FrontRunning to Ogden

I appreciate free; So, yesterday -- April 30th, 2008, I jumped aboard the new FrontRunner Commuter Rail that runs between Salt Lake and Ogden. The new route opened on April 26th. UTA offered free rides from April 26th to April 30.

(I was planning on going to the opening ceremonies on April 26th, but went to a Rock Garden Show instead.

My orginal plan was to get off on every stop and take pictures of the environs. Unfortunately, as the train was standing room only, I decided to beeline it to Ogden and back.

In Ogden I took a walk up historic 25th, then down Washington Boulevard to the new Solomon recreation center. I then zig zagged my way back to the train.

Sadly, it takes longer to label pictures than it does to take pictures.

On the train, I engaged in several conversations about how things like architecture and our overall well being has improved in the last 8 years, followed by other conversations about how everybody hates George Bush and yearn for some indescribable change.

It is really amazing how the media has been able to convince so many sheep in America that the continued boom America has experienced since the Reagan revolution is a depression.

The way I see it ... life is not about how much we love or hate the glorious leader in a distant city. It is about the quality of life in our communities. During the Great Society of LBJ through Jimmy Carter, people turned toward Washington for answers. The local communities got worse. The trains disappeared during this era.

During the era from Reagan to Bush, people realized that Washington was not the answer and local communities started getting better. Like most of the stuff in our lives, the train has nothing to do with the President. It is odd, but Republican hostility toward mass transit helped improve it.