It happens: with too much time on my hands I occasionally turn to politics.
Dear Senator Heinrich,
When I was a three years old in Japan, I was nearly killed when an express came through the Tokyo train station.
Hurrying to cross the tracks to get to our connection, my parents each thought the other had me by the hand. Awestruck by the oncoming express, which doesn't slow down for the station, I stood transfixed in the middle of the rails. Even then, in 1955, their trains were going over 100mph.
As I travel, I notice the preponderance of trucks on the freeway, and I wonder how much of the stagnation of our rail infrastructure is due to what must be an enormous tax cash-cow flowing from the fuel pumps?
Now that we have innumerable trucking companies with hundreds of thousands of drivers, are our hands tied to sustaining that segment of the economy by ignoring the potential of high-speed rail?
I'd like to take the train to San Francisco, Portland, Seattle, Vancouver, Dallas, Atlanta, Boston and on and on. Will they be electric?
Sincerely,
MFH
Hi Mike, trying to get caught up on your wanderings. Did we cross paths again? was in Green River town park about noon Wed Sept 27 (if I remember right) then raced on to Fruita. Seems I'm not made to travel leisurely to and from my destination. So I enjoy your accounts.
ReplyDeleteUsed to travel by train, Laramie to CA, to visit my parents long ago. It was great. Doesn't run anymore :(
Best wishes.
Hi Hollis,
DeleteWe almost crossed paths. I was wending my way east from Castle Dale to a few miles south of Woodside, UT (on 191 north of Green River). It enabled to avoid about 70 miles of I-70. I left Castle Dale in the afternoon of the 25th and got to Green River at 4:30 on the 29th.
I usually take on water at the park and this time sprang for a shower ($7 for out-of-state senior) at the State Park campground. Unlimited hot water!
I left Moab late today and finally made camp at 9:30 about 10 miles south of town. There's so much to see in Utah!
Good to hesr from you. I thought maybe you'd gotten bored.
Back when I was in high school, our highly-respected social studies teacher made everyone in the class write to our local congressman (not too many women in power back then). We all got the same form letter back, thanking us for our letter. That was my introduction to cynicism as it relates to politics. The different directions that money passes, and the amounts of it, are the answer to most of these thorny questions.
ReplyDeleteJohn,
DeleteI know what you say to be true. But Heinrich is interesting; he has, over the years, increased his support for the environment while doing the same for the Native AND Hispanic communities (neither of which have forgotten Oñate's atrocities) AND doing a reasonably good job of keeping the military happy. It's a tall order.
He has a cadre of young assistants who do at least *some* diligence and reply to my letters with evidence of having taken time to look into things. God nose if Heinrich hears of my concerns but I take some satisfaction in knowing at least one youngster was prompted to look into something.
It sometimes takes weeks to get a reply - there's turnover - but they eventually follow up. We'll see.