A Hot Mess of a Day

Mar’lahnd.  Here, trains run when it’s convenient.

My C&O Canal Trail journey began Monday, 10/29.  Trying to be self-sufficient, I planned to catch the light rail (LR) near my home to Balt’more’s BWI airport, and then an Amtrak or MARC train to DC.

Sounds easy, right?

Well … for 3 hours, all southbound LR trains went to a local kiss and ride parking lot.  None,  not one, went to BWI.

Finally, returning home from work, my wife drove by, clicked her tongue, making a ‘tsk’ sounding noise, and said under her breath, “get in”.  Shaking her head, she dropped me and my all too-heavy pack at the nearby Amtrak station.

Once there, I discovered the trains were delayed 30 to 45 minutes, too!  Oy.  This looked like a trend.

Finally, I arrived in Washington DC and Georgetown shortly before the sun began to set.  Now mind you, I’m in the now trendy Georgetown, where me sleeping under a bush might be problematic … mostly for me.

Note: During the canal’s heydays, eg, 1800 to 1935, Georgetown was a grimy, laboring class kinda place.  Not at all trendy, spendy, or riddled with hopeful PhD candidates and their theses. That long-forgotten Georgetown came complete with coal yards, blacksmiths, horses, manure, and other putrid sights and smells.  

Gratefully, at least Uber ran on time.

Kinda like the old Calgon commercials, my very first hailed Uber, ever, was there to “take me away!”.  The day ended not sleeping under the stars, but in an AirBnB cubical.  Cubicle 17, to be precise.

DC is an Uber and AirBnB kinda place.  Me?  Don’t mind me.  I’m just visiting.