Riding The Rails - The View From Inside The Train

As I have mentioned before. I commute by train to Los Angeles. As the price of gas has gone up, I have definitely noticed that we are getting more and more commuters, especially ones coming from further out, in Lancaster and Palmdale. These commuters are traveling much longer distances then I am and thus, they have almost 2 hours of commute time, each way, to fill. So I am seeing much more then just reading, sleeping or listening to music. Portable DVD players are big on the train. A movie is almost the exact time of their commute. I also see lots more laptops being utilized, some for movies and others for writing or whatever. Blackberrys are sometimes in use, cell phones, natch. But there have been some unusual things, too.
This little girl had a huge amount of things to color, books to read and then finally, after all that, she sat back and played a video game. Her mom truly has her hands full with that one. She is a ball of energy, that just goes on and on. May I say that the train always used to put my son to sleep, eventually. The kids I see on trains now days, don't seem to do that, at all. Difference in generation, difference in culture. I am not sure why, but they are totally wound up.

Another unique passenger is a guy who brings a chess set onto the train with him.
He's a solitary young adult, who is obviously, a genius at chess. He has a book that he reads, moving the pieces to the instructions in the book. If someone comes over to play, he is all over it, stopping whatever he was doing, to have a chance to play a real game. Sometimes, there will be an entire small group trying to beat this guy...but I don't think he loses. :-)