riding the rails, poles and Moses



Rail biking is pedaling along railroad tracks in open-air cars with semi-recumbant seating. Cars are for either two or four people. The companies run their excursions on tracks that have been decommissioned for train use or scheduled between trains coming through. No need to play chicken. Excursions can run 1-4 hours. There is a rest halfway through while the guides turn the cars around. Sounds pretty cool.

Joseph Branch Railriders in Oregon, Rail Explorers operates in six states and Revolution Rail Co. in four states. Might be other rail companies. Guides accompany riders and administer safety checks and provide instructions.

Remember party lines? No, not the current meaning; I’m talking phone lines. I remember ours from when I was a kid in Clifton, NJ. What a pain in the butt.
Remember sniffing the ditto paper before starting on the quiz? Guess we have made some progress.

Heather Cox Richardson’s Letters from an American
https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/
December 20, 2024 - Elon Musk - Will the incoming temporary president be his puppet? What Musk is already starting to do makes one wonder.

December 23, 2024 - Panama Canal? Greenland? Gulf of America? What the…! An autocrat can bring many unpleasant issues to the table. Will the American people be strong eough to tell him what he can do with his ideas?

December 27, 2024 - Civil War among the MAGA republicans, Musk and immigration, our culture (needs to) fully wake up.

Having politicians making legislature decisions and billionaires influencing decisions in my country sure does not seem to be the way things should be done.
Wonder how a think-tank would do. One can almost fantasize brilliant abstract thinkers working on solving humanity’s greatest challenges.

I played John Huling’s Winter Solstice: Southwest Meditations on the 21st. Had me thinking that I have to look for a new solstice album.

In the Canary Islands, prior to the Castilian conquest period of the early 15th century, the aboriginal inhabitants of the islands developed a specialized means to traverse ravines and go up and down steep embankments. Keeping up with the sheep and goats was tough. The means was the use of long wooden poles known as lanza or garrote. Each pole is fitted with a sharp metal point called a regatón. The lower hand reaches down, grips the pole with thumb pointing down and achored between upper thighs. Upper hand grips the pole just above shoulder with thumb pointing up. The poles are used for descending and climbing steep rough terrain and vaulting across crevices. And then there are, dead-drops. One steps out into space from heights up to eight meters, jams the pole into the ground below and slides down the pole. Oh yeah, I am going to run right out and try that.
Visit YouTube and look into Brinko Canario and Salto del pastor canario

Anyone interested in dams? Take a look at, “How China Made Sailing Above the Mountains Possible.” @ www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZoaDRnB5ZU

On one of NPR’s Weekend Editions, there was an interview with author, Susan Cooper and illustrator, Carson Ellis. Susan Cooper wrote the poem, “The Shortest day.” The two talked about making the poem into a children’s book. Dug out my copy to slowly savor on the Solctice.

In 1971 Seattle’s Starbuck took its name from the first mate on the ship Pequod in Melville’s Moby Dick.

This artist made a drawing of Moses’s first and last day as a lifeguard. Moses was standing alongside the pool, across from the high dive. Just as a diver sprang off the board, Moses raised his arms and parted the waters.

The ball is in your court. Pick it up and do something with it.

At a certain age, you have to choose between your face and your butt. Catherine Deneuve


Table of Contents

RVwest article ‘Following a Free Spirit’

RVwest article ‘The Space Between the Places’

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