The Coast Starlight

I awoke this morning to the sound of Beverly Hills birds singing bright and hip songs, as if to prove their worthiness to live among so many expensive cars and high-powered youth. It was just after 6 AM, and I could hear David Attenborough in my head noting, "sound travels farther in the cooler air."

Once the rest of the family was up, I ate breakfast with Mihir and Shruti. Mihir picked disinterestedly at a muffin, warned not to waste any food that he had already begun eating. Mihir and Shruti were adorable when I told them what happens when you waste your food. "one day, when you're older, you'll wake up covered in a small mountain of all the food you've ever wasted. The pile might even be so big as to prevent you from getting up at all, and then you will have to eat your way out, as payment for wastefulness." "no way!" laughed Mihir, "I dont believe you." "Oh but you should! It happened to me before. I woke up one morning with the air full of the smell of broccoli. When I opened my eyes, I was distraught to find myself under a giant pile of vegetables that I had not finished." Samir, who was now awake enough to be mischevious, corroborated my story by citing his own two Incidences. "Does it even get on your feet?!" Shruti cried. "Oh yeah, even between your toes..." The two of them became very skeptical of this karmic lesson on waste, giggling the whole time that they tried to get us to confess to our fabrication.




We got on the train at Union Station, an impressive building in downtown LA. After a last goodbye to Mr. Singh, we boarded the Coast Starlight train, on which we are still aboard. The scenery was quite striking at first. Rumbling right along the coast, we could see craggy cliffs of dark stone falling into playful, white foam. The shimmering crests danced across the surface of green, powerful waves that faded into the morning fog. Later on, the cliffs gave way to sand dunes topped with sea grass and carpeted in ice plants.



The train has also been a place to meet interesting people. Take Rod, for example. 44, with an unruly beard and a face that suggested a deep, chortling laughter, Rod first entered our conversation about cereal by offering us his cheese crackers. He then proceeded to offer us cheap vodka and cannabis. We acknowledged his generosity before settling instead for a bit of his life story. I guess we're close now, since he has expressed his love for Samir (lookout Sam Dibaggio). I was pleased to have dinner with Jasmine, an Aussie sheila on a two month holliday tour of North America. Not much older than we are, Jasmine let me know about a Japanese contest in which opposing ninja bakers vie to make the best loaf of bread. We dreamed out loud about Tim Tams and Cadbury chocolates.



Now we are moving again. It is late, and I am going to try and get some rest. Until tomorrow!


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Location:1st St,Davis,United States