By Train from San Marcos, Texas, to Detroit

When I was making travel arrangements with the organizers of the ConClave science fiction convention in Detroit, for which I was a Guest of Honor for 2016, they asked me if I preferred to fly or take the train. I had actually been looking at the viability of making a train trip for more than a year at that point and the choice was therefore an obvious one for me. Suffice it to say that I have enjoyed it very much and may have found a new favorite mode of travel.

Most of my trip was on Amtrak’s Texas Eagle line, which runs from San Antonio to Chicago, where I had a layover and needed to transfer to another train for the final six hours into Detroit. I initially assumed I would want to travel from San Antonio, but then realized that I lived a little bit closer to San Marcos, which was easier to get to and 50 miles or so further up the line.

Kept a log of my journey for anyone who might be interested!

* Arrived at the train station in San Marcos at 8 a.m. for a train scheduled to depart at 8:32. It arrived more than half an hour late, however, a little after 9. Did not realize my fare was 1^st-class and was surprised when the conductor called my name and then had the steward for the sleeper car show me to my Roomette, Room #20 on the upper level and starboard/eastern-facing/non-station-facing side of car 2232. Train pulled out of the station at 9:09.

* Steward asked me if I wanted a cup of coffee and then directed me to the dining car for the final call for breakfast. One of the pleasant surprises of this trip was learning that food was included in my fare, which is a pretty big deal. Had scrambled eggs, grits, chicken sausage, a croissant, some cranberry juice, and my coffee (but should have skipped the sausage and stuck with my commitment to eating meat just once a day and then for lunch or dinner). Amtrak adheres to “community seating” in its dining cars, having unaffiliated people share tables to make the most of its space, and I ate with a nice lady from Oklahoma City named Felicia was had been visiting her daughter and grandson in San Antonio and had also boarded in San Marcos. Train pulling into Austin, about 40 minutes after San Marcos, as I finished up.

* Train stays in some stations longer than others and I had enough time in Austin to get out, stretch my legs, and take a few pictures before it pulled out about 10:09. Back in my cabin I propped up a pillow, found the most comfortable position I could, and closed my eyes. Sometime later, as I was dozing, I heard the conductor announce we were coming into Taylor, Texas, and that we would not be there long: “If you’re not planning on staying in Taylor, stay on the train.”

* Woke up about 1:30 to the announcement of final call for lunch in the dining car and got up and headed straight over to it. Was seated with a glum trio, father, grandmother, and grandson if I had to guess; older two declined to my eye contact or acknowledge my presence but the teenage boy did. Had a beautiful spinach salad that included cherry tomatoes, red onions, and cucumbers, with a balsamic vinaigrette, and some ice tea; declined grilled chicken with it because I was not that hungry and knew I would not want to spoil my appetite for a nice dinner.

* Pulled into Fort Worth shortly after I got back to my room from lunch. Got out to enjoy a few minutes of sunshine and take some pictures. Saw my breakfast companion was getting off to transfer and wished her well on the rest of her trip.

* Wrote, took pictures, and shot video between Fort Worth and Dallas. Wanted to get out at Dallas, where we were stopped for about 15 minutes, but no one was getting out of my car and the doors to it were not open, so I decided not to mess with it. Pulled out of Dallas a few minutes before 4 p.m.

* Lucias, the dining car chief, came by my room about 4:25 p.m. to take dinner reservations, offering 5:45, 6:30, and 7:15 as options, and for any number of reasons I took the latest one. Went down to the café car afterward to buy a cup of coffee (had pushed the call button for my steward to see if she had any left but she never came).

* Pulled into sleepy-looking little Mineola, Texas, about 5:30 p.m. and once doors on my car were not opened, so I just took a few pictures from inside. Pulled out at 5:40 and, as we picked up speed, the dining car steward announced that people with 5:45 reservations should head to dinner. Not hungry at all and glad I won’t be eating for another hour-and-a-half! Continued heading east as sunset neared through the Piney Woods region of Texas, marked by many streams and marshes. Have found this leg of the journey from Dallas to Texarkana to be a little dreary while driving, generally along I-30, but perfectly pleasant by train!

* Pulled into Longview, Texas, at 6:29 p.m. Conductor announced this was where people could get connecting buses to Shreveport, Lousiana. Was immersed in writing at this point and did not bother to see if I could get off and just took a couple of pictures from the window of my room. At 6:35 Lucius announced that people with 6:30 dinner reservations should go to the dining car. Pulled out at 6:36.

