Rambling Impressions, Part I

One of the things I like about trains is that the path they take cuts through the unpolished and unadorned part of the country. By and large, the facades face the roads and highways, while the rails pass through the land, almost unnoticed.

Texas ... but could be anywhere.

From a train, you see places as they are, not as they would like you to see them. Instead of the well-maintained public-facing business park, you see the warehouse loading docks; instead of the shiny car dealership, you see the scrapyards, the repair shops, the pick-a-part lots. You see the hidden face of our tremendously complex infrastructure: power plants and electrical substations, flood control channels, highway maintenance yards, aqueducts, landfills, and refineries.

I  tend to think of the United States (and California in particular) as being a completely post-industrial society. Ten minutes on an eastbound train out of Union Station puts the lie to that belief. We may no longer have the kind of industrial output we once did, but all across Los Angeles County we passed small factories churning out security cameras, concrete structural components, piping, pallets, vacuum fittings, aerospace connectors, signs, irrigation equipment, and more. Then again, it’s not Kaiser Steel or General Motors.

…

Texans are fond of pointing out how big the state is. And it is big. So big, in fact, that there are vast stretches without any cell coverage at all.

But then, the heavens open up, and to a chorus of angels, pure, beautiful bandwidth rains down from on high…

A chorus of Angels

Bandwidth ... but not a compatible carrier

Sweet Sprint CDMA like Manna in Del Rio!