Tag: Coast Starlight

By Christopher F. Rufo | Commentary, The Free Press On a train from Seattle to Los Angeles, they learned what the road cannot teach: intimacy with strangers, the weight of history, and the beauty of time slowed down. “Pop! Pop! Pop!” A sunburned man named Jeff jabbed a finger in the air, imitating the gunshots of the Oakland gangster who had once peppered the door of his tow truck with bullets. Years ago, Jeff had worked as a contractor for the Oakland Police Department, where he towed cars from crime scenes in the most dangerous parts of town. I watched my two oldest sons, a teenager and a kindergartner, hang on his every word as the waitress served us lunch. Characters like Jeff were not uncommon on the Coast Starlight, the train my sons and I took earlier this summer, w...