I totally meant to right this on Sunday, but alas, I forgot. Not enough sleep the night before. Anywho …
Last Thursday night, I went to visit my brother, who lives in Culver City. As most of you know (or maybe you don’t), my mode of transport is usually the bike as the car I drive is failing, dying, etc. It simply cannot be fixed on the means I have and that’s fine. My fortunes will change eventually (and hopefully soon).
To get out to Culver City, I couldn’t really drive. It’s out of range for me. As the car leaks coolant, I didn’t want to risk having the engine burn out. So, I made a compromise: I would drive to Pasadena (the extent I’m willing to go as I know it’s safe enough to drive to and fro) and take the trains to a station near my brother and he would pick me up.
That part was fine. Easy. We had dinner and then played part of a game (perhaps a shorter game next time?) and I left his apartment at the absolute latest I could possibly to catch the very last train. Eek! I was already worried that I might miss it, but my phone told me that, according to schedule, I would be fine. Just barely.
The first leg went off without a hitch. I arrived at the second station where I needed to catch the Red or Purple line back to Union Station to get my train to Pasadena. I arrived one minute later than expected—so I was a little worried I might miss one of the trains, but they came every few minutes. I would be fine. Except that they were doing maintenance on one of the tracks and they would only be coming every 20 minutes (which actually was 30 from when I arrived).
Resigned to my fate, I sat on the platform and had a mini freak-out. I would have to spend a good 4 hours in Union Station to catch the first morning train from Los Angeles to Pasadena at 3:40 am. Not something I was really wanting to do. I hadn’t planned for the maintenance and hadn’t known it would take place. I am okay with some plans changing, but really I need some order especially when it comes to me not being home for sleep time (I need my sleep!). In any case, the train finally arrive a good 15 minutes after the last train was scheduled to leave for Pasadena.
I got to Union Station, and decided that I would at least try to see if my train would be there, hope against hope that I could get home that night. After all, there would certainly be other passengers stranded, right?
People waiting on the Gold Line platform had to be good news. I called a friend after receiving a few texts (no cell service in the subway, darn it!) and told her my plight. Just talking about it helped a little. But, I reasoned, if people were waiting and this line was under maintenance as well, then I’d be okay right?
Yes. After a few minutes (and being told by security to stay behind the yellow line), a train came. Small, but heaven-sent and beautiful. I would not be stuck in Los Angeles for another 3 hours. I finally could breath and relax. I got to the car and got home, no more incidents. Though I was an hour later than I had hoped, it was better than spending half a night in a train station. Whew.
Next time, I’ll have to pay more attention to the signs or something ….
Sounds like you had quite the adventure. I’m glad you made it home safely.
Me too! It was very iffy there for a good chunk of time!