Tag / travel

by Adron

A Re-introduction to Transit Sleuth via Link Light Rail

Today marks about the ~20th or so day I’ve ridden the light rail from Redmond to South Bellevue, and then transferred to the Sound Transit Express 550 from there to downtown.

My commute priority has always been about functional use versus speed or other criteria. When I write functional use, what I mean is can I use the commute for something besides just wasting away rotting like one might do in a cage (i.e. a car). Even when I have used a car in the past, the focus still remained exactly that.

Simply put, I despise the idea I follow the modern American tradition of plopping myself into a car, that I’ve worked a job to buy, to sit in traffic – often stop and go or just stopped – to go to a job that I work to do shit like buy a car. I prefer my job funds go to strategic and tactical things like living life. Travel, exploration, games, beer, good food, racing cars, bikes, more bikes, and other entertaining and enriching things vs. buying a car, maintaining a car, paying rent, and all that rat race bullshit.

So now that I’ve written this, I hope to be back soon on a regular basis writing on this blog. If for any other reason, because I enjoy it. But also to document my commuting adventures and related things. Hopefully I’ll conjure up the energy to also start putting videos together again, ya know like this one, this, or this.

Back to the Link Light Rail

With the opening of the Redmond Station, the commute – even in spite of it being 2 parts still – has dramatically improved. Largely because I can take a significant part of the trip via light rail. That means listening to music, getting some code written, videos watched, maybe edited, AI’s vibe coding, views observed, maybe a snack, some AI models processed, or simply enjoying my coffee while en route to the office.

Sometimes, shockingly, I’ll even meet someone and we’ll have a good solid kick ass conversation while en route! But why am I riding the light rail these days?

How Did I Get Here?

Ok, somewhat dreadfully, based on the Seattle area leadership’s inability to deliver on much of anything promised, the Ballard Link Light Rail didn’t look like it was ever going to happen in my life time (i.e. the next ~20-40 years at least). The house I lived in also wasn’t cutting it, so family deemed a new house was in order and we began to search a few years back.

It was hard going. Forget money even, which is it’s own problem with housing these days, houses just weren’t available. Not with the basic – for us – that put a house into qualifying. The characteristics of the house we wanted, in order of importance;

  • being on a trail(s) or dedicated bike infrastructure
  • being near park(s) and woodland space
  • being away from any primary interstate or highway arterial (preferable to stay away from carcinogens)
  • being near transit options to get into and out of Seattle downtown
  • being near transit options to get to King St Station and SEATAC and/or other airport with area departure options.
  • being away from any primary roadway arterial
  • being most quiet
  • being walkable (i.e. do sidewalks exist, do business exist?)
  • being low crime (honestly, only sort of important in certain ways)
  • minimum number of rooms for remote/home work in addition to kiddo space
  • no HOA cuz forget that shortsighted self-fascistic nonsense
  • MAGAt density is no more than 1 out of 10 (super easy in this area, since low crime areas have very low MAGAt density) **
  • minimum ~1600 square feet
  • enough land to use for a victory garden (i.e. something like ~200 sq ft minimum, more is better)

Redmond? What? Not intuitive!

Naturally we assumed we could only really get something that would have maybe ~3-5 of these items, and then maybe part of another 5-10. We searched and searched and searched and finally, after offers put in, offers turned down, we finally expanded our search outside of Seattle to some east side locations and landed an offer in Redmond. Somewhat shockingly it has a multitude of these things in full and all of them to a partial degree.

The only things Redmond, outside of its downtown core fails on is a few things;

  • Walkability to do anything useful outside of Redmond’s downtown core is questionable and often requires other modal options to complete. However, that said, almost everywhere in Redmond has sidewalks, clear paths, and ways to get places, it just might take 15-45 minutes depending on where one lives.
  • Transit options are spectacular if you are in the downtown core. However leaving the downtown core it becomes immediately questionable whether you will have good transit options.
  • The light rail, as this post is about, massively changes the dynamic into and out of Redmond, Bellevue, and in about a year – theoretically – into Seattle for the east side. Even without the bridge into Seattle being open, it’s still changed the dynamic of the east side in a very positive way.
  • Even though we’re away from primary arterials and highways, interstates, and the like. The roadway system is setup in an auto-focused way that leads people to some expediently stupid behaviors. Negligence and obliviousness – as you might expect – reign supreme with east side drivers. The majority do endeavor to be polite and all but people generally just suck at driving. So YMMV in your automotive driver interactions.

