I have a dear friend and former neighbor in Huntington Beach, Lenny. He is the quintessential New Yorker. Lenny is from that city so nice, they named it twice. New York, New York it’s a hell of a town...etc.…etc.…etc. Like many New Yorkers who have reached a degree of success in their chosen field, he moved to California. Lenny and his Yankee ball cap, along with his California girl, has no plans to move back to that great city, which is never far from his heart and mind, not to mention his lips.

However, he admits that he loves California and reminds me (as if I need to be reminded) “Anybody who doesn’t like California…has never driven up and down the state on Highway 1.” True that…but over this past weekend I found a new way to sample the joys of coastal travel on the left side of the North American Continent…the train.

I traversed a big chunk of the Golden State from our new digs in San Luis Obispo County by train to San Diego for the 2022 edition of San Diego Blues Festival. Just like so many things in life it’s not the destination, it’s the journey. As beautiful and comfortable as the journey was, if the destination is the San Diego Blues Festival it could be a push. The festival’s benefactor is the San Diego Food Bank, an organization which is worthy of our support.

I suppose if you are in a hurry, there may be faster ways to travel these 329 miles but, at this stage in my life, if I’m in too much of a hurry, I might be in trouble anyway. For the record, I traveled that distance in nine hours.

The Amtrak Surfliner covers roughly one third of California from north to south. It starts or ends in a small train station in the charming central coastal community of SLO Cal (as it is often referred) and ends or starts depending on one’s point of view and direction at the Santa Fe Depot in downtown San Diego.

The train, as it turns out provides the type of regional travel that is everything commercial air travel isn’t. Everyone who steps aboard gets on the appropriately named Surfliner at the numerous stops with a smile and a sunny disposition. After settling into a seat that had enough leg and arm room for me and was wide enough to accommodate the ever-expanding posteriors of myself and my fellow countrymen, a conductor strolled by and scanned my ticket. Bada bing…as Lenny might say.

On this Friday morning trip, the pace and feel of the travel experience pretty much replicated that of the surroundings outside of the train. It was quiet and relaxed until one gets to Los Angeles’ Union Station. It was there the train added two more cars and hundreds of blue clad passengers, many of whom were making their way south to San Diego to watch their big-league baseball team play against a squad that represents what Anchorman Ron Burgundy calls “the greatest city in the history of mankind.”

The Los Angeles team is the only franchise in professional sports named after their fans. Keeping in that tradition their fans, drunk with success, deftly avoided being hit by the trains which were scooting all over the huge rail hub just down the hill from their home ballpark.

When those artful dodgers and myself arrived, it felt like we were in Miami, as a hurricane in Mexico created a steady warm rain, wind, heat and humidity. San Diego is generally blessed with a famously mild climate that is often so pleasant it could make a killer whale resort to non-lethal behavior.

However, given California’s drought conditions the rain was a welcome relief. For the record, it stopped raining a few hours before the start of the blues festival.

The festival was well attended and appeared to be a success on all fronts. The final tabulations, as to how much went into the coffers of the food bank were not available at press time. I hope you enjoy a photo essay by Brad Elligood with whom we are proud to be associated.

At the festival, I regaled virtually everyone with whom I came in contact my train experience which couldn’t have been more pleasant. I heard horror stories of minor delays and slightly late arrivals. Sounds like air travel to me. I told them that I had a blast except for the horrible traffic jam going through L.A. and the turbulence.

The question is: Would I travel by train again? The Answer: Yes…in a New York minute.

Taryn Donath

Matthew Taylor & Taryn Donath (Taryn Donath Duo)

Damion “Yella P” Pearson (Memphissippi Sounds)

Ben Powell

Tierinii Jackson (Southern Avenue)

Eddie 9V

Joe Sublet & Mark Pender (Phantom Blues Band)

Jim Pugh (Phantom Blues Band)

Larry Fulcher (Phantom Blues Band)

Johnny Lee Schell (Phantom Blues Band)

Tony Braunagel (Phantom Blues Band)

Curtis Salgado (featured with Phantom Blues Band)

Lil' Ed Williams (Lil' Ed & The Blues Imperials)

Billy F. Gibbons