Wahoo!

 Yes, I was hungry tonight.  I had a good breakfast, then no time for lunch.  My last appointment was late, started at 7:30 and went until close to 10.  But the late start let me have a moment to pause for two carnitas tacos with brown rice and black beans at the Chino Hills Wahoo's.  There are as many stickers on the walls as ever, and the food is still good too!

Just thought I would share ...

Benjamin ... this is for you

I started relistening to last week's General Conference while doing this walk.  Two Tabernacle Choir songs, President Monson's opening address, and President Packer's talk.  

Today was a very ordinary April 10.  I worked on a couple dozen things, met with a client, had a cancellation but plenty to do with the time that freed up.  By evening, I was ready for a boost.  I didn't feel like walking, but I did it anyway.  Listening to conference made it so much better!

The 7:20 to San Bernardino

View from my seat upstairs in the "quiet car".  It was an amazingly quiet ride!

Nearing dusk, the train pulls out of Union Station.  There's a little water in the LA River!

I keep trying new ways to travel.  I worked in Hurricane in the morning, then began the trek to California to begin a four day trip by going to St. George a little before 3.  I did three quick errands there, then left Bluff Street to continue to the airport a few minutes before 4.  There was no line at security, one of the things I like about flying out of St. George.  The plane left on time at 4:53, and I was on my way to Los Angeles International.

I was really on my way to Ontario airport, which meant I would be headed 55 miles back towards home as soon as I arrived.  If this sounds backwards, help me evaluate my choices ...

1.  I could have driven directly from St. George to Ontario, about 345 miles.  At the current going rate of 55.5 cents per mile, this would cost me $191, if you factor in things like needing oil changes, new tires, and eventually a replacement vehicle just a little bit sooner.  Obviously if all you consider is gasoline, the number is much lower.  The trip would have taken about 5 1/2 hours, including an estimated 30 minutes lost in Las Vegas rush hour traffic, and I wouldn't be able to do much else during that time but drive.

2.  I could drive from St. George to the Las Vegas airport, about 130 miles, then park and go through security -- which can take anywhere from 5 minutes to over an hour, you never know for sure what you will get at that airport.  As for the flight itself, it takes an hour and generally costs $100-$115 one way, even booking 3 weeks in advance.  Occasionally there are specials, this time if I waited for the 9:30 pm departure I could go for $60 one way.  You have to be careful though.  Choosing the 4:45 pm departure this day would have cost $190, even with the 3 week advance booking.  Total travel time from Bluff Street, including driving, parking, security, boarding, and flying ... takes about 5 hours if everything goes right.  They have free wireless internet at the Vegas airport.  Some of the boarding and flying time can be used to return calls, texts, e-mails, read, write, ... or just close my eyes for a minute.

3.  I could take the St. George shuttle to the Las Vegas airport.  The time is about the same 5 hours, and the $30 cost is a better value than driving and parking ... plus I have more time I can utilize while in motion.

4.  I like supporting the St. George airport, and I really don't much care for the Vegas airport.  I feel like I'm flying out of a giant casino, maybe because in many ways I am.  It isn't that it is a big airport.  I passed through San Francisco last month.  They've figured out how to humanize that one much more than Vegas has, just to give you an example.  Same with Boston when I returned from the trip with Becca last January.  The choices of food are much more inviting, including such things as the San Francisco Soup Company and Legals Sea Food (!)  Even the colors in those airports are more soothing, thanks to recent remodel jobs in both cities.  And did I mention there aren't all those rows of gaming machines and all the racket?  I think I did.

You can actually fly from St. George to Ontario.  If you hit the connections just right you can do it in 3 1/2 hours, but more likely it will take you 4 to 5.  You fly to Salt Lake, then change planes to fly to Ontario.  You have to be careful when you do this not to get sent to Phoenix or San Francisco, or gasp, Las Vegas, on your way to Ontario.  If that happens it could take 8 hours to make the trip.  Not good.  The best the cost ever gets is about $210, and if you aren't careful it often costs $300 one way.  Can't afford that on a monthly basis.

This leads me to what I tried this time.  I paid $110 for a one-way ticket to LAX.  I was off the plane and in the terminal headed for ground transportation at 5:50 pm LA time.  The walk to the street took 10 minutes, where I waited about 20 minutes for the FlyAWay bus to Union Station (cost $7).  That ride took 40 minutes, including 15 lost to traffic when we reached downtown.  Those 15 minutes cost me a chance to grab a snack at Union Station to eat on the train, by now I'm past hungry and moving to an unpleasant world beyond that.  Travel, jostling, and fuel fumes do that to me, more so than when I made trips like this half a lifetime ago.  Still, magical mystery tours are one of the ways I stay young at heart.  I just have to work at it harder and plan in advance a little more.  (Note to self:  remember that peanut butter sandwich next time, you need more than Kirtland trail mix).

