Train train and more train

So my commute this year has almost all been on the train.  This is mainly due to the fact that my work schedule has settled into a routine of meetings and personal work that is highly structured and doesn't have much room for uncertainty.  I've been getting a lot of work done on the train, which is something that makes it go by much quicker than even the plane.  I do miss the excitement of the plane however.

I have been taking train pictures and I've got some good ones I'll post up here at some point.

Night Flying

A couple of cool shots of the bay area at night from the air.

More interesting pictures

I have tons of flying pictures, but here are a few more that I think are interesting:

This is site of the (former) big building at Cal State East Bay that was demolished.

Cool panorama from the back seat.

Grass fire near Davis

Some google stuff.  For some reason they rented out the Rossi hanger in Palo Alto do do their science fair.  Seems like an odd spot; they had to move all of the aircraft out and then they set up this really elaborate room with a crazy door.

More google:  this is Larry Page's yacht.  Note the helicopter pad.

Is that Larry kitesurfing next to his boat?  It's got to be him or maybe a friend of his.

A few plane images

You can get a different perspective at 3500'.  Some images:

  Two Capitol Corridor trains passing each other near Dixon.

 A windmill farm southeast of Fairfield

'Seeno hill', one of the more over-the-top houses you'll find around here.

 A forest fire that burned the southeast side of Mt. Diablo.

And then there's just the stuff you see at small airports; pretty cool to get that perspective too!

 Life-flight chopper fueling up

 Big hot air balloon coming in for a landing

The Plane

So after riding the train for a year, my wife was discussing my commute with a friend at the gym when the friend mentioned another option.  Her husband was a pilot who commuted to Palo Alto every day in his plane and was looking for more 'plane-poolers'.  Well I'll be...  I never thought about flying to work every day!

So it turns out that there are several guys (all guys at this point) who fly to the bay area every day and some of them are willing (and eager) to take passengers for some of the gas money.  UC Davis  (KEDU) to Palo Alto (KPAO) takes about 35 minutes in a Cessna 172/180, which is the 'regular' plane we fly.  It's about 150mph and traffic isn't an issue!

The downside is that it isn't totally reliable.  These guys don't take a lot of risks (good) and they only fly VFR (visual flight rules).  This means that if Palo Alto is foggy we don't fly.  This has caused issues at work, since the decision not to fly is generally made too late to make the train or driving a good alternative.

I'll post more on the economics and logistics as well as many more images in future posts.

Train Images

Trains are funny.  Since they are noisy, dangerous to cars, and primarily used for transporting goods (at least in CA, in 2013), they tend to take you through some interesting terrain.  When riding these trains you see factories, refineries, dilapidated structures, graffiti, ramshackle housing, etc.  I've got a few pictures to show what I mean:

The Train.

Part of the decision to move to Davis was a careful consideration of the commute.  From the get-go I knew that I didn't want to drive the 90 miles each way.  I figured that I could live with the Capitol Corridor Amtrak train that I knew went from Sacramento through Davis and down the East side of the bay each morning and evening.  Since my office is just south of highway 92 on the West side of the San Mateo bridge, I figured that the best station to use would be the Hayward station on the East side of the bridge.  Luckily I had an extra car to leave down there (in order to be a super-commuter it helps to have multiple cars).

The train cars are really nice.  I rode Caltrain from SF to Belmont for years, and in my opinion the Capitol Corridor trains are far superior.  The seats have tons of legroom, there are cafe cars with coffee, meals, beer etc, and there is free wi-fi.  It's unusual to have to have to sit next to someone.  The trains are also much quieter than Caltrain or BART, so you can work, relax or sleep.  The staff are also great.

The train isn't cheap.  A one-way ticket from Hayward to Davis cost about $28.  Luckily they have a monthly pass (as well as a 10 ride pass).  If you ride every day and get a monthly pass it's about $11 each way.  I'll do a future post on the cost breakdowns between the different modes of transportation I've tried.

I still have to drive from Hayward to Belmont, over the SM bridge.  It's about 15 miles each way, and I have to pay the bridge toll.  Luckily my work schedule is pretty flexible so I can arrange to hit the bridge at low traffic times.  It really hasn't been too bad.

One of the other advantages to riding the train is that I get to see all kinds of interesting things that I wouldn't see or notice in a car.  I'll post some of these pictures in future posts.