He seems a bit testy....................

 

............about how things are going in California:

As the descent accelerates, the promises of more free shit accelerate. Eventually we’ll all be living in a muddy hole in the ground, and the political debates for state office will be about eating daily free lobster and filet mignon from the government. “Buddy, I’ll fill that muddy hole in the ground where you live with the biggest free diamonds you’re ever seen.” They’re out of money, they’re out of sanity, they’re out of logic, and they’re out of honesty. Why, boys, out in Californee, they go lakes full of hot stew, and the rivers flow with the finest whiskey.

The combination of getting less and being promised more seems to be inevitable, making politics an exercise in filling psychological holes. You’ll go to bed hungry, but debates will be a buffet. Hobos dream big.

Fourth Port of Call...............................

 ..........................................Skagway:

Situated in the northernmost fjord in the Inland Passage, Skagway is a delightful little town.  I say little because there were more people on our cruise ship than live and work in Skagway.  It's heyday came in the very late 1800s.  Gold was discovered in the Yukon Territory, and Skagway was the most logical jumping off point for waves of prospectors. All that traffic attracted the usual characters.  Most of the buildings seem to date from that era. Our quick tour of the town included a visit to the "Boot Hill" cemetery, where our guide gave a colorful exposition on the life of Soapy Smith.  The highlight though was the train ride up White's Pass.  Most of the photos were taken on that trip.

Skagway has a delightful historic downtown.  We had an
excellent lunch at one of their many restaurants

The Skagway River

Ditto

Some pretty fair views from the top of the Pass

A bridge in our future

I could stare at this view all day

If you squint, you can see the cruise ship

Thankfully we didn't take this bridge

Local mass transit option for tourists

Skagway.  We would go  back.

On biglification..........................

We had this problem licked more than a century ago, when the overwhelming majority never went anywhere except on foot, and those with a need to travel grand distances could take the railway — which, incidentally, had baggage cars. Taking this Province for my example, and my wanderings through it for my research, I am constantly impressed to discover evidence of how well it was served by the railroads, back when it had a fraction of its present population, and incomes were much lower. One could get from almost any little place to almost any other along them.

The obliteration of our railroads did not happen by chance. Starting with Roosevelt, on this side of the Atlantic, and Hitler, on the other side, a grand concerted effort was made to promote the automotive and paving industries, and build autobahns, specifically at the expense of rail. Cars had already become too numerous by the 1920s, but the idea of what Trump and I might call “biglification” — the totalitarian impulse — was to choke the planet with “people’s” cars, trucks, and buses. It became the one big economic pseudo vision, as the Depression wore on. What had been fairly useful vehicles — very local extensions from the train stations — became the most awkward and wasteful mass-transport system imaginable. The intention of the captains and politicians of industry was, from the beginning, to compel everyone to buy and drive these voracious machines, and become permanently indebted thereby.

-David Warren, as cut and pasted from here

Why drive when you can take the train?

At 1:55, "I bought the Red Car so I could dismantle it."