San Juan Capistrano

So you wish to cut 20 percent from your budget. Just don't drive! Just follow me on my way to San Juan Capistrano and I will make a believer out of you.
   Every other month, I meet my two Grand Daughters, Summer and Spring at the children's petting zoo at San Juan Capistrano. The Santa Fe train ticket costs me only twelve dollars, non-stop to San Juan Capistrano by with my Senior Compass Coaster card. 
   My Senior Coaster card not only provides free reigns on all type of transportation for one month, but also gives me free rides on six Amtrak trains -- as long as it is within the Oceanside to
San Diego corridor. Now I could have taken Metro-Link for a few dollars from Oceanside but the train left from San Diego and not Oceanside. 
   I picked up my Sunday L.A. Times  and it included an article about budgeting your money. The article agreed with my blog. Living in San Diego on a shoe string is easy if you use other modes of transportation.  Cutting out or limiting car mileage helps a lot. The article mentioned the couple saved over 20 percent by not driving their car. What was not mentioned was their insurance costs were cut in half.
   I have  been training it for over four years now and have saved thousands of dollars. I can read, talk, or just sit back and look at the scenery on the way to my destination. Yet by driving, there is the cost of gas, wear and tear on the car, stop and go traffic, stress and finding a parking place when you get there.

My #567 departed Santa Fe Station at about eight twenty four. After a few minutes breathing pure air, my nose unclogged and my mind opened up. The air cushioned breaks made me feel like Peter Pan on air. 
   First stop was Old Town. Since it was Sunday, I wondered what Father Ecker would be preaching inside the  Catholic Immaculate Church. The #567 stopped at all Coaster stops. At the Sorrento Valley  I looked for a deer but none were in sight today. More passengers boarded at  Solana Beach and then Oceanside. It took about one hour for the train to hit Oceanside. 
   By the time  the train hit the waist land between Oceanside and San Clemente I had forgotten all of my problems and looked forward to the day. After San Clemente I finally arrived at the San Juan Capistrano Station at ten o'clock.  A little south of the train station I took the trail to the petting zoo.  
    I turned a corner and viewed a multitude of young women  holding on to their infants. Then it happened.  I heard my name and saw my daughter  waving her hands. Already paid, I walked to where my two daughters had saddled two horses.
   'Baby' Allison was strapped in with a workers holding the reigns. At a little over one year, she seemed at home while Olivia soaked up the morning sun on the other nag.  
   It was a moment to cherish on this perfect October day. My daughter and son-in-law never looked happier. For the first time, Spring did not whimper but seemed to relish the experience. My daughter was upset that she had overspent for Olivia's fourth birthday on the 30th.
   "I spent over $500 for her birthday party. I invited her day are classmates to it. Also George, don't you have an apartment yet?"
    Afterwards, the first restaurant we went to took over fifteen minutes to give us a menu Already on a tight budget, they decided to leave. My daughter needed time to study for an administrators license. But it did not stop me. In no way would I live this pristine city where swallows return each spring. Rejuvenated from the train ride, I felt like forking up a few dollars at Sarducci's Restaurant in back of the Santa Fe Depot. 
   While waiting for a table. I bought a return ticket on the one forty Amtrak. My name was called after about twenty minutes.  The Chinese Chicken salad tasted perfect. I took my time and thought how great my life had become. The train back was late but who cared, I felt heavenly. (Not edited yet)