On the way back from Philly we took the Cardinal through 9 states. It wasn’t quite direct and halfway through the night the bathrooms ran out of flush water. We curled up awkwardly on our seats and tried to sleep. Cell service was non-existent as we drifted through the misty blue ridge mountains. The Bulgarian guy quizzing the metalhead about American culture kept us enthralled though. “In America, guns are everywhere, just laying about I hear.” The conductor amused us with his antics, comically quizzing us, begging for a chance at the yo-yo, ruffling hair and accepting help in collecting tickets at new stops from a certain eager young train geek of the future.

Also of interest was the calm travel savvy of the blind woman with her service dog and two adopted daughters, one of whom was also blind. The Amish babies were very friendly to my daughter and Mail quickly found a boy with similar tastes in gaming devices whose father was so friendly and chatty that we invited them to dine with us later.

Over dinner, we settled in the dining car, Mail sitting with his new friend and his father plus a nice lady who later shook my hand and told me I had a great kid there. Anoif and I sat with a nice lady from some Welsh association who seemed to have a real knack for history and leading all roads back to Wales. The gentleman who joined us competed for our attentions with his equally strong knowledge of history and his scientific know-how. He was a research scientist who entertained us with travel tales and tidbits about the Catholic faith. We walked away with several new email addresses, two crisp $2 bills, a suggested reading list for certain topics covered and a wider understanding of humanity. These are the sort of dinner parties one imagines only happen in Jane Eyre novels or at the dean’s country club. I’ve met some amazing people on airplanes too, but something about the suspension of time on a train always leads to magic. Many years ago I was on a stalled train for hours with a cranky preschooler when a man busted out the guitar and started a singalong that joined everyone in the car together in such an intense way that I can still recall their names and faces and all of the conversations we had afterwards.

Although we didn’t get to sing too much this trip, we did travel via rail on Amtrak, NJ transit, Septa trolley and El and Chicago Metra. We used tokens, punch cards, tickets and electronic kiosks that required multiple brains to interpret. We sat on platforms and stood underground and coasted through mountains and over bridges and right up to the ocean. It took about 2 hours on land for us to feel like we weren’t being constantly propelled forward.  But finding a flat bed at the end of the journey does make me appreciate the destination as much as the journey.

Anoif:

“It is a way different experience than going on the plane because you have so much time that you can get to know people and you have time to do tons of stuff, whereas on the plane you would just listen to music or read a book.”

Mail:

“Its fun and I love it.”

Leaving Philly on NJ transit

Solar power in the Appalachians

4 hours down, 22 to go….

It ain’t the Capitol building but the layover was short.