Keep Those Cards and Letters Coming

Yes, I did see "The Station Agent." Thanks to everyone who wrote in suggesting it. (And yes, I did like the film.)

All Aboard We Hope You’ve Enjoyed Riding With Us

For those with a short attention span, the shortest scheduled train trip--in the U.S., at least--is the 5-minute, 3.6-mile jaunt from one end of the Princeton Branch Line to the other. Embarkation: Princeton, New Jersey. End of the Line: Princeton Junction, New Jersey.

Fun Fact

The longest possible train journey in the world is from Vila Real de Santo Antonio, Portugal to Saigon. (Okay, Ho Chi Minh City. You say tomato….) That’s 11,092 miles, of which my Trans-Siberian route would be just one weeklong leg. Like I said, I know my limits.

Anthologized

I’m going to be in my first anthology. Someday. A woman in southern California is putting together an anthology called We the People, Too. It’s a collection of essays with a gay/lesbian theme, and I submitted a piece I wrote about gay marriage in California.

I’d love to be smug about my piece winning out over the cutthroat, but unfortunately, the editor seems to be having trouble getting enough submissions. Already the deadline has been extended, and it’s not clear when or even if it will get published. A little help, please? Any non-fiction stories about the gay and lesbian experience in America, your own or someone else’s, are welcome. 1,000 words or less; deadline is June 1. Submit electronically to Stacy Davies at wetheotherpeople@aol.com, or mail it to:

We the People, Too
PO Box 1524
Claremont, CA 91711

Please help make this happen!

Cuckoo for Irkutsk

In the immortal words of David St. Hubbins, there’s a fine line between stupid and clever. More than one person I’ve talked to thinks I might be brushing a toe across the stupid side with my adventure for 2006: taking the trans-Siberian railroad from Beijing to Moscow.

Not, you’ll notice, in the conventional direction, from Moscow to Beijing. Anyone can do that, and when I was in China after college, it seemed like every European backpacker I met there had. No, I’m not just exiling myself to Siberia; I’m doing it backwards. Starting in Beijing, I’ll travel through Mongolia, into Siberia, past Lake Baikal, and on into European Russia. The trip takes seven days without stops, although I’ll definitely be stopping a few times. (I once went on a non-stop trans-Atlantic cruise, and by day five, I was hopefully scanning the horizon for icebergs. I know my limits.)

I’m planning on stopping in Mongolia (because when will I ever be in Mongolia again?), spending a few days around Lake Baikal, and at least having a look around Irkutsk, just because I like to say “Irkutsk” so much.

Stupid? Clever? Insane? Only time will tell. I’m leaving in May. I’ll be posting regarding my trip-planning progress, and ideally from the road itself when the time comes. Stay tuned.