Free Bus Ride

In my never ending quest to see new stuff and yet not contribute any constructive aid or comfort I discovered a fun way to visit the Puget Sound Link Light Rail Project. It’s a bus tour.

We (apparently anybody who signs up) passengers pick up the bus near the old King Street Station in Seattle. We need to bring cash for lunch. Or we don’t eat. Harsh. We have to RSVP. Some French saying I never understood.

The plan is to run people via bus along the construction route and show how things are going, completing, and fumbling. The last one should be fun. I don’t think the bus will be going through the toxic Beacon Hill Tunnel but it should be fun anyway. We’re allowed to ask questions.
My first question is “If I cross the International Date Line on my birthday do I still get presents?” Ha ha. That’s an old one.

So I’m going to send in my RSVP and hope for a seat. Umm, did I say that right? I meant a seat on the bus, not… well, you know. OK, forget it, I meant a place on the bus tour. I don’t need special privileges or an individual guide all my own; I’m willing to share the tour with various peasants from the Seattle Business Community. After all, they still have to make a living.

We apparently get to ride all the way to Sea-Tac Airport (owned by The Seattle Port Commission (Autoriity? Who knows?) and have lunch along the way. They promise to get us back by 3:00 PM. Should be able to get home by 7:00 if we take the bus. 4:00 if we drive.

This bus tour happens on September 19; so my report (if I get a seat) won’t be until after that. I’m sure other things will happen in between. Like the Ice Age in Seattle for Labor Day weekend.

Another example; I was at the site of the new Newcastle library, condo, swimming pool, bait shop, auto shop, and junk yard yesterday and the only thing there is a sign. However, somebody mows the grass regularly. Looks nice.

Anyway, if you happen to get on the Sound Transit web site and want a fun afternoon (maybe, who knows?) you might like to RSVP and join in. I’m sure if they get more than one bus load they’ll add more busses. Really. They don’t mention anything at all about “limited space” or “first come…” Sounds like a party to me. If you bring money for lunch, that is.

Highlights include visits to stations, pedestrian interference, and possible presidential election campaigns. Maybe Christine will be there. Or Sarah Palin; this could get interesting. Maybe I’ll ware my fancy jeans; and S.L.U.T. T-shirt.

This will give me some insight into plans to get a light rail line to Newcastle before the next Olympics; or 7. Coal Creek Parkway might be complete before that, but I doubt it.

Oh, it’s called the “Port of Seattle” in case you were wondering. They own Sea-Tac, where the third runway is being built. So far, only $100 million over budget, and counting. Not bad for a government project.

Al

I-405 Project Update for Labor Day

One of my favorite holidays is Labor Day. I usually don’t labor on Labor Day but unlike the other 364 I don’t feel guilty about it.

Interstate 405 is being remade into a great wonderland of HOV lanes and mile long ramps. From the intersection at Southcenter (Westfield) all the way to Bellevue’s SR 520 interchange I-405 will be a model for all freeways in America. Especially if you have one of my custom made $49.95 “Good-to-Go” fake transponders.

Down near Southcenter – which had a grand opening as the new “Westfield at Southcenter” where you can shop at 250 stores in any direction… or something. Maybe I’m missing the point. Looks like another session on Google.

Anyway, down at Southcenter the state highway folks, WSDOT, added some new lanes that kind of wow out to the right and then moved all traffic over to them. They closed the old lanes. Lot of work but no idea what the final configuration will look like. It’s confusing. Underneath the freeway where the two major railroads run the construction workers were looking very confused. They were kind of standing around looking at the forest of new and old supports.

If you remember Longacres Race Track – they raced horses there – you may recall a couple of big cement bowls on pedestals at the old entrance. Well one is still there under the freeway. It really looks out of place. I think the confused construction workers had been asked to remove it without breaking the bowl. I don’t know. I don’t want to know what’s in that bowl. It might make a nice pond in somebody’s yard.

