Running Journal, Thursday, 2006-11-16

Running Journal, Thursday, 2006-11-16
Resting heart rate: 63 bpm (60 second test)
Weather: overcast, 2 m/s wind
Temp: 17.7 C (70 F)
Time: 13:00-17:00
Terrain: flat
Comments: Dawn and I visited the California State Railroad Museum today. We learned what the slang term gandy dancer means; that two Golden Spikes were created for use at Promontory, Utah (the Museum displays the "Lost" one, which was inscribed after May 10, 1869); and that the Central Pacific Railroad company constructed over 37 miles of snow sheds to minimize snow on the tracks in the Sierra Nevada mountains. The construction of the first Transcontinental Railroad represents a major human accomplishment of the 19th century. Prior to watching the Museum's movie "Evidence of a Dream," we viewed Thomas Hill's dramatized oil painting, "Driving the Last Spike." Dawn and I saw the Southern Pacific No. 1, "C.P. Huntington," (their first train), the Central Pacific Railroad No. 1, "Governor Stanford" (their first train), and the million pound cab-forward Central Pacific No. 4294. A docent showed us the various controls to operate No. 4294, including the fireman's lever to control the amount of water injected into the boiler, the engineer's acceleration lever, whistle lever, brakes, and reverse lever. We also visited some of the passenger cars. The Museum's Canadian National Railways Sleeping Car No. 1683, the St. Hyacinthe, rocks gently back and forth while a "soundtrack simulates the typical night sounds of a fast-traveling heavyweight passenger train: the rhythmic clicking of the wheels, the distant whistle of the locomotive, and the descending Doppler effect of passing crossing bells." I've traveled on trains across America, Eastern Europe, and Russia, and the combined effect of blackened windows, soundtrack, and rocking motion is convincingly real. The docent inside shared with us that he hailed from Chicago. The next car we visited was the silver AT&SF Railway's Dining Car No. 1474, the Cochiti. This car exhibited many of the china ware collections that the Museum sells. I enjoyed the California Poppy the best. Dawn enjoyed the Mimbreño. Very expensive. Last but not least we both climbed inside the Great Northern Railway's Post Office Car No. 42. We chatted inside with the docent for 15 minutes as he showed us how to operate the hook to capture mailbags from station mail cranes. He explained that the mail operators stood on their feet in cramped, rocking conditions for eight hours at a time. We both felt overwhelmed at the amount of information available and didn't get a chance to read everything. After quickly looking through the Museum store and satisfying our desire to see Chessie the Kitten, we exited the Museum and walked to Steamers Cafe for coffee and a pumpkin muffin. I had water. We explored Evangeline's, where Dawn found a very cute purple dragon.
Time: 240 minutes (4:00)
Goal Time: n/a
Distance: n/a
Total Distance For Year: stopped counting after first marathon
Weight (after run):
Any irregular feelings, aches, pains, heart rate, and so forth?: None. Left toe hurt a bit.
Foods eaten today: cereal with soy milk, bagels with Smart Balance and cinnamon-sugar, peppers with stuffing, pumpkin ale