Iced Coffee

Someone spilled a cup of coffee on their leg

And sued because it was hot

Now the world charges twice as much for iced coffee.

Mountain Mike’s Pizza Tonight

The Davis Mountain Mike’s Pizza closed.  I went into the Mountain Mike’s experience about six months ago knowing it isn’t the best pizza in the world, however, you know how when something is a little bit off, you all of a sudden get a “gotta-have-it” taste for it.  I found myself in the Davis one, before it closed, quite frequently.  Now, with gas at $4 plus a gallon, I trek fifteen miles to Woodland, all for that “slightly-off” taste.  I guess that is the definition of crazy, huh?

McDonald’s McCafe Hunts Starbucks White Whale

McDonald’s plan to pursue the McCafe business plan chases Starbuck’s white whale- The whale that America, at the moment, has a taste for $3.50 lates. Will McDonald’s kick Starbuck’s when it is down, or turn around and give itself a good swift kick in the seat of the pants?

Pea Soup Andersen’s Santa Nella

If you have been fighting trucks all day on I-5 in California’s central valley and are about to give up at Stockton and go to a Burger King for a long-awaited break, perhaps you should take this into consideration. Perhaps you have found vast almond orchards and nothingness that hardly produce a gas station. There is hope.

I found the town of Santa Nella and Pea Soup Andersen’s when I saw a giant Dutch Windmill rising up along I-5. It was time to stop, to rest my weary back and shoulders. It was time to get a bowl of pea soup.

At the door, the aroma of a ham bone in a slow cooking soup filled my senses as I found a booth and relaxed. I started to nibble on an onion roll and quenched my thirst. I looked around and giggled at drawings of caricatures Hap-Pea and Pea-Wee, splitting peas and making soup in comical poses.

The soup cooks all day. I had a bowl of pea soup that tasted like homemade faster than I could have had a burger. I needed to be in Los Angeles, so I was able to eat and run in under twenty minutes. I had the best pea soup of my life, with bread, crackers, and soda, for the price of extra value meal.
I was back on my way to Los Angeles, fighting trucks, but with a belly full of warm soup. This traveler will never make the mistake of getting a burger when I am within a hundred miles of Santa Nella and Pea Soup Andersen’s.

Roll Into the Night

East bound rolls into the night

Into the morning and into the night

Forever I roll across America

The steel rail glistens along the way

Into the night and into the day

The streamlined cars roll

Across a land so big

Places to go Places to be and places to go

Across the mountains and across the plains

Across the rivers, wide and mighty

Past picked-fences and broken glass allies

Neon lit nights, sunrise in valleys

Mailboxes on roads, the engineer waves

A tractor tills soil; a dog chases its tail

The locomotive plies onward

Into the night and into the day

The cars sail clickity-clack

The crossing gate dings

Across our land the east bound sings

Bacon hits griddle and sizzles; the farmers arise

Into the morning the eastbound flies

Down the track stands Chicago, for where my ticket is punched

Loved ones await my arrival

We will talk over a cup of joe

What I saw in America

How it rises in the morning and dreams at night

Where it tucks its head as the stars twinkle down

What the highways and byways appear like while rolling In an eastbound train

Across the land we love

The sun rises again; dawn cracks its head

The morning mail in, the mail trucks sit idle

Hungry for the express car’s bags Into Union Station our Zephyr glides

Here I am

Chicago

Thirty minutes in the afternoon-micronap

There is a brief pause in the afternoon. The minds gears grind to a halt. I remind myself that the body does not always need to have something to do-I don’t always need to clean when I lean. Sit in the chair and think for a moment. Ah, the micro-nap. The world works better afterwards.

Cold Dice Make Cold Bets

The table has not made a single pass. Your anticipation builds. The dice are due. The dice are getting hot.
You put twice your normal bet. Surely the table has got to hit. The point is six-anybody can hit a six. You put a bet out on the come. You now have six and eight. Anybody can hit six and eight. The dice roll.
Nine-keep rolling. Five. Twelve. Come on. Five, ugh, that should have been it. Ten? Come on, he can hit ten and he can’t hit six or eight? Ten, man, I could have made a come on ten? Ten? Again, I could have gone on and off? Nine, ugh! You feel a lump in your throat. The dice are hot, but not in the right place.
You get anxious, and put another come bet out. Five, now you have two comes. Nine, where is that five, come on. Seven! Man!
The knife does not sharpen the grindstone. If the table is not passing, the table is not passing. Watching a long roll without a pass makes you think you are losing money on all of the comes, however, if a table can’t pass, it will take you out of the casino in a hurry if you bet all over it.
Bet sensibly, and when a table starts to pass, use what you win to press your odds on the pass line. If that pass keeps winning, then use that to make a come bet. Even if you don’t win, you will stay in the casino a little bit longer.

Choo-Choo Train Magnets

I sell Choo-Choo Train magnets on the internet, and for months I have been wondering, “Do people like them or am I just in a slump like the rest of the businesses that seem to be shutting down around me?”  I have been sending out about one to two packages a day-not enough to pay the rent, but not so bad to close up shop, either.  Sales are finally doing a little better, and, being my first real year on the internet, I can only hope that I can survive in the sea of retail of Black Friday this year.

Summer Breeze at the Davis Transit Depot

I ate Jack-in-the-Box tacos at the Davis Transit depot parking lot. There was a kick of delta breeze blowing backyard barbaque from the Olive Drive trailer park. I always hope for a train, however, not much happened. Just me, a summer breeze, and the smell of briquetes.

Find Your Rabbit Holes

I just went on the best vacation I have been on in ten years, if not my whole life.  Dare I divulge the name of my top-secret destination?  Sure.  It is Barstow, CA.  But there is a reason this destination created my perfect vacation; it is one of my “rabbit holes.”
I am a train artist.  I have drawn over 1000 of America’s trains, and my highs and lows come from blaring locomotives and heart pounding freight cars.  Barstow is located on one of America’s busiest rail-lines.
I live in Davis, about 400 miles to the north of Barstow.  I was feeling the need of the muse, so called a hotel down there, and made a getaway package for about $90 a night and $40 each way in gas for my little car.
To me, Barstow is a “rabbit hole.”  It is a place that calls to me.  It is a place that I find special for my own particular reason.  Because of this, I have a hunger to return to it.
We all have our “rabbit holes”-our favorite restaurants, our favorite vacation spots, and our favorite books.  Trying to explain the significance of these “rabbit holes” can often seem silly.  “Why do I drive four hundred miles to see a train track when there is a train track running right through the town where I live?”  I just do.
You may be in a greasy spoon and cannot explain why you like the cheesecake there.  Every Thursday night you find yourself drawn there.  Friends say, “There she goes again, eight o’ clock, going to Sullivan’s, all alone, to get her cheesecake fix.”  You can’t explain it.  But for some reason, there is more than just fork hitting cheesecake and more than cheesecake hitting palate.  The un-matted poster of Paris on the wall seems to do something special for you as you sit there all alone.  You don’t know why.  The world has rabbit holes.  Enjoy them.