A little further north (which is actually east; which make sense if Southcenter is actually Westfield) is another hilarious bottleneck. It’s the SR167 interchange. Everyone stops because the car in front stopped and so on. Nobody knows why. It’s just the way it works.

Then a little further east/north is the creek control project. This happened a couple of years ago when a downpour washed the culvert out from under I-405 and into the parking lot of the Sam’s Club. Washdot installed a great big rubber hose and a bunch of pumps to divert the creek while they rebuild the culvert. First they had to shore up the freeway so it wouldn’t fall into the creekbed. But now that’s done and the culvert is being built. Should be done by 2020.

At SR 169, the Maple Valley Highway where all the garbage goes we find another humorous situation. The biggest problem is SR167, SR169, and the washed out creek are all in Renton. Anything in Renton is a problem. Next I-405 has just three lanes each way through there. Not enough. See, most people want to just drive through Renton and get out. So what the Washdot folks should have figured out a long time ago is how to connect SR167 and SR169 together in Renton. Because it turns out many drivers don’t need to use I-405 except as a connection road. They could have done that during the S curve project a few years ago, but they didn’t. I don’t think they will do that on this current project either. They’ll just add more lanes to I-405 and everyone delivering garbage to Maple Valley will just have to deal with it.

The I-405 bottlenecks in Renton are also a big concern to people who happen to live in Renton. It prevents them from leaving. And a large number of savvy drivers realize they can cut through Renton rather than sit in the freeway backup. So Renton itself is also a traffic mess. This results in homemade yard signs on which people express their annoyance at all the drivers passing by. Hopefully yard signs is about as far as it gets. But wait until the freeway construction really gets going and see. Cross your fingers.

At the Maple Valley Highway I-405 turns north and most of the way is either under construction now or soon will be. They’re adding lanes. They like to think more lanes answers everything. They will also be adding more HOV ramps so those “Good-to-Go” folks won’t have to change lanes so much. That’s fine with me. My $49.95 fake transponders will sell like fake gold mine stock.

The Wilburton Tunnel in Bellevue has been demolished. It’s no more. Gone. Hauled down the Maple Valley Highway on hundreds of dump trucks. Probably to a place that claims to recycle concrete. See, they break it up and remove the rebar and then send it back to make more concrete. They’ll need it to make more lanes.

The Wilburton Tunnel is how the old eastside trains got over I-405. It was completely full of freeway and now that the freeway is being widened they needed to either make the tunnel wider or remove it. Since BNSF sold the rail line Washdot removed the tunnel. Unfortunately when King County gets around to removing the old historic trestle everyone will think it’s a Washdot project. So they’ll vote “NO” on highway funds and the SR 520 Bridge replacement will have to wait 5 more years (unless it sinks).

In downtown Bellevue the major part of the new work will be to install HOV ramps between SR 520 and I-405. Right now the HOV folks have to use the same ramps as regular folks, dump trucks, busses, donkey carts, and Lexus drivers on their way to Microsoft. The ramps are crowded. The new HOV ramps will allow “Good-to-Go” folks to bypass all those lowbrows and just wing over the top. Because that’s the only option. The new ramps have to use airspace since all the ground is taken. They’ll use some of that recycled cement from the Wilburton Tunnel.

Speaking of the 520 Bridge, they are trying to decide how much toll to charge. They want people to begin paying for the replacement right now and they think a toll is a good way to do that. More sales for my fake transponders! I wonder if I’ll get caught.

Anyway, they’re holding hearings around the state to try and arrive at a fair toll amount. If they charge too much everyone will be annoyed – more yard signs. If they charge too little they won’t get enough money. It has to be just right. I think taking several thousand opinions and then picking an average is pretty sane. I think $2.23 “exact change only” ought to work just fine. One thing sure is it will be fun to watch.

Al

My New Book

Writing a book seems like it might be easy. Just write a title and make people believe it by the time they reach page 1589. This is how non-fiction books are done. When I first thought about a non-fiction book I scouted around to see how others do it and that’s pretty much the process.

