So if I don’t get a call from the Obama administration, my backup plan is to become a Somali pirate.

The MT.Net gallery has some pictures of the totaled van (and not-so-totaled trailer). Please be patient and don’t total my cable modem as these pics are hosted at home.

A good portion of the estimated $7000 it would cost to repair it is tied up in replacing the entire left side unibody. Looking at it you would think its just the door that needs replacing.

Google’s Veterans Day logo got me interested in Dixie Cups, as that’s the nickname for an enlisted sailor’s hat. Here’s an interesting article about the history of the Individual Drinking Cup Company, makers of the Dixie Cup.

Incidentally, Dixie Cups were not made in Dixie until 1982, when the American Can Company (which merged with Dixie in 1957) was sold to the James River Corporation of Richmond, Virginia. Dixie Cups actually got their name from a line of children’s dolls from the Alfred Schindler’s Dixie Doll Company.

I opted not to chase the Virginia Autumn Flyer excursion train last weekend. Too much to do around the house. Thanks to the Youtubes, there are plenty of videos of the train.

Looks like your typical Amtrak train until you get about 8 cars back. Then you start to see the vintage rail equipment owned by the museum or private owners.

Pusan, South Korea was one of my first port visits in the Navy. Though its as far away from the DMZ as it can be and still be on the Korean peninsula, I could still feel the tension between the North and South. Even there I had this sense that things weren’t quite normal.

I never did get up to the DMZ (which in hindsight was probably a good thing) and so I was fascinated to read Bob Harris’s account of a tourist trip he took up to the North Korean border. Harris’s writing captures the crazy atmosphere of that part of the world.

I think this is as close to the DMZ as I’d like to get, thank you very much.

Attention photogs: the N.C. Transportation Museum’s Virginia Autumn Excursion Train is running Saturday and Sunday. It will leave Spencer Shops at 7 AM and then leave Greensboro’s Amtrak station at 8:15 AM before heading through the rolling Piedmont on the way to Charlottesville, VA.

While riding through rolling hills in a beautifully-restored passenger rail car is exciting, the $135 ticket price for coach seating is a bit more than I can justify. The real show will be taking place outside of the train as these vintage rail cars pass through the scenic countryside. As a railfan and a photographer, seeing this rolling steel pass over hills bursting with autumn colors may be too much to pass up. The ultimate trestle shot is calling me!

My plan is to meet the train in Greensboro after carefully studying the track route in Google Earth to find the best vantage points. I’ll spend a few hours chasing it north before returning to Raleigh for the night. If you’d like to join me, drop me a line. We can coordinate our stops, leap-frogging stops and sharing shots so that every crossing is covered.