[Vision2020] My Very Own "Silver Streak" Adventure

[nickgier at roadrunner.com]

Greetings:

This week I took a break from politics and wrote up another train adventure. 

I saw "Silver Streak" for about the 4th time last night, and I was able to correct some faulty memory.  It was Jill Clayburg who seduced Gene Wilder not an unsuccessful attempt by Wilder.  She was (and presumably still) is gorgeous.  The FBI agent was right: all that bouncing around and clickety-clack is good for romance, just not for him.

Hope you enjoy it.  And for some great laughs, rent the movie.

Nick

MY VERY OWN “SILVER STREAK” ADVENTURE

Both national and international politics have been pretty intense, so I’m taking a breather with another railway adventure. On this train ride I was not accused of murder nor was I seduced Jill Clayburgh (but how do I wish!), but I do have something in common with Gene Wilder in his 1976 movie "Silver Streak."  

As background for the story, I should say that I’m sponsoring an Indian graduate student by the name of Johnson Roosevelt Petta.  Indian Christian parents prefer biblical names, but Johnson’s really liked Democratic Presidents. 

Johnson’s first two years of MA studies were at San Francisco Theological Seminary, and his pastor gave him a 1987 Toyota Corolla as a graduation present.  I assumed that he was all ready to drive himself to Denver to start his Ph.D. program on a three-year fellowship.

One evening Johnson called me in despair saying that he could not go to Denver. His Korean friends told him that he was not a very good driver, and besides there were two big deserts between California and Colorado!

I immediately shifted to Plan B, which I should have thought of in the first place. I would fly down and drive with Johnson. We would visit all the national parks and other famous points of interest on the way. We had a leisurely 7-day tour of Yosemite, Death Valley, Las Vegas, Zion, the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, and Arches National Park.

After setting up Johnson’s household with a U-Haul truck full of used furniture, I started my trip back to Moscow. I had flown down to Oakland on Southwest, but at that time Southwest did not fly to Denver. I booked a seat on the California Zephyr to Salt Lake City, where I would take the plane back to Spokane.  

It was a bright sunny day when I boarded the Zephyr at 8 AM. I thoroughly enjoyed the slow climb up the Colorado Rockies through the 6-mile-long Moffat Tunnel.  Our stop in Grand Junction jogged my memory because that is where I took a small plane into Aspen in December 1968 for a week of skiing.  

There was a long line at the pay telephone, and a huge fellow in front of me was taking a long time with what appeared to be a big business deal. As I finished my call to my Mormon cousin in Oren, I rushed out to the platform. I was aghast at what Gene Wilder saw many times in Silver Streak: the train 100 yards down the track with my luggage still on it!  

My panic did not last long because I remembered what the wily Wilder did: I would catch up with the Zephyr in a plane! I took a taxi to the Grand Junction Airport and was surprised to learn that a one-way ticket to Salt Lake was only $114.  I had a nice leisurely meal and my flight arrived at 9 PM.  I was able to rent car, check in to the Super-8, and drive down to meet the Zephyr at midnight.  

As my coach mates got off for a break, they were amazed to see me. One of them said “Where have you been?” and I answered “What took you so long?”

As I retrieved my luggage, I noticed that the big burly guy was asleep on the car.  I had saved the notes he had left at the telephone in Grand Junction.  They had prices in pound sterling all over them, and he was really happy to see those notes after I woke him up.

And even though there was a big man among us, I did not have to deal with Richard Kiel--the steel-mouthed, 7-foot monster we know from James Bond movies.  Using a spear gun that Wilder found in the baggage car, he shot Kiel right off the top of one of the cars.

Wilder was off and back on the Silver Streak three times, but the one time being left by the Zephyr was enough adventure for me.

I did have a good time visiting my Mormon relatives, but I missed seeing the most loving woman in the world: my deceased Aunt Inez. When my brother and I were growing up, we cringed when Inez would end her letters with “Oceans of Love.”  We thought that hugs and kisses were icky, and that an ocean of love was really over the top. 

What I eventually learned from my dear aunt was that there is no such thing as too much love.

Train buff Nick Gier taught philosophy at the University of Idaho for 31 years.