I need a key concept. That’s what we writers call a topic or idea. We use as many words as possible. Topic is too concise so we say “Key Concept.” Then we make it the title of the book.

Another piece of sound advice I’ve often heard is “write about what you know.” Sounds simple enough. So I scouted around and discovered I don’t know much. Sure, I’ve reviewed a lot of non-fiction books and watched a lot of Discovery Channel shows, but mostly I use that stuff to help me fall asleep. And my gullible tubes are burning out so I’m not sure I believe a lot of what I read or see on TV. You shouldn’t either.

The other problem is that if I see it on TV or read a book about it then it’s not my idea. I’m not above plagiarism but I can’t see trying to copy a whole book. I’m also not above loafing and copying a whole book seems like a lot of work. I need a key concept all my own.

Recently I made a trek to Nebraska. The purpose was to visit relatives and wish happy birthday to a 90 year old cousin. Along the way I visited Oregon Trail sites.

The Oregon Trail is where John Wayne and a couple hundred happy go lucky pioneers (extras) set out from California toward another place in California. At least that’s what it looked like in the first movie I saw about it. In subsequent history classes and various books and TV shows I got more facts but I didn’t get a true sense of what it must have been like.

I have relatives in Nebraska because some of my ancestors settled there. They were among the people who wisely didn’t set out across the plains and mountains in a flimsy covered wagon. “I’ll wait for the train” is pretty much what they said.

The Oregon Trail (along with the California Trail, Mormon Trail, gold miners, army, Pony Express, Telegraph, oxen hauling freight wagons, and the first railroad west of the Missouri) is a major reason people settled in southeastern Nebraska in the 1800s. So I wanted to see it for myself.

The trip looked like a good way to get a key concept for my book. There are many places along the way that have books for sale. I checked the titles and even got a couple for myself. They cover every aspect of the pioneer trails including accounts written by people who actually made the trip. All very fascinating. All well researched unlike any book I might write.

Problem is they cover the subject pretty well. No unique key concepts popped up. There are several accounts of modern day adventurers who set out to do the trail themselves. That might be fun to do, as long as I could fly home and sleep in my own bed every night. So I’m not doing a book about my trek along the trail. Besides I might have to cite some actual facts and I tend to shy away from that kind of thing.

One thing I noticed is the railroads still use the route to haul coal to power plants. One day I counted 10 of those extremely long coal trains heading east. Eight were stopped a various places waiting on track maintenance and two were moving. There were a number of empties heading west along the route as well. It’s astounding how much coal is coming out of the ground someplace. 10 loaded trains in a 6 hour period translate to … ummm, hundreds per year. Lots of power being generated.

But there are so many books about railroads that I don’t even want to think about inventing a key concept in that area.

Usually the key concept is the title. There might be a book titled The Moon is a Lump of Dung. Shoppers at Barnes and Noble might see the title and simply say “No it isn’t” and pass on by without even checking the dust jacket to see if the author is handsome.

The key concept is out there for all to read and only those who really need help falling asleep will pick it up. So I’ve decided the best way to write a book is to put the key concept out there and not bother with all the supporting facts and data. Why bore everyone? I’m not out to make money or to get my picture on the dust jacket (although I am handsome).

OK, what did I learn along the Oregon Trail that might make a key concept for a prize winning book? Thinking back on the trip I remember driving along country roads looking for markers and trail sites with the windows open. The weather was nice and not too hot so the breeze was comfortable. But as we passed near trees we heard this tremendous noise that can only come from cicadas.

I found one of these creatures and it’s pretty ugly. They emerge in late July and August which is probably good since you wouldn’t want that noise around all year long. We don’t think they hurt people and they don’t eat much. Why not make one a pet? Easy care, benign, no cleanup, no need to fence the yard, and most of the year you don’t even have to look at it. And that’s my key concept:

“Cicadas Make Good Pets, If You Can Stand the Noise.” No need for a lot of boring facts and data. Either you agree or you don’t. If you want facts and data go to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cicada . They seem to know a lot about cicadas and there are plenty of pictures.

Al