With that being the baseline we have ended up over here in Redmond. So far it’s actually pretty sweet, more so than I thought when we first made the decision and landed the house. Simply put, we live a very European style life over here in Redmond and recently I’ve started commuting to a downtown Seattle office.

Back to The Topic At Hand: Link Light Rail Line 2

My commute now ends up being an interesting and enjoyable string of modal options.

1st – To get to the Link station, I come down from the Redmond hills via bike. There I roll into the now open station, swipe my Orca Card, bump the elevator button and up I go to board the Link.

2nd – Upon boarding the Link I rack the bike. Extremely easy to do since this is the originating station and I generally board a train that has few people on it at its start. Then off we zip toward the – current – other end of the line in South Bellevue. During this segment of the trip I take a seat and out comes the laptop. As mentioned earlier in the post the code, videos, editing, or other activities ensue. After the short trip as we leave the stop just before South Bellevue I slip the laptop back into my pack, and unrack the bike for departure. Upon an elevator ride down, I roll over to wait for the arrival of the Seattle bound Sound Transit Express 550.

3rd – The bus fills the current gap while they wrap up construction work on the I-90. The 550 serves the purpose well, and it isn’t overly packed. This puts me in a position to whip the laptop back out and spend a little more time getting shit done, reading, or whatever I may. Upon arrival in downtown I alight the bus, unrack my bike, and then begin the last short segment to the office.

4th – I then enjoy this last segment riding Spacey to the office. It’s always a smooth, seamless, trip around and along various roads and bike infra in downtown. I tend to change up the route just a bit every time I take the trip.

That’s it. That’s my commute these days, and hot damn it’s an enjoyable one! This time of year especially as the weather gets nice and I’m a quick roll – amidst the hilarious insanity of the car oriented commute – to breweries, the epic Seattle waterfront, and other places to chill before the trip home.

More adventures, thoughts, and interludes of written words in the coming days and weeks. Hope your commute rocks, or if you don’t, that you’ve got an enjoyable day to day. Cheers!

** MAGA specifically. Not a fan of confused fascists. I realize this does not include general Republicans or conservatives, especially of the Reagan, Eisenhower, or even Lincoln variety. Since obviously, none of those Presidents were fascists, maybe shitty, but not wannabe fascists.

by Adron

Link Light Rail opens in Redmond

I wrote about some pedantic details in the last post here. Check that for some nuggets and the current situation logistically. But read on for some observations from opening day!

I wrote a thread on Mastadon, Threads, and Blue Sky too. Click through to check em’ out.

Thread Summary
– Redmond light rail opening today: Celebrating the debut of service to Redmond Technology Station.
– First southbound ride: The fresh thrill of speeding out of Bellevue, over I-405 and sprawling lots, into Redmond.
– Elevated magic: The segment between Wilburton and Bellevue stations, soaring above streets in a blink—reducing a 5-10-minute slog to 45 seconds of pure “whee.”
– Empty parking lots everywhere: Wild expanses of asphalt ripe for redevelopment—if the economy holds up.
– Broken elevator / IYKYK: Only one failing escalator on the 2 Line over at Wilburton. That’s a seemingly good ratio for Sound Transit and escalators.
– Bike corral buzz: Cascadia Bikes’ racks overflowing—major props to everyone who pedaled in.

Rolling into Redmond Technology Station for the First Time
There’s nothing quite like that first southbound trip into Redmond Technology Station. After waiting months for what I personally will now find the most useful segment of light rail in the area. It seems the wait has taken eons.

The Elevated Spectacle
Peek out the window as you depart Bellevue Station: a dizzying montage of concrete and greenery. The rail track climbs, slicing through the skyline with surgical precision. Down below, cars inch along, helplessly stuck in gridlock. Up here, you’re at street level with the brids—or at least with the tops of pine trees. It’s the kind of view that makes you feel like the future might arrive in the USA yet, albeit one powered by a modest electric motor humming serenely beneath the floor.