So now we are up to 7:00 pm, or 4 hours since I left Bluff Street, including the time change.  I cross the street and enter Union Station, noticing the ticket machine where I pay $9.75 for a one-way to Rancho Cucamonga.  Then I start passing platforms.  12, 11, 10 ... no sign of Metrolink yet, just the various other services sharing the station.  Then I see it.  The 7:20 is leaving on platform 7B, or I can wait for the 8:20 which will depart from platform 8A.  I look for platform 9 3/4 but I guess I'm not feeling the magic tonight.  Sorry, Harry and Becca!  If I get the 8:20 I would have time to walk to Phillipe's and get a french dip sandwich and some good potato salad, and see if that $5 gas has dropped any yet.  But my research before I left indicates the last bus at the other end meets the 7:20 when it arrives at 8:30.  And I'm not crazy about walking 4 miles to my hotel with my backpack and carry-on clothing bag.  So no dinner yet.  Let's get on the 7:20 to San Bernardino, with stops at Cal State LA, El Monte, Baldwin Park, Covina, Pomona North, Claremont, Montclair, Upland, Rancho Cucamonga (where I plan to get off), Fontana, and Rialto along the way.

The ride is amazingly quiet, and I get a thrill when we are going along the side of the San Bernardino (I-10) freeway in Rosemead and we are passing cars that appear to be going full freeway speeds.  I wasn't expecting this combination of speed with approaching zero noise!

We arrive in Rancho Cucamonga exactly on schedule, and the Omnitrans number 81 bus, which runs once an hour and is timed to arrive when the train does, pulls up just as I'm walking up the stairs from the station.  I show my Metrolink ticket, which includes the ride on this bus.  The station is near 7th and Milliken.  The bus heads south on Milliken and turns into the parking lot for the Ontario Mills parking lot, then leaves again and heads west on Concours past the relatively new Citizens Business Bank Arena (couldn't they have come up with a catchier name, say the Epicenter?) where the Ontario Reign ECHL hockey team plays (the parking lot is full tonight).  At Haven the bus turns left and crosses the bridge over Interstate 10.  I get off at the next stop, Guasti.  For those of you who have missed Terreeeblay, here is what comes next ...

Find more Walk in Ontario, CA

I arrived at 8:57, pretty much right on 6 hours from when I left Bluff Street.  I did close my eyes some.  I also wrote some planning notes as I thought of them, which I have been meaning to do for awhile.  Oh, and I checked in the hotel, then within 10 minutes I was in a seat next door at Panda Inn, a nice Chinese restaurant, where I had broccoli, steamed chicken and shrimp, with some of the best steamed brown rice I've had in some time.  I was ready to eat that!

So you tell me, please.  Which way would you choose to go from St. George to Ontario, and what do you like about your recommendation?  As for me, after 20 years of regularly making this trip, I'm still chasing the moving cheese.  Plane fares just went up again, next time I want to book the flight from St. George to LA, it will be $136 for the best advanced booking fare, not $110.  Does that news change your recommendation? Give me your take! I'm out!

Amazing! ... Grace

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I had an unusual opportunity to have a little quiet time Easter Sunday morning, so I listened to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir station that Becca created for me on our magical mystery tcur earlier this year while doing some contemplating.

When they got to "Amazing Grace" I was just amazed.  The song just sounds different and extra special the way they do it!  Give it a listen and tell me how it touched you ... by the way, the music video version is also very moving!

The Overcoat

In the spring of 1976, I took Organizational Behavior 321 from Stephen Covey in the old auditorium of BYU's Joseph Smith Building with Jerry Sparks, a friend I had met in Intercollegiate Knights shortly after returning from my mission.  In IK's we mostly did service projects, but also had fun lighting the Y and selling programs at football and basketball games (for which we got seating by the marching band which was great fun).

Jerry was dating Marilyn Anderson.   I met her when she came to Covey's class with Jerry.  They got engaged as the semester progressed, and when they both graduated that summer they were married.  We did what most students seem to do, went our separate ways after graduation.  We have exchanged Christmas letters over the years but haven't had much other contact.  

As part of their recent job search, I was contacted to see if I could provide any leads.  In the course of that, this comment was made:

"Whenever I see a young man in an overcoat I think of you Doug as your education was far more important than getting a different coat after your mission.  You had your priorities right!"

I am humbled, and very surprised.  I had no idea that my well worn English wool overcoat meant anything to anyone, especially thirty-six years later.  One more reminder to me, that you never know who is looking at you, and what the seemingly meaningless things you do mean to others.