Barb and I went on vacation and went to a grand opening of a huge new hotel, complex with any sort of pleasurable fun you could conceive of and a fantastically unbelievable and a new train system that was... Well, let me get into that in a bit. Barb and I walked out of the hotel and into a tube that led directly into a complex of cabins overlooking some of the best scenery in the world. What we didn't realize or I guess I might have been the only one not to know but nonetheless I was hugely awakened to what I had stepped into. Before I had this grand awareness however, we had walked into one of the cabins and it was flooding. We had no clue why and so we walked around calf deep in water for a bit. As we wandered we had gotten separated and I heard Barb yell to me over here by the card tables. I am not the most adept at finding my way out or in or around anything so of course what she had said had helped me little other than the fact I knew that I was probably better off somewhere other than where I was. I wandered back to the door and I heard a man yelling at someone over a phone saying, "It is still flooding" and then a pause and then "well can you get them here right now!" Then as I walked I saw two gentlemen carrying a big unit out of the sliding door we had come through and I told them that I had just heard the boss yelling for someone to get here.
I got out of the water and wandered my way around a nice courthouse in the middle of some nice looking units until I found a room of people and Barbara was there. As I stepped in Barbara said something like there he is. I could see there wasn't much room so I looked out a far window and this was when I had my big awakening. The small room where I was overlooked a mountain slope of trees, jagged rock and was the beauty of rugged mountain features that my brain took in without falter and registered it quietly, what didn't register so well is that we were some many hundreds of feet in the air overlooking this beauty and seemed to hang over it. At that my brain did a moments freeze and then decided that this is not information that I liked very much and I started to freak the hell out. I think this was all internal but frankly at the time I wouldn't have given a crap if I had laid a blood curdling scream on my companions.
At some point I decided I had had just enough and I sat down on the floor beside Barbara as the room was small and there were no other chairs. After making greeting of my dear I saw that we were beginning to move. If the drop of the height had freaked me out this had just registered without complaint that is until I saw I was now traveling in mid-air over that same mountain. I don't know why but I know my brain registered terror but I saw calmly and decided I was going to have to take whatever was going to happen there just wasn't a convenient bail on this.
The train moved slowly for some time crossing this gap of earth. I decided that I might has well look around and take it in. I had time to fall apart later. It was actually awesomely beautiful as we traveled. Both sides of our cabin, and that is what it looked like, had full glass and we could see miles and miles in both directions and of course that included down. Trees, scattered as the steep inclines of rock were too much for them to grow and then rock of all shapes, sizes and colors were in any combination of fitting together over each cliff face. This was a masterful creation and one that I now began to appreciate with more than awe. I was immersed in the most fantastic undertaking of my life and it was a thing of beauty.
This reverence I assumed was shared by all at hand as there was little said among the lot of us. Each of us I am sure was trying to get our mind around this man-made pleasure that took us through the grandeur of our creator. How could one imprint this on the mind. How could you, having seen this, not believe that there was a creator. That sentiment could not stand in this world.
As we went further the train, that was the only term that came to mind, started to pick up pace and we could see progress through this country and in lower lands began to see trickling water and then streams. We were now nestled lower with the cliff rising on our right side. As we went further along we saw a shipping terminal. Barbara noticed it right away and pointed it out. This was a large facility with thousands of containers waiting to be shipped and a dozen cranes working feverishly loading cargo. As we passed a bit further we could see one of the crane operators in his sky towering cage.
As we moved further down the line we could see that our speed had yet again picked up. Now we crossed a great body of water. I looked behind us at the water left behind us with no wake but it was obvious this was a large piece of water as our speed now was well past anything I had ever traveled. It was enjoyable to see the water flowing by at both sides as if we were a ship of the future in a land of the future. We then yet again slowed and this time it was to a very respectably suburban city speed. We pass more industry and then we came upon a sight that I to this day have been floored to have seen. We saw what was a large vegetable oil plant. No, large is not a word that belong so this, maybe immense, massive, colossal, or mammoth. Among the metal tubing piped one way and the other in a maze like structure was fantastically large cylindrical towers of oil. There was no doubt as to what we were seeing as each of these considerably sized towers were see through. The sky to our right was now dotted with golden liquids among steel.
Further we stepped the speed down yet again as we began to see the outcrops of a city. On each of the sides of our cabin there was cabling every few feet to hold others out I assumed and to assure no injuries. However one brave lady had mastered this and had clumsily made her way onto the platform to our side outside the cabin. It was not an easy go and it was not at all safe why she chose to do this was some sort of lunacy I was sure.
Soon after this vagabond showed us what others than us were willing to attempt we yet again slowed our pace this time we were at a crawl and it was dead deep city. There were businesses packed throughout. It was a time I guessed where we could slow our hearts and minds and begin the slow affirmation or denial of what we had experienced, but it was not quite time for that process. We then began a very slow crawl through an inside mall with shops on each side and people seen scurrying about doing their best to spend the funds they had collected. It was really quite fun watching all this madness of the shopping experience. After some time at this paltry pace most of us now were turning our attention directly forward where, through a concave glass the width of the cabin, we could see our frontal progress and yet see whatever else was going by.
At the moment we had all began to settle in we were affronted with the notion that the train was mowing through people at a rigorous pace at whatever business they were at, shopping, sitting at a food court table or any other of the mall functions. This was an immensely real experience to us although obviously no one had actually given approval for this type of "fun". My heart now raced, my muscles tense and my reflexes jumpy. I began to heat up and my heart flushed as we got to the far end of this madness. This was to some I am sure a deliriously enjoyable section of our trip. To me, I had not time to decide about this much less calm my body and bring my blood pressure back down to a respectable level.
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