Via Amtrak, we traveled to Martinez to visit friends. Even though the station employees are often rude, the trains invariably late and information about their arrivals and departures unreliable, I still love Amtrak because once I've actually managed to board, I've entered an entirely different world, a slower and more pleasant one.
The Capitol Corridor stops in Berkeley, Emeryville and Richmond before it arrives in Martinez, hugging the coast as it chugs cheerily through the wetlands. We pass solitary fishermen and the occasional hobo tent, speeding through a labyrinth of oil refineries and past the dilapidated C & H sugar factory until at last we reach a curving stretch of track with nothing to be seen but rows and rows of rotting piers sticking out of the bay. Where did they come from? Bob wonders. And what was their original purpose? I don't know and I don't care to know, content with their surreal appearance, which seems as mysterious to me as ancient artifacts.
Robert and Sarah meet us at the station. Later we watch his latest video, Plumb Line, which is all about -- trains! The video is layered so artfully with sounds and images that I feel like I'm still riding the rails. Soon enough we board the actual train heading home: one continuous loop, I think, though the virtual journey seems real and the actual one a dream.
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