ComicCon 06--Transportation

We decided that taking the train for a daytrip would be the best way to go [this time]. No sleepy drivers, gas money, or costly hotel bills. Roundtrip tickets are $64/person. Not bad considering we are not paying for admission to the convention.

Ride to: No problem. A friend and I nearly missed the early call, but we ran from parkinglot to platform which was a great jolt to the system at 7 on a Saturday morning. I ended up talking to this great kid and his really cool mom on the way. They were from Irvine and headed to the same place. The kid noticed that my fellow travelers each had a Nintendo DS and the ice was fully broken.

Ride home: This is the nightmare I mentioned earlier...We got done early and decided to take an earlier train than planned. The good part was that at the station, I ran into the same mom and kid from before. Unfortunately, they were looking at a 3 hour wait outdoors in heat and humidity so they didn't make it in to the con. They did some sightseeing instead and had a good time but were planning to give it another try tomorrow. I felt bad and loaded the kid up with every freebie I could scrounge up from my bags including some Yu-Gi-Oh cards--that got him all riled up. Bettered by my coworkers who gave up their now-unneeded passes; they were set to return for sure. It should be noted now that I was a bit drunk from dinner. We were planning on continuing the imbibing onboard, but I was becoming nervous because our train was already 20 minutes behind schedule when we finally were able to board. This does not bode well.

We all sit together and are excited to be heading home. Obnoxiously loud and DRUNK people board as well. The train stops. The conductor says
"Will the young lady who used profanity please exit the train immediately. If she does not cooperate, the police will be called..."

That took forever and the police were indeed called in. We continue.

The train stops. Conductor says, "Red light." That was damn near 20 minutes in the middle of nowhere.
Again, the train stops. Conductor says, "We have another red light." The passengers groan. We continue and fall farther behind schedule. Making it to my friend's big gallery opening in L.A. seems less likely with each minute.

Finally we are on a roll, but the lights dim. Energy save? Nope. Train has lost its major source of electric power and we soon coast to a complete stop in bfe. Announcements were made [that I never fully understood] in a blase tone that implied that this happened often, but with a hint of uncertainty that said everything that occurs from this point on will be experimental.


And it was worse than we thought. We were instructed to evacuate around 11 p.m. and ended up waiting outside for hours as they tried to hook this train to that to push us into L.A. When that didn't work they tried to hook this train to that to pull us into L.A. While we waited, the crowd of hundreds got UGLY.

A few got rescued. One guy drove off with a blonde and flipped us off in the process--nearly hitting Carrie Fisher who was walking, a little carelessly, in the middle of the street, swinging a large staff of some kind. Is that really Carrie Fisher? YES. IT IS.


People who could afford it, called taxis. Our new friends were among those who were able to leave. When a cab showed up, people would begin to argue and steal each other's rides. Finally even Carrie Fisher left with her entourage and the experience went from "bizarre and inconvenient adventure" to "pure misery."
We all began to see everyone's different breaking points. As the night moved on, the enormous crowd was visibly thinning. Cabs began to drive away empty after waiting for middle class families to break and pay the fares. Couples began to argue VERY LOUDLY, between large distances. We had comic nerds, obvious thugs you could not turn your backs on, babies and numerous elderly people among us. There were no visible restaurants within walking distance, no food on the train, people began to eye each other and speak of cannibalism, limited non-alcoholic beverages (the beer was cut off for good reason), and any accessible toilets onboard DO NOT FLUSH once the power goes out. I tried to use one during one of the brief moments we were even allowed to be on the train but it was...overwhelmed?...by soiled tissue and I shudder to think what else...the lid could not even be closed at this point.

I reached my breaking point as well and tried hard to not weep openly when I saw the last train, the one we planned on taking originally, pass us at full speed as we waited for rescue; I heard it ran on schedule.

I fully understand that a 2-3 hour delay does not equal a Lord of the Flies scenario. But you see a stranger's weaknesses pretty fast when they are disgustingly drunk, clutching an open wine bottle to their chest in the middle of nowhere and hungry. Add the the equation the late hour, a full day of unseasonable warmth and humidity, and exhaustion.

We arrived in Los Angeles at 2:15 a.m. Nearly 3 and a half hours behind schedule. A single apology at any point from the Amtrak staff would have eased a lot of tension and resentment among us. Instead, we were rudely ordered to leave the train a final time.