A new series –
I took a train back home yesterday. The 330 miles between LA and San Jose should be a one-hour flight or a five-and-a-half-hour drive. If they had the Chinese high speed rail, it would be merely a one-and-a-half-hour ride. The Coast Starlight is very slow. I sat on it for more than ten hours.
When the train rolled out of LA, I was thinking about my just-parted friends. Two hours later we reached the coast. By the time I discovered the lounge car, the oceanview side was already full. I ordered lunch to hang out in the dining car, but the waiter kept hurrying people to eat and leave.
The beaches were populated at first, but became deserted far past Santa Barbara. Then the train cut inland to Paso Robles. The hills became golden under the late afternoon sun. Calves running.
It was a long, beautiful trip. I have seen this part of California along Route 1, 101, and I5. I have seen it from the sky. But the views are still new to me, immersive, isolated.
In my tenth year here in the Golden State, I’m still deeply in love with it. This love peaks when it’s clear that I don’t belong here. Hope sank with Sol, then dark fell. I pressed my head against the window, secretly saying goodbye.
E.Ree
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