The Black Dahlia, she smiles and smiles

That all went smoothly. Bus got in, took cab to station, train was already there. I got on, fell asleep, and woke up to the sights of West Texas, which is supposed to be dull, but I find it very beautiful,  muttered "oh my god" upon opening the curtains. I saw a million cactuses and lots of wonderful abandoned structures and something shaped like a wild boar trotting through the scrubby desert. 

I would like to take a trip out there, maybe to Marfa sometime. People do go to Marfa.  But then it's just as magnificent once you turn north into New Mexico and Arizona, though it's a different kind of desert. So really apparently the daydream is to spend more time in the west, generally. 

The day went by quickly. The things I've brought with me to pass the time (knitting, 3 books on Kindle, a writing project that will clearly never go anywhere) are largely untouched. Guilty about this, I read some of a Nathan Englander story and knitted a few paltry rows but mostly I just wanted to look out the window. Well, Albuquerque to Chicago should be dull so maybe I'll kill that time more productively. 

Meals were in the dining car, which I never spring for in coach, but when it's part of the fare, it beats microwaved pizzas. Except of course you're at a table with strangers who turn out to be mostly boring. The food's ok and it's probably good not to spend the entire day in solitude. 

Explosions in the Sky and Yo La Tengo are turning out to be the soundtrack to this trip. 

I drank in my compartment and conked out fairly early. There was nothing to see after 6:30 or so anyway. I'd have been curious to see the Salton Sea but it was dark and we passed in the middle of the night. 

Arrived at Union Station and, as planned, took the subway to Koreatown, saw the Hollywood sign in the distance, spent a few hours in a Korean spa (cheaper here than in NYC but fewer features) and picked up my car. Now in Hancock Park at the home of my father's friend. 

(So here I am in LA, by the way, the endpoint of my trip. I've used up too much emotion to feel quite as I feel I ought to feel, but it seems lovely, and maybe tomorrow when I go to Santa Monica and dip a toe in the other ocean...)

For lunch we went to Mozza, a pizza place started by Mario Battali. I wouldn't have had any idea but Mrs. Father's Friend pointed out Lorne Michaels at a big table of guys by the door and right next to us the actor who played the priest who almost has an affair with Carmela on The Sopranos. 

Then a drive around Hollywood and a trip to find Ms. Stanwyck's star on the walk of fame. 

I didn't realize you could see snow-capped mountains from LA but you can.