I’M IN PORTLAND, having traveled on Saturday last by air from Elmira (the local airport to the Corning area) to San Francisco, via Philadelphia. I spent a good bit of the day in San Francisco wandering around after stowing my luggage in the storage room of the Downtown SFO Youth Hostel where I will be staying May 1. Then I caught the train up to Portland overnight arriving on Sunday afternoon and was met by my good friend, Jack (the Jack who has the hybrid Camry). The picture is of two street cars passing in Powell St., SFO.

It is not as easy as one might think to get by train from San Francisco to Portland . You catch the BART from SFO Airport around to Emeryville (EMY), which is just a little south of Berkley. Emeryville AMTRAK station is the closest station to downtown SFO. Is this not kind of bizarre? I mean, that is miles from the downtown. AMTRAK, the national rail passenger network, does not own any track instead depending on the good graces of the private rail companies for passage. Due to this, quite a few AMTRAK stations are in out of the way places, in relation to population centers.

The strangeness of the journey does not end there. The Portland Train does not go directly to Portland. It goes to Klamath Falls where passengers transfer to motor coaches to travel over the Cascade Range into the Willamette Valley to Eugene. Here they get on another train that goes north to Seattle and Vancouver BC, passing through Portland. Is not that also bizarre? All this makes the journey somewhat longer that it might otherwise had been. However, it is not all downside. The train leaves EMY late evening (c. 10:20 PM) resulting in it passing below beautiful Mt Shasta just as one is thinking about breakfast. Let me tell you, the dining car on this train is in the grand tradition with real cutlery, white line tablecloths, and proper napkins (‘serviettes’ to you Aussies). And … proper waiters and chef. How about eggs with toast and apple chicken sausage, with coffee and orange juice for $9? Not to mention the magnificent view across wide valleys, dusted with the previous night’s snow, stretching away to one side and fleeting views of Mt. Shasta on the other. Yes, this is train travel indeed. No bothersome security checks, big comfortable seats and lots of legroom. Tired of your allotted seat? Go to the Observation Lounge for great views of the magnificent Cascade Mountains. Too bad you only have an hour or so of this before arriving at Klamath Falls.

At Klamath Falls snow had began to fall, intensifying as the bus climbed up over the Klamath Pass before descending to Eugene. Once more the travel was through beautiful mountain country anointed now with an inch or so of fresh ‘whiter than white’ snow. The train to Portland awaited us and I completed a most pleasant journey. As a senior traveler this cost me less than $60. Not bad…not bad at all.

Now let me contrast this with my journey from Paris (Oley) Airport to Marseille a couple of years back. The Very Fast Train (TGV) passes through the airport and is a few minutes by shuttle from the air terminals. The journey takes about four hours, the train running on dedicated track and passing through great vistas of forest, the manicured French countryside, and pretty villages.

Ah, I hear you say, at last he is off the energy thing and back to ordinary matters.

Not quite…

Just before I left on this journey Delta and Northwest Airlines had decided to merge. This was opposite to what the pundits had expected. The reason the managements of these airlines gave for the decision to merge was the tremendous increase in the price of jet fuel. Another had airline filed for bankruptcy while others have ceased operation, citing rising fuel costs. Further, United Airlines has just posted a loss for the first quarter, once again citing the increased cost of fuel. Airline ticket prices have jumped eight times this last year; expect more increases, warn the airlines.

The cost of my lone journey last year from Portland to Painted Post by car was twice the cost of the same journey by air. Travel by car is more costly than by air and the differential will most likely increase. Train travel is the least costly way of getting from anywhere to anywhere over land. Too bad development of passenger rail infrastructure has such a low priority! You may just have to take the bus.

When oil reaches $130 to $140 per barrel it is possible that the cost of distance travel by car and plane will pass beyond the reach of the ordinary person, even with the most economical cars and larger, more economical jets. Already, experts are predicting significantly diminished summer ‘08 holiday traffic due to the rising cost of fuel. The latest news…for the first time in two decades, Americans annualized demand for fuel has fallen.

Expect the cost of energy to continue increasing. Since coal now costs three times more than two years ago the cost of electrical power likewise will rise. If you believed this is really going to happen, what is the best course of action you might take?