Oh Look! A Choo Choo!!

OMG! Is that a train headlight???

Sit down my children and let me regale you with a tale of camping. You see (by way of setting this up correctly) MANY campgrounds have had to take the slim pickings of property. They need a lot of space and sometimes... just sometimes... that property just happens to be RIGHT NEXT TO THE RAILROAD TRACKS! Do you see where this is going? Oh wait... before we continue (and I know I have everyone's attention except for DonL) we have to go back many many years.

My family lived in L.A. My grandparents lived in Oakland. We were either going up to see them, or going to Yosemite to camp. Oddly enough, in those days, this was not a one day trip . We stopped at a 'reasonable' motel, and settled down to sleep. Then the first train came through. I swear to this day that we could have reached out the back window and TOUCHED that sucker. Well, you're not going to uproot three kids and pack them in the car at 10 or 11 at night, so we stayed.. it was NOT pretty..

That being said...

I don't remember how many times the train went through last night, but I do know that it had to toot that whistle EVERY SINGLE TIME (punctuated with a stomp of a foot, rather like My Cousin Vinny). Oh ... Boy... Now normally I love the sound of a train. It's as evocative as music, and since it's been removed from most suburban settings, it's a joy. HOWEVER, it's not nearly as joyous at 4 AM when it's running close enough to my van to actually MOVE it...

However, on the good side, this WIFI place in which I had a GREAT wrap 'sandwich' last night, was open early today, so I'm here for real coffee and a tidy breakfast.

Then I'm on the road again...

to follow the train...

me!