Train Train.....

Tuesday was the start of my Tour de Pennsylvania. I arrived at the train station in downtown Raleigh roughly around 6 am. Anxiety filled the air. There are several reason for the over whelming feelings going through my head. