In the spirit of the Argon Express, I’m taking the train to this year’s RubyConf.

I know a couple of other sd.rb people are going, so if you live near L.A. or one of the other stops on the route, hop on board!

WHEN:
October 18 - October 19.

Total trip time is about 1.5 days. We’re leaving from San Diego at 3pm. If you’re leaving from Los Angeles, you want to catch the 6:45pm Southwest Chief. We’ll arrive in Denver around 10:25pm the next day.

WHERE:
The Southwest Chief on Amtrak, heading from Los Angeles to Denver.

COST:
Using Amtrak discount code ‘H571′, one-way tickets from LA to Denver are $80. And roundtrip tickets are $160. (Airfare runs about $250 - $400, so this is a sweet bargain.)

HIGHLIGHTS:

• Hack out with other Rubyists before the main conference. (I’m planning to build a new Rails app from scratch during the trip.)

• Stay online with EVDO-enabled WIFI (where coverage allows)

• Check out the scenery from the observation car

RIDERS:

• Patrick Crowley
• Nick Zadrozny
• Kevin Clark

FAQ:

• Are you taking rail the whole way? Sadly, the last four hours of the trip is a bus ride from Raton, NM to Denver — but it’s a direct route with only two stops. (Hey, we didn’t build the rail system… there some places they just don’t go.)

• Are one-wayers welcome? Absolutely. I’m going roundtrip, but one way is cool too. Take the train out to RubyConf, then fly home in style!

Today, I’m excited to be launching Summer of Rails, a new website for the Rails community.

Like a lot of people, I’m pretty stoked about developing applications in Ruby in Rails. I’ve gotten the books, built a shopping cart, all that stuff. But I still haven’t launched my first Rails site. And I’m guessing I’m not alone.

So, here’s the Summer of Rails challenge.

• Learn Rails
• Make something useful
• Badge it

Easy, right? So let’s see how many Rails apps we can launch by the end of summer!

I’m in Chicago for RailsConf. The conference doesn’t start until tomorrow, but the Rails Guidebook and hackfest are happening for those who arrive early.

I’ll probably be at the hackfest today… maybe I’ll see you there?