never had a Renaissance or some such shit, I’m sorry I could hear you. You are very loud. I hope you acquire a sense of the limits of your own knowledge — or, that failing, an indoor voice.

   • Embed this notice
     Paul Cantrell (inthehands@hachyderm.io)'s status on Sunday, 13-Aug-2023 15:47:23 JST Paul Cantrell

     in reply to

     Softspoken person reading Louis Erdrich next to me, I hope you find the paths you’re looking for from Illinois back to your sister and your mountains.

     Snack Car Hero Lady, thanks for being defiantly, brazenly human in the face of corporate process and travel circumstance. You made a whole bunch of people’s days.

     Denizens of Moon River, thank you for the warm welcome. Your asses are special, each and every one.

   • Embed this notice
     Paul Cantrell (inthehands@hachyderm.io)'s status on Wednesday, 08-Nov-2023 12:06:37 JST Paul Cantrell

     in reply to

     • Cathy Ginter

     This from @cathyginter feels like a suitable epilogue to my thread above on the beauty of rail and the ugliness of disinvestment:
     https://universeodon.com/@cathyginter/111371874055897417

   • Embed this notice
     Paul Cantrell (inthehands@hachyderm.io)'s status on Wednesday, 08-Nov-2023 12:12:46 JST Paul Cantrell

     in reply to

     P.S. The new Pure Hex album is indeed really good:
     https://purehex.bandcamp.com/album/still-dark And I never would have learned about this little shoegazing treasure if it weren’t for the train!