Hi friends!

Here's my progress report on summer travels in Web form - the email server is being a bit cranky about sending my email to you when I'm not on the college service. This way, you can see the pictures I shrank down to make them quicker to email.

I left Ann Arbor on the train a week ago, Sunday morning July 18. First stop was Chicago, but only for three hours. (I went to a Starbuck's near the train station where I could get a wireless connection for my laptop.)
Next was the train to Los Angeles, where I had a little sleeping compartment - very cute!
Passengers in sleeping compartments get three pre-paid meals every day on the train, in an elegant dining car with cloth napkins and table cloths, fresh flowers on the tables, and an upscale menu. This is what Amtrak trains in the West look like:
The train rolls for two and a half days through beautiful country. Here are some rock formations in the Arizona part of the Navajo Nation.
We got to LA on Tuesday morning. I immediately took another train north to Oxnard (what a funny name!) where I met my old friend from grad school, Carol Day. She lives in a small town nearby, Santa Paula, and teaches sciences at Thomas Aquinas College, nestled in a mountain valley near Santa Paula. She took me in her Jeep back into the mountains of Los Padres National Forest.
We hiked about two hours into a primitive campsite (bathroom = plenty of bushes!) and slept under the stars - which, as you might imagine, were very bright and plentiful. If only I hadn't been too tired to keep my eyes open! Carol is a fund of knowledge about the plants and animals of southern California mountains. She pointed out several bear tracks, not to mention lots of little animal signs and numerous very fragrant plants like California laurel, white sage, purple sage, and "mule fat" (another funny name!).
The highlight of it all was tramping along, hot, dusty, and sweaty, finding the clear, cool pools of Matilaja Creek, and going for a swim. (Carol had thoughtfully packed bathing suits and towels.) I wouldn't have traded the experience for a five-star hotel in Hawaii!
Thursday noon I got on another train at Oxnard to travel up the coast to Tacoma, Washington, where my sister Laura lives. This train travels a slow but very beautiful route, first right beside the sea...
...then through the mountains.
As you go further north, the hot, brown, dusty mountains of the south give way to the lush, well-watered forests of the north.
This train, the "Coast Starlight", is even nicer than the ones that go west from Chicago. For sleeping car passengers, there is a special lounge-observation car with swivel armchairs so you can appreciate the beauty in comfort. And every afternoon, they have a free wine and cheese tasting party there!
We reached San Jose about 11 PM, and when I woke up the next morning, we were in the steep, forested canyon of the Sacramento River. By lunchtime, we were looping through the Cascade Mountains of Oregon, and at sunset we crossed the Columbia River into Washington.
We got to Tacoma about 11 at night, and though I was sorry to leave the train, I was very happy to see my sister! She had surgery two weeks ago, but she's recovering pretty well now and has regained a lot of her energy. Yesterday (Saturday) afternoon, we went and visited Eugene and Myla Montgomery. Last Fall, I had my INP 190 class develop a Website for a non-profit organization they founded and run, called Keep Our Schools Safe . They're great people, and I think the students did a wonderful job with their Website! ;-)	http://www.MontgomeryKOSS.org
It's Sunday morning as I write this. I'm sitting in Laura's greenhouse, in the downtown part of Tacoma, looking out at the harbor where lots of container ships from Asia come to unload their cargo. ...later... Here's Laura in the greenhouse.

As I write this, Laura is still asleep, but as soon as she wakes up, we'll go to church, do the grocery shopping, and start packing up her van with things she needs in Florida. I'll be driving back to Michigan in her van, she'll fly to Detroit after a couple of weeks, and we'll drive down to Florida where she'll help take care of our father while she goes to nursing school. Meanwhile, I'll be driving to Massachusetts to see my other sister, Helen - Laura's twin - then come back and teach UA for a week to help me pay for all this travel! ;-) Of course, I took many more (and bigger) pictures than what I could send here. If/when we get together sometime, I'll be happy to show them to you!

Cheers! - Larry Krieg 8-)>