The main reason that posts here have been absent for the last month is that I was gone on a 30-day trip with an Amtrak Rail Pass. I went to Los Angeles, New Orleans, Charlotte, Greensboro, Asheville and Carrboro/Chapel Hill (not on Amtrak), Philadelphia, Chicago, Denver, and home. Almost half of my trip was in North Carolina, where I’d never been before, with contra dances four evenings and a weekend. And visited friends in North Carolina, and my cousin in Denver.

There are a millions things I could comment on about Amtrak trains, about transportation and transit in the places I visited, and about livability of different cities and neighborhoods. I suppose I could have posted while on the trip, but I was too busy! Whether I’ll post now that I’m home, time will tell.

There should be more posts upcoming, at least until my summer backpacking season starts. Crossing the Sierra Nevada on the California Zephyr through Truckee, I saw that it will be a while before the passes are clear enough for may backpacking, though lower elevation areas are already clear or patchy.