Hey, thank you. Most of these layouts are as much as a fifty-mile a drive from us here in Surprise, but that's what it's like living in the Phoenix area. It would be worth the time though... Wow, 6000 feet of track in your backyard, that's worth the trip just to see that one.
I know what you mean, Don. I used to have to do a lot of work in Surprise. Our office was in Scottsdale, so I informally nicknamed Surprise as "Surprise!" (with an exclamation point), as in "Surprise! You are still in the city!" Buckeye, of course was "East Blythe", and we'd say Chandler was so far east that they went on daylight saving time with New Mexico. My out-of-state relatives and friends usually have a poor grasp of how big some of these western cities and states are. Whenever some newsworthy event happens in Arizona, they want to know if it is close to my house, not understanding that it is 200 miles away.
nachoman Wrote:I know what you mean, Don. I used to have to do a lot of work in Surprise. Our office was in Scottsdale, so I informally nicknamed Surprise as "Surprise!" (with an exclamation point), as in "Surprise! You are still in the city!" Buckeye, of course was "East Blythe", and we'd say Chandler was so far east that they went on daylight saving time with New Mexico. My out-of-state relatives and friends usually have a poor grasp of how big some of these western cities and states are. Whenever some newsworthy event happens in Arizona, they want to know if it is close to my house, not understanding that it is 200 miles away.
I wrote an article a while back about this. About how towns that were miles apart now border on each other, and how we still will drive from Surprise to Scottsdale, about 35 miles one-way just to buy some of Chompie's bagels, or how we would drive to Chandler, about 45 miles one-way, just to go to the outlet mall there. Right now we drive almost 50 miles just to get to a shooting spot in the desert. I used to kid about bringing a lunch to to go to Mesa, so I guess going on this train tour isn't so bad after all.
nachoman Wrote:I know what you mean, Don. I used to have to do a lot of work in Surprise. Our office was in Scottsdale, so I informally nicknamed Surprise as "Surprise!" (with an exclamation point), as in "Surprise! You are still in the city!" Buckeye, of course was "East Blythe", and we'd say Chandler was so far east that they went on daylight saving time with New Mexico. My out-of-state relatives and friends usually have a poor grasp of how big some of these western cities and states are. Whenever some newsworthy event happens in Arizona, they want to know if it is close to my house, not understanding that it is 200 miles away.
I'm amazed at how many folks from the East who have never been out here come to L. A. and ask about going up to San Francisco for an evening. They don't realize that it is 400 miles North!
Until the "Hi-Speed Rail" gets built, just fire up the Lear-Jet...everybody in So-Cal has one, don't they ?
Bob C.
When I lived in Los Gatos, CA (just south of San Jose & Silicon Valley) my Dad would call from Pennsylvania at 06:30 on a Saturday (like I could see to find the phone to answer it at that hour!) and ask if I had felt the earthquake that he had heard about on the news and what did it feel like.
"Dad, do you realize that I'm three hours behind you out here?!!! What earthquake? Where was the earthquake, Dad?"
"It was in Eureeka, CA. So, did you feel it? What does an eathquake feel like?"
"Eureeka, Eureeka, (under breath, where the hell is Eureeka?) Hold on Dad, let me get a map. (I'm awake now.) I look at the map and find Eureeka ... way up there!
"Dad, if you are sitting in the kitchen in your house in the Philadelphia suburbs, having breakfast with Mom, and they have an earthquake in Pittsburgh, do you think you would feel it?"
"Well, no ... that's almost three hundred miles away!"
Well, O.K., then! No, Dad I didn't feel the earthquake ... and please, Dad, try to remember when it's 9:30 in the morning for you, it's only 6:30 for me. Goodbye, Dad."