* Went to dinner at 7:15 and had a surprisingly good medium-rare steak! Enjoyed a baked potato, some vegetables, and a half bottle of cabernet sauvignon with it and then had date pudding cake and coffee for dessert.

* Worked for awhile in my room and planned to do so until 11 p.m. the latest at which I could call for turn-down service, but by 10 was exhausted and not getting anything done and so called for the steward and went to take a shower. Turned in a little after 11 and slept off-and-on throughout the night, periodically waiting up because of some noise or movement or when we pulled into a station; woke up at one point, probably around midnight, and saw we were in Little Rock, Arkansas.

* Woke up around 7 a.m., while we were stopped in St. Louis, Missouri, and decided to grab some breakfast in the dining car (pancakes, which were just OK, with some bacon, milk, and coffee). Went back to my room and spent the rest of my time on the train working, dozing, and watching the scenery as we passed through Missouri and then Illinois.

* Got into Chicago Union Station on time, right around 1:52 p.m.! Had been travelling with just a sales receipt and not actually tickets, and so had some printed for the rest of my trip first thing. Then went to Amtrak’s new Metropolitan Lounge to get something to drink, avail myself of the first Internet connection I have had in almost two full days, and wait for my departure time. Was also pleased during check in at the lounge to be offered an earlier train out of Chicago and be rescheduled for it! 

My Most Recent Layover at Istanbul Atatürk Airport

Suffice it to say that, like many people, I am upset and saddened by the terrorist attack that occurred at Istanbul Ataturk Airport in Turkey on June 28, 2016. I have personally flown through this airport three times over the past decade and always had positive experiences there. 

When I flew out of this airport in October 2006, at the tail end of a three-week trip that had started in Athens and taken me through the eastern Mediterranean to Istanbul. During that trip I distinctly remember thinking how much better an airport it was than Washington Dulles International Airport, a somewhat sloppily run affair located in northern Virginia that I have had the misfortune of using any number of times over the years. 

My most recent visits to at the airport occurred in November 2015, when I stopped over there very briefly on my way to Ethiopia via Turkish Airlines, and then a few weeks later, in December 2015, when I spent about 12 hours in the terminal on my way back to the United States. 

Catacombs of Paris

Over the years I have made a number of visits to the Paris catacombs, and the photos that appear here are from an expedition I made into them in 1990, as part of a story I was working on for The Planet, the student newspaper of the American University of Paris. Some of the photos include captions that I or someone else typed on their backs and when available I have included these in quotes. 

"Journalist Mike Varhola." This is what appears to be the sole picture of me taken during the "12 Hours Beneath the Streets of Paris," as my story was titled. 

This is the crew that I accompanied, which called themselves the Rock Eaters. None of them wanted their real names used in print but used nommes de guerre or had nicknames assigned to them by me for purposes of the story. The girl went by Pitou and she was the leader of the group. Her boyfriend and second-in-command is the kid with the sword. 

Above left: "'American Bull Terrier' examining the bone-filled passageway." One of the areas we passed through, dubbed the "Dragon's Throat," was half-filled with bones and skulls, forcing us to crawl through it. Anyone having issues with confined spaces or human remains would have had especial difficulty in this area. Above right: "A night at 'the beach.' From the left are the Dwarf, Pitou, and 'American Bull Terrier.'" (So named for the slogan on his jacket.)

"The shrine to the cataphile lost during the Terror. Tristan on the right (and the Dwarf on the left)." 

Above left: Surely not a stairway to heaven in such a place as this ... Today these steps lead nowhere and have at their head a capstone that appears to support the ceiling. On it, however, is listed the spot located some 43 feet above us, and originally this might have been part of a now-closed route to the surface. Above right: This shaft and the ladder set in it, which we did not follow, probably did lead up to the surface, likely via a manhole in a street. 

More to come! Have got another dozen or so photos I am going to scan and add and will see if I can find the story I wrote for the paper so that I can scan and post it. 

Road to Vegas, Day 1 (Van Horn, Texas)

Headed out a little after 11 a.m. on the road for Vegas and the GAMA Trade Show, March 14-18, where we will be exhibiting Skirmisher Publishing's product line for game store retailers. Drove 435 miles, about a third the distance to our destination, and stopped for the night in Van Horn, Texas, where we checked into the historic El Capitan Hotel and ate dinner at the famous Chuy's restaurant. 

Above left, lobby of the El Capitan Hotel, which was built in 1930. Above right, the mural at Chuy's, which depicts Jesus guiding John Madden's touring bus to the restaurant, an event that has been attributed to much of its subsequent success. 

