acclimated. I’ve done that! It’s part of my helpful nature, so to speak. People in my office come to me because they know that I ride the train, and they ask, “How do you take the train from Rancho Cucamonga to here?” and I tell them, “Take the Inland Empire line…” and I show them the website. I’ve helped out!
Ceres: What is the best thing that has ever happened to you on your commute?
Mike: I got my picture in the paper. We had a group way back—I think it was late ninety-eight, ninety-nine—that always rode on the same train, same car, on the way home. It was one of the guys’ birthday, and we had a mini cupcake potluck on the way to work, in the morning . And, on the way home, we had a birthday party. We
decorated that little space in our car, put things on the door. One of the ladies in the group contacted the OC register, and they had a reporter and a photographer on board to do a story. Thus, I got my
picture in the paper riding the Metrolink train, which was cool!
Ceres: What is the worst thing that has ever happened to you on your commute?
Mike: Being stuck on the train for hours because the one in front of us hit somebody on the track. When it happens, they shut everything down to do whatever they have to do, and so all the trains are stuck. I remember, it was a Friday—thank goodness—so by the time I got home it was four hours after the fact. That is it! I have never been involved in any direct accident. It’s not like some people I know that were on trains that derailed. Nothing like that never happened to me, thank God! Just a major inconvenience factor for being stuck on the train, sitting there with nowhere to go. It happened once on the Amtrak too. We were stuck because the Metrolink in front us had struck something on the tracks. Never had anybody come to arrest me, and take me off the train or anything. No one ever got shot on the train either!
Ceres: Any fun stories?
Mike: The time that I woke up in Laguna Niguel. It was the morning ride, going to work. I was really tired, and getting my sleep on. The train stopped and I looked outside, and thought it must be the Irvine station. “Darn, I ended up in Irvine!” When I went downstairs, the conductor looked at me and said, “What are you doing, here?” I said, “Well, I missed a stop. Wait a minute! It doesn’t look like Irvine!” “No,” he replied. “It’s Laguna Niguel. We are at the end of the line.” “What the hell!” That was the last time I actually overshot that far. Other than that, it’s your average daily trip on the train… You never know what’s gonna happen!
Ceres: What do you think about our little train community… because people can’t help to make friends on buses and trains when commuting for so many hours?
Mike: It’s cool! Some people just wanna get their little nap on while on their way, others are more
interactive, so to speak. It just depends on the person, but it’s good; it helps foster camaraderie and friendship. Some people come, some people are transitory, others are for the long-haul like me. I’ve been on the
Orange County line for more than 12 years now. It is just a very fluid type of community.
Ceres: If you had one request, what would it be?
Mike: Put more trains in the middays, so that I don’t have to stick with Amtrak all the time when I want to leave work early!
"Some people come, some people are transitory, others are for the long-haul like me."
74 - Ceres Magazine - Winter 2016