Not so long ago, I was presented with an opportunity to drive around the country in an old car, with nothing but my guitar by my side. It’s been a dream of mine to live the dirty, hard road life ever since I first laid eyes on BookYourOwnF[*]ckingLife.com; suddenly, thanks to an awesomely generous relative, I had the chance to turn it into a dream come true.
I started thinking about logistics, where I might go first, etc. The more I thought about it, though, the more I realized that this particular dream didn’t exactly fit the way it used to. I’ve been living car-free in Portland, OR for the last four years; in that time, I’ve realized that oil dependence is a travesty for so many reasons, pollution and politics not least of all. I don’t mean to be preachy– everyone can make their own choices. But for me, driving 10,000+ miles around the country, dream though it may be, suddenly didn’t seem like a good idea anymore. And flying… well, don’t get me started.
On the other hand, I love trains. Love them. I used to ride the Amtrak’s Hiawatha service between Milwaukee and Chicago almost every weekend after high school, and since I’ve lived in Oregon I’ve crossed the country on the Empire Builder a half dozen times. Train travel is a unique animal. It forces us to relax. It lets us do some great people-watching in the Observation Car, and maybe meet some new friends. It reacquaints us with the country. (It lets us carry twice as many bags as airlines do, for free! And bikes too!) And it’s a lot more sustainable than flying or driving. So I rethought my dream. Instead of driving from city to city, why not take the train? I could use the travel time to sleep, tune or practice, instead of pounding gas station coffee, driving and trying to remember directions.
That’s why today, National Train Day, I am announcing my plans for a West Coast Train Tour. I plan to be traveling for a month between Vancouver, BC and L.A., by train. (I hope to eventually tour the whole country by train, using what I learn on this trip, but that’s a little further into the future.) Within each city, I’m going to travel by mass transportation, and I’m going to keep a video diary of my experiences. By doing this, I hope that I’m able to inspire more people to abandon their cars and plane tickets, and go by train.
**To celebrate, I’m offering a free download of the Train Song, from my album Still Life!!**
There will be more details as this develops, including a DVD of the video diary (and how you can get one!) and a petition for an assistant, not to mention shows in cities I’ve never heard of, and my very first show in Canada (!!). There’s going to be a Bake Sale on May 21st to help raise funds for this tour, and if you’d like to know more, email me and I’ll tell you everything.
Thank you so much for everything you do. Your support means the world to me, and I feel truly fortunate that I am able to do something like this. Now go learn something about trains! (Or just gaze lustfully at Taye Diggs’ beautiful face on the National Train Day website for a little while, and THEN go learn something about trains!)
xocb