Started off heading south on Highway 281 to Bulverde, where we picked up Highway 46 west in Bulverde and took it to the junction with I-10 in Boerne to avoid going through San Antonio (although we are going to look at going even further north and west through Hill Country and picking up I-10 in Fredericksburg next time). Rained the first 200 miles or so, which slowed our progress and made the trip considerably more hazardous and stressful than it otherwise would have been, especially as many Texans do not know how to drive in inclement weather. Stopped for lunch in Junction, a little town at the westernmost edge of Hill Country, and ate lunch at Dairy Queen (the rules for what we will eat and where going out the window on a road trip); fries were nice and hot. 

Above left, the sign for Chuy's on the main street in Van Horn. Above right, Van Horn looks pretty quiet during the day, but those tracks in the midground of this picture get pretty busy at night, when about one train an hour goes noisily blasting by. 

When we passed through Van Horn six years ago, on our way to Las Vegas for the same trade show, we stayed at one of the many local motels but noticed the beautiful El Capitan Hotel, and I was resolved to stay there this time. After getting situated in our room, we headed out to dinner around 7 p.m. and as the sun set walked the half mile or so up main street to it. When we ate there previously Diane, upon the recommendation of our friend Karen Holmes, Diane had gotten the carne asado, which I tried and thought was wonderful. She has been talking about it ever since.and it was the only thing either of us was interested in ordering this time, and we were not disappointed. 

Ethiopian Adventure Day 10 (Addis Ababa)

Today I visited the "Red Terror" Martyrs' Memorial Museum in Addis Ababa, ‪‎Ethiopia‬, at the suggestion of my brother Christopher, and learned about a frightening and disturbing period in the country's history — the 1975-91 era of the Derg and Mengistu governments. While I was there I also tried to lend my efforts as a writer and editor to helping out in a small way. 

By 1974 there was much discontentment throughout Ethiopia against Emperor Haille Selassie and in September of that year the leaders of a military council known as the Derg took over the government and had him arrested. They had him transported to his confinement in a VW Beatle rather than one of the Rolls Royces he was more accustomed as a means of humbling him. A year later he died and is believed to have been murdered, despite Derg contentions that it was due to medical complications, and idea that is supported by his remains not being discovered until 1992, when they were found hidden under the floor of his old palace (now home to the Ethnographic Museum located on the grounds of Addis Ababa University). 

Derg leader Mengistu Haille Mariam, at left, and two of his compatriots, Aman Mikael Andom and Atnafu Abate, who he eventually had killed. When Mengistu was deposed in 1991 he fled to Zimbabwe, where he was granted asylum and lives to this day. Pictures of known victims of Ethiopia's Red Terror are displayed at the museum. Tens of thousands of people were arrested, imprisoned, tortured, and murdered by the Derg government. 

Remains of some Red Terror victims who have been identified are displayed at the museum, with photographs of them in life and the ropes they were strangled to death with. Remains of unidentified Mengistu regime victims found in mass graves are displayed at the "Red Terror" Martyrs' Memorial Museum​ in Addis Ababa. 

Exhibits at the "Red Terror" museum​ include artworks, like the one shown here, depicting the violent excesses of the Derg and Mengistu regimes. After going through the museum​ I met with its curators and then went back through it with them to correct misspellings and other minor errors on the exhibit placards. If I can be of help in getting out critical stories like the one they are telling at this museum then it is important to me that I do so! 

Ethiopian Adventure Day 9 (Addis Ababa)

Woke up early to the sound of prayers being broadcast from the local churches, around 5 a.m. I would guess. Had breakfast with my brother and his kids and then walked with them over to the international school where I met and had coffee with several of the other parents and the school administrator. Came back and threw in a load of laundry and then did some work ahead of venturing out into Addis Ababa. 

Had lunch at the Lucy Gazebo & Restaurant with my brother Christopher and then visited the National Museum of Ethiopia in downtown Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, today! Enjoyed viewing art and artifacts associated with the history of the country and, especially, seeing the remains of the famous "Lucy" pre-human hominid that were found in the Great Rift Valley.

Ethiopian Adventure Day 7 (Gonder/Bahir Dar)

Traveled by van from Gonder to Bahir Dar, on the shores of Lake Tana, and checked in the the Blue Nile Hotel. Sailed across lake to Zege Peninsula and visited monastery and church there; spotted two hippopatami on return trip. Drove to Blue Nile Falls in the afternoon (shown below).