The Metro that Never Was.

In 2001, when Irvin and I drove from Dubuque, Iowa to Tacoma, Washington in three days, our families warmly welcomed us and put us up until we found a place to live.

Early morning, in Charlie and Peggy guest room in Tacoma, the familiar vibration audible in some old Parisian buildings woke me up. This vibration comes from the subway – the underground train we call “Metro” that runs every few minutes. It took me an instant to realize that I was a bit far from Paris to hear those trains. I mentioned my experience to Charlie, Irvin’s uncle, and he smiled. “That was an earthquake, he said. I felt it too.”

The «underground-Metro-in-Tacoma effect» provides from the Juan de Fuca Plate plunging beaneath the North American Plate. Obviously, this sometimes produces a more noticeable effect than a discreet tremor.
But this morning, at 25 miles south of Tacoma, it was again hardly discernable in our neighborhood. 4.2 on Richter scale and no damages. One more time, Charlie is the one that informed us. We did not feel anything in Puyallup.