Asphalt Oceans & Urban Dreams
West of the station lies an ocean of empty parking lots—so vast you’d think Microsoft itself had spawned them all. It’s eerie, almost dystopian… until you remember the upside: raw redevelopment potential. Imagine mixed-use towers, live/work lofts, parks, eateries—an entire urban neighborhood rising from the asphalt. That is, assuming our economy doesn’t implode in the next couple of years, as that might lead to it not happening for decades upon decades. Fingers crossed, America, fingers crossed.

Two Wheels, One Corral
Shout-out to Cascadia Bikes for setting up a deluxe bike corral—overflowing with riders who made the wise call to pedal in. Seriously, if you rolled up on two wheels, you’re a genius. Fresh air commute, zero parking worries, and you still get to high-five your fellow cyclists. Hats off—or helmets on—to you.

Mode-Shaming: Because Someone Has To

  • Biked: You’re smart.
  • Walked/Bus’d: Good call.
  • Drove: You’re a jack-ass clogging up the pedestrian friendly area of town. Why even? Don’t do that shit.

Next time, ditch the car and catch the train. Your neighbors (and everyone’s blood pressure) will thank you.

More Technical Details

The new bike routes to the stations are spectacular, check out more about them here.

by Adron

Here’s the straight‐up status on Sound Transit’s Link expansion into Redmond

Published April 26, 2025 • by Adron Hall

You’d think after eight years of planning and broken promises we’d be cruising into downtown Redmond and gliding across I-90 into Seattle by now. Instead, we’re stuck in a never-ending limbo of concrete re-works, ribbon-cuttings, and “coming soon” bulletins. Here’s the unvarnished status on both fronts.

1. Rolling Into Redmond: Sort-of — But Not Yet Downtown

The first phase of East Link finally blasted into Redmond Technology Station on April 27, 2024, hauling in a whopping 35,000 riders on day one. That stretch—running between South Bellevue and the Overlake Transit Center site—proved we can build tracks and run trains when we really want to.

But if you live, work, or play in downtown Redmond, you’re still stranded on the bus. The Downtown Redmond Link Extension adds two stations—Marymoor Village (just south of Marymoor Park) and Downtown Redmond (in the retail/core area)—but they won’t swing open until Saturday, May 10, 2025. Expect a 10:30 a.m. ribbon cutting at the new Downtown Redmond Station, with “regular” service kicking in around noon.

Construction kicked off back in October 2019. Crews hustled through track work, systems-integration testing (including late-night “live-wire” trials last fall), and the usual quota of quality-control headaches. Despite Covid slow-downs and a concrete-truck strike pushing timelines, finishing this last half-mile of track is finally in sight—just in time for summer traffic to remind us why we needed rail in the first place.

2. Crossing the Lake: East Link Over I-90 — Still Tethered to Shore

Meanwhile, on the western end of East Link, the segment that actually gets you from Seattle to Bellevue (via Judkins Park and Mercer Island) has been inching along even slower. The bones of the project—10 miles of track, floating-bridge foundations, and two new stations—were supposed to open in 2023. Instead:

  • Live-Wire Testing: Crews energized the overhead wires on the I-90 floating bridge in October 2024, complete with test trains rumbling across the lake under cover of night.
  • Defective Plinths: Remember the concrete “plinths” that cracked under the rails? Fixing those ate up most of 2024. Contractors hit 80% completion on the rebuild back in the summer, but slip-ups and re-inspections kept pushing milestones into late-year.
  • “Late 2025” Launch Window: Officially, Sound Transit has been coy—“expected to open in 2025,” they say. Insider whispers (and Reddit threads) peg it toward the tail end of 2025, but no firm month is on the books yet.

In short, don’t pencil in a commute over I-90 on Link for your Q1 2026 budget forecast. Keep riding the 550 for now and plan on that being the option.

3. Why It Matters—and Why Many Are Still Mad

  • Traffic Toll: Every day we delay rail, thousands of cars clog Bellevue Way, SR 520, and 148th Ave NE. That’s wasted fuel, time, and sanity.
  • Economic Impact: Microsoft, Nintendo, Costco Corporate—many are planting roots on the Eastside. Reliable, frequent rail isn’t a luxury; it’s mandatory infrastructure.
  • Credibility Gap: Voter-approved in 2008, with dozens of delays since, Sound Transit is inching toward a 116-mile system by 2041…if we believe the current schedule.

4. The Bottom Line

Redmond Technology Station: Open since April 27, 2024.

