since i traveled to st. louis via train yesterday, i offer another one of my ongoing posts on the wonders of trains (written while riding)....

planes fly over america and have fake communities far away from the real cities and towns. buses and cars travel along the highways and biways often keeing it all insular as well, away from people and life. but trains, trains take us through the best of america, as well as the less glamorous realities of our country. stunning views of the heartland or mountains or oceanic outlooks are couples with backyard moments of american homes, industrial trappings, and small town or big town life in all its unvarnished glory.

today i see farms and cattle and beautiful fields and riverbeds, as well as the reality of industrial pollution, dumpings, and littered landscapes. I happened to see a recliner sitting within a creek that someone must have dumped there with little care. and yet i also see the beauty in this sight because it is real, not the fakery of a cleaned-up, polished atmosphere of a chamber of commerce sponsored tourist activity, or a federal highway separating us from the world in order to get us through it quickly, or an airport full of processed foods, chain stores, and hurried travelers announcing they're visiting a city in which they are not really visiting all the while purchasing souvenirs in the airport shops to prove it.

trains show the full picture, and they warm my heart and expand my mind.