THIS STUFF IS MADE BY EUGENE BALDOVINO.

Amtrak Across America
On June 20, 2005, I commited to making a career change.

I was living in New York in an amazing neighborhood called Williamsburg in Brooklyn. My flat was above a gay bar called The Metropolitan and right across the street was the home of an Italian mafia. My building was filled with hot girls. The streets bustled with musicians, fashion designers, film makers, and other creative types. There were cool bars on almost every corner that hipsters hung out in.

Life was sweet. I had finished a contract job for the Discovery Channel and was interviewing with MTV at the time, but something inside of me wanted change. I grew up in San Francisco and was influenced by artists all my life, that was all I knew. But living in New York for the last six months made me interact with other types of people. I got to know scientists and computer programmers that made me re-evaluate what I knew about life.

So, I had to drive myself into a new direction. I wanted to get a degree in Neuroscience. It's a long story..., but before that could happen I had to get back to Califonia where I was still a resident, therefore college tuition would be more affordable.

I originally wanted to do a roadtrip across the country with my friend Roger, but he had to bail out at the last minute because of the time required for such a journey and the money needed to fund it. I didn't have a whole lot of cash and the thought of getting lost in the deserts of middle America seemed unexciting, so that idea was dropped.

Then one night while I was doing research on the internet, I stumbled across Amtrak. Yeah, I would take the train across America. It was a romantic idea - like in those old Hollywood movies where people hopped on the train to find a new life for themselves.

My ticket cost me $214 and the trip from New York to San Francisco would take four days. I left on June 28, 2005. I remember hours before I left, I was clearing out the last of my possesions in my room and feeling like I was making a big mistake. What were the odds of finding myself in such a cool scene again? Would I succeed in school? Then the car service arrived to take me to Penn Station.

I threw my luggage into the trunk and looked back at my building and scanned the neighborhood. I felt like I was cutting away some of the finest moments of my life.

Goodbye New York.

The Amtrak station was confusing and crowded, but I eventually found my way. The first train I boarded was called the Lakeshore Limited and it went from New York to Chicago. I managed to get a window seat. Then a tall lanky guy with long bushy hair, sat next to me. We chatted for a bit. He too, was taking Amtrak to California. Then out of nowhere he pulled out a head of lettuce the size of a basketball and started grubbing on the leaves like they were potato chips. Yup, he was a vegetarian, a very hungry one.

I pulled out an Amtrack guide that listed historical points of interests along the route . And I got my camera ready to take pictures of the scenery.

Upstate New York
Here was a house on top of the hills.
I think this was a mansion that famous people lived in,
like U.S. presidents or something.
A small town. Boring.
I think this was a historical home. I mean, the American flag on the side makes it look special.
I was trying to take a picture of the West Point Military Academy, but instead I think I shot a picture of an Inn.
Swamps. I didn't see any alligators.

Homes near a lake.

Albany-Rensselaer, New York

Amtrak station at Albany-Rensselaer. This city is the
New York State capital and it's where a British surgeon wrote
the song, Yankee Doodle Dandy.

Cleveland, Ohio
The Cleveland Browns Stadium. This place is the largest city in Ohio and a bunch of famous presidents lived here. Also, Superman was born here... at least the authors who created him did.
People died here, probably famous ones too.
It started to get dark and I soon fell asleep on the way to Indiana. Up until now there was an interesting mix of personalites on the train. There was a hot girl that sat across from me, but the vegetarian guy was in my way the whole time. Behind us was a talking encyclopedia who pointed out every single historical site along the way.
Later, I woke up and felt cramped up from sleeping upright in the train. The vegetarian guy was munching on some celery sticks.
I had no idea where I was. I know I was still somewhere in Ohio.
Farm land, I started to see a lot of farm land.
Busted up cars.
Some signs of life. I think these were the first humans I saw along the way.
Woah, here's the first female I saw along the way. I couldn't tell if she was hot though.
Well, here's Waterloo, Indiana. I looked down at my map and thought, man, this train ride was pretty long. A day had passed and I was only 1/5th of the way across America.

Here in Gary, Indiana, was a city planned by U.S. Steel. Famous personalities grew up in this hell hole, Michael Jackson was one of them.

Chicago, Illinois
U.S. Cellular field, home of the Chicago White Sox.
Chicago, "The Windy City." I had to get off Lakeshore Limited train and transfer onto another one called the California Zephyr.
Inside the California Zephyr was an amazing Viewing Car with windows that arched to the ceiling so that you could view the sky. I spent most of my time hanging around here.

Here's the Amtrak guide.

This train was luxurious compared to the previous one. The people on the train changed at this point. From New York to Chicago there were plenty of urban type people that seemed to come from rough backgrounds. Now, the train seemed to load passengers that were factory workers and old men who talked about their rifle collections and young men who talked about tipping cows over for fun.

The next stop was the heart of America- Omaha, Nebraska.
Some homes.
Some dude on a motorcycle.
More farm land.
Knox College in Galesburg Illinois. Abe Lincoln and Stephen Douglas debated here.
Home in the swamps.
At this point, I sat next to an older gentleman who looked at me and smiled, he proceeded, "Ohio?" I was thinking, no, this was Illinois. He continued, "Konnichi wa?" Then I understood that he was trying to speak to me in Japanese. "Ohio... gozaimasu" meant good morning and "konnichi wa" meant hello.

I told him that I was from California and he apologized profusely. I guess I looked like a Japanese tourist with my huge camera. Then we started talking about San Francisco. He was traveling by train to meet a friend there that he was in love with. He wasn't married, but he told me his friend would be the person he would want to spend the rest of his life with. And he hadn't revealed his love to her yet. The gentleman must have been 70 years old. I was immensely touched.

Then he started talking crap about all the greenery in the scenery. "I'm sick of the damn trees. Show me some cities. I miss New York!"

Yeah, I was missing New York too. I felt confused about life all of the sudden.
The Mississippi River. The author Mark Twain was impressed by this body of water.
Some city in Iowa.
Some free roaming cows. A pleasant sight before the light became too dim to take photos.
At this point, I was a slightly annoyed by one of the passengers. He was a young guy traveling with his family and he had a southern angst attitude. He kept staring at me like he wanted to start a fight. I casually ignored him and sat a few seats away with a meditative stare at the night time scenery. I'm sure he was even more angry because I didn't appear intimidated by him. Then rain pissed down, thunder roared, and lightning illuminated trees in the foreground. It felt like I was in a scene from The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. It was a spectacular rush through middle America.

Denver, Colorado
It was a cold night because I slept without a blanket in my seat. But the sun quickly warmed up the inside of the train. I woke up to the sight of more farms. During the night we passed the Omaha, Nebraska stop. Thank god. Now, the train carried really pleasant retired people and a retarded guy. I felt sorry for him because there was one "backwards" family that kept messing around with him.
Some sort of power plant.
A city in Colorado. I wan't sure which city though.
A train conducter with a cool hat.
Utah Junction, Colorado.
Homes with horses in their front yard.
The terrain changed as we headed up a mountain. This was where the train ride finally became interesting. So far, most of America's landscape had been flat and was detailed with farmlands and deserts with small cities sprinkled in between.
At this point, volunteer geographers came on board and gave us an educational tour along the route. The mountains we climbed were billions of years of natural work. The earth's tectonic plates that collided with each other at an inch a year made these majestic mountains. It was impressive seeing god's work up close and personal. I don't think cars got to pass through a route like this. So, only train passengers witnessed this beauty.
A herd of passengers got off at this stop. I think this place was the Winter Park Ski Resort in the town of Fraser, Colorado. The town calls itself the "Icebox of America" because the temperature drops below -50 degress.
This site just popped out of nowhere. Somewhere in the mountains people were playing golf.
A really healthy looking horse. At this point, I was sitting in the viewing car next to a hot girl and her mom who were taking nature pictures. I was impressed that the hot girl knew every single name of every animal that we passed by. And then she said that she was getting hot and pulled off her sweater. Underneath, she had on a tanktop and her breasts poured out, which was more impressive than any mountains I saw.
Some rafters at Moon Lake. It's called that because the rafters are known for pulling their pants down and showing you their bare ass.
Some canyons. These pictures don't do justice to actually seeing the canyon walls fly past you in the train.
I think this resort was in Glenwood Springs, Colorado. Holy crap this place was sweet. One day, I'll go on vacation there.
At this point a huge Amish family came aboard. Amish people weren't allowed to fly in airplanes, watch tv, listen to the radio, or take part in any other modern technology. But I guess the train was fine.
More farmland. This is my favorite farm picture because of the huge mountains in the background and the sunlight was perfect.
The sun dropping below the mountains was heavenly.
At this point, I had a conversation with a retired gentlemen who told me that he took this same train the opposite way - from California to New York for a job interview at a bank. I told him that I was going back to school in California. And we talked about the entertainment industry for a bit because his son was a struggling writer. I told him that New York taught me the value of financial security. The retired gentleman shouted at the top of his lungs "Halleluja!" Everyone turned their heads to look at us. He said that was an amazing epiphany for an artist to have and the greatest investment wasn't in stocks or property, but an education. I felt more confident about my decision to go back to school at age 27.

Reno, Nevada
Do you have faith in the lord almighty? I woke up to the sight of this church. I finally got used to sleeping upright. We were heading toward Las Vegas, Nevada. I could tell I was almost home because the people that came on board were weird, laid back, Californians. I couldn't explain that, but it was just the vibe I got.
I was trying to take a picture of Mustang Ranch, but I overheard that whore house was taken down by the government. So, I got a picture of this house instead.
The constuction workers on the west coast had goatees and large sunglassess.
Las Vegas, a land of casinos and hotels. Gambling was legalized in 1931.
I overheard that people who get off at this Reno, Nevada, station usually get sucked into gambling and are never seen again...
A fancy building.

Colfax, California. I'm almost home.

Sacramento, California
Sacramento is the capital of California. The governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, lives here.
Davis, California.

Here's the last image I shot before reaching San Francisco, California a few hours later that night.

Next stop on life: San Diego, California....
COPYRIGHT March 14, 2000 ROBOTICSKILL
All content is my property, unless otherwise noted.