  • Downtown Redmond & Marymoor Village: Opening May 10, 2025 (10:30 a.m. ribbon-cut, noon service).
  • I-90 Floating Bridge to Mercer Island & Seattle: “Late 2025”—no firm date.

Ask yourself: when “late 2025” rolls around, will we finally get the seamless, cross-lake Link service we’ve been promised for the better part of two decades? Or will there be another concrete glitch, another supply chain setback, another “new” delay? Stay tuned—just don’t hold your breath.

by Adron

Beginning The Pittsburgh Adventure!

Back in April I took a trip to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It is easily one of the best trips I’ve taken in a few years! Far too many years! Obviously I had to write up the adventure and that dear readers is what you have here, the log of my entire trip to Pittsburgh. I hope you enjoy following along with the adventure!

Along with the trip, which I’ll write details about here on this post and subsequent posts here on Transit Sleuth, another branch of posts will be on Vicious Shred concerning the record shops (Attic Records, etc) and music related peculiarities. So if you’re into the metal, and other varietals of music I partake upon, navigate over to Vicious Shred for a whole host of posts about that.

Day 1 – Departing Seattle via the Empire Builder

Day 1 involved departing Seattle. What did that involve? Well let me tell you!

The very first event involved me biking down from home to downtown Redmond. There I caught the Sound Transit 545 out of Redmond heading to downtown Seattle & King Street Station. The bus arrived timely, I got the bike mounted up and off I went.

Shocker of shocker, as we got into the city there was a back up on 520 coming onto I-5, which is part of traveling on I-5. It’s always been backed up here and likely will always be. If someone is stupid enough to think they’ll resolve this poorly designed mess they don’t understand how cars work – and in that sense I am seriously looking forward to the day I can just on the tram (light rail) Link into the city!

Once I arrived downtown, I didn’t even attempt to ride the 545 all the way across the downtown core. There are two reasons I did got off the bus to travel this last few miles:

  1. The main reason is I like to, as I’ve made it a tradition, to always stop at Monorail Coffee and get a cap before departure. For many – if not most – destinations in the United States it is likely the last time I’ll get a decent cap until returning. The espresso standards in the USA have improved to a degree so it isn’t as frequent I go without as it used to be, but I still don’t trust most cities.
  2. The other reason is I actually like to ride through the city – I love cities, love em’! Some folks don’t get that from me but I see so much more than the mere concrete and fumbling crushed souls of the city and more the wealth generating heartbeat of America that US cities actually are. Albeit they’re severely damaged and have a severe quality of life issue compared to European cities. Largely evident in the vast warped subsidized American socialism experiment gone awry called “the suburbs”. But hey, they’re holding together the country in spite of all that!

Anarchist Jurisdiction

As the “Dear Leader” designated our poor fair destroyed obliterated city of Seattle, it is indeed destroyed y’all! Nobody come to Seattle, look at all that smoke and fire and burning, nobody is left! It’s all zombies and those lost in the riots. /s

Comedy aside, the ride through Seattle was rather pleasant. The roll – emphasis on roll because it takes almost no energy to pedal downhill from Monorail Coffee down to the train station – to King Street Station was smooth and effortless.

King Street Station

I arrived, got my bike tagged for the trip and headed off to the baggage car to hand off my bike. The only two things I brought with me was my Mission Workshop ARKIV Backpack and the bike (bounce back to this post for details on why she’s named “PDX Orange”).

Tragedy Struck!

Chubby DOWN!!! You’ll have to watch the video for that bit of tragedy (time point @ the tragedy), it was already too much to write about the remnants of the destroyed city of Seattle! So with that bit of narration lagniappe, enjoy the video.

My Pittsburgh Adventure day 1 departing Seattle via King Street Station on the Empire Builder!

Day 2 – Eating on the Empire Builder

Day 2 can be summarized as eating day. There isn’t a lot to see or do on day 2, so it’s 3 meals and complete uninterrupted relaxation. In all seriousness it is one of my favorite days of the trip – even with the somewhat boring scenery – because I just do nothing. Maybe read, but mostly just thinking and introspecting against a repeating scenery. With that, I detail some of day 2 via VLOG for you dear reader!

Train Life, Day 2 on the Empire Builder from Seattle to Chicago, en route to Pittsburgh.

Day 3 – Empire Builder Transfer to Capitol Limited in Chicago

When I got into day 3, Chicago was the central action of the day. I needed to arrive on time or close to on time in order to make my connection to the Capitol Limited. The Capitol Limited route runs from Chicago to Washington DC. It makes a bunch of stops but my stop would be around 5:23am in the morning in Pittsburgh. If I had my preference, I’d have take another train that would have had me arriving in Pittsburgh at a more reasonable hour, but this being America we have a severe lack of transportation options between major cities!

The great thing about – in my humble opinion – coming into Chicago is getting into the urban fabric and watching the urban core and its skyscrapers start to rise out of nothing. If you’re privy, you get to see a lot of history as you roll into the city too. If you find that kind of thing fascinating Chicago is a city worth looking into.

In this episode I wrap up things by showing the path and process – for my brave fellow cyclists out there – of getting your bike stowed in Union Station. If you’re in the sleeper or 1st class like I was, you get to hang out in the awesome lounge at Chicago but you need to stow your bike in the meantime.

Pittsburgh Adventure Day 3 – Part 1 – Arrival in Chicago & wondering around Union Station.

In the 2nd part of day 3, transferring in Chicago I provide a tour of the 1st Class Lounge and then wander aimlessly around Chicago for a short while. Then I show boarding, which is a bit of an adventure in fumbling since I have a bike. Even though this is actually an easy process, you need to stay on top of things in order to make sure the bike does end up where you end up. Follow along in the VLOG to see more of the chaotic fun as I wrap up the Chicago transfer to the Capitol Limited!

Pittsburgh Adventure Day 3 – Part 2 – Transferring in Chicago & wondering outside Union Station.

That’s it for the Empire Builder part of the trip, in my next post I’ll delve into arrival day in Pittsburgh and the ongoing adventures!

by Adron

Traveling Trackball, AKA “GSD Better!”

Recently I purchased a trackball and a hardshell case for that trackball, which I then wrote a review of over yonder “A Review of the MX Ergo Advanced Wireless“. The hardshell case primarily because I displace a lot during the course of the day. Whether traveling far away from home or just within the city in which I live (i.e. Seattle these days, but in the past Portland, Memphis, Jacksonville, New Orleans, Krakow, etc) it’s been very important to have computer gear that holds up well to these movements during the day. Here is a video that details the trackball, hardshell case, and some of the different places I’ve used it since purchase. Below the video I elaborate on two of the scenarios I use these devices.

Trackball Travels

Coffee Shop Cycling Displacements

Often during the day, at least a non-pandemic day, I work coffee shop to coffee shop. Meeting other coders, working alone, or having meetings in person in coffee shops. As I move from coffee shop to coffee shop, sometimes I use transit (bus/train/tram/streetcar/etc) but more often I bike from shop to shop. During these displacements computer gear can get banged up heavily. That’s where the hardshell case for the trackball is hugely important!

Here are some detailed “product” shots from Amazon/co2CREA, and the link itself to the product if you want to pick it up.

The Hardshell Case from co2CREA

While cycling all sorts of things can happen. I could biff it (i.e. *wreck*) on my pack (i.e. messenger bag, or backpack) and things are safe from direct impact in there, but can still be squished. I could toss my bag down or set it somewhere and it gets kicked, hit, or falls. The number of impact scenarios are numerous. But it doesn’t stop there while out cycling, since most of my packs are waterproof it’s nice to have individual elements packed in water resistant packages for when I pull them out of their pack. You get the idea, there’s a lot of potential oops scenarios, and for maximum gear lifespan it’s best to keep them safe.

Railroading Baggage Pannier Packing Style

Alright, using panniers for bike and train combo trips is another one of my specialties. I take a lot of train trips. Sometimes I ride coach, sometimes I get a roomette or bedroom, and on some trains I may end up standing. Whatever the case, traveling means luggage of some sort and luggage gets banged around. Again I’ve got my packs, but also in this scenario I routinely use my panniers. The combination is great as the survivability of devices – Apple Laptop + hardshell case for pointing device plus tough packs with panniers holding the remainder of things means surviving insane things like train wrecks (i.e. my experience of the train wreck of 501), or just regular travel trips like my trips to San Francisco for QCon, or my trip to Olympia, Washington to speak at a users’ group.

In summary, if you want to enjoy the bikey life combo powered with the rail life and keep your gear intact, it’s a good idea to pick up a hardshell case.