Spatial Audio Raven Preamp

I got whacked with Covid after going to the Seattle show last year. Both the Seattle and Denver airports were overcrowded zoos, so I’m pretty sure that’s where I got it. Fortunately, Paxlovid knocked it out in about 36 hours.

This time, I will NOT fly Economy Class, will ask the airline for a wheelchair to traverse the miles-long concourses at Denver, and will wear a 95% filter mask until the A/C on the plane comes on.

For older folks like me, the airports are an exhausting trek without some kind of assistance. They are not ADA compliant unless you tell the airline a day in advance. Otherwise, you walk, with no place to sit and rest.

It’s unfortunate there are only two transportation options between the Pacific Northwest and Denver: a very tedious drive through the wastelands of southern Wyoming, or a United flight on a 100% booked 737 Max. Well, yes, I could rent a private jet, but that’s $20,000 per trip. Don’t think the IRS would accept that as a tax deduction.

The most pleasant trip was taking the Amtrak with a private cabin, but that disappeared ten or fifteen years ago. Sure was nice, though, eating in the dining car while watching the West roll by.

lynn _olson

I hear you, airports and airlines can be overcrowded, and who knows what is floating around. Sorry to hear you need the rolling assist to get around in airport, those walks can be brutal in some airports. Is Amtrak really no more…?

Oh, Amtrak is still around, just with fewer routes. The Denver/Portland route went away about fifteen years ago. However, as part of the Inflation Reduction Act, Amtrak is getting some routes restored, which I look forward to.

As for airports, DIA is truly gigantic, with six enormous concourses, all radiating from a rattly and jerky central subway. United changed the gate THREE TIMES on the trip to Seattle, all on very short notice. By the time I got my seat on the 100% full 737, I must have walked two miles, with no place to sit and rest, just a nonstop slog the whole way. Although I felt sorry for myself, I felt more sorry for the exhausted single moms carrying infants.

This is gross violation of the ADA act. There are old people (me), folks on crutches, and single moms force-marched to distant gates through an immense facility with nowhere to sit.

I think it’s absurd the wealthiest country on Earth has only two modes of transportation, with the airlines steadily degrading service year after year, and the Interstate Highway System no better than it was in the Seventies. Of course, if you are uber-rich, you just take your limo to the private-jet-only airport and stroll out of the limo straight onto the private jet a few feet away.

Wash your hands often! Seriously, it's the single most effective way to ward off bugs from the mass transit petri dishes. Wish I still lived in Portland, I would have loved to meet you guys.

Imagine high speed levitating electric trains down the insterstate medians..... They would be far more efficient than planes for the 500 mile or less journey.  They have trains that go 199 mph in Japan.  Imagine just 120 mph.....  a few hours and you are across a couple of states and you can walk around, go down to the club car for a beer, etc...   Contrasted with spending 2 hours in airports on either side of a 90 minute flight in a tuna can.  Sure, for cross country flights the plane is better, but for the 300 - 500 mile journey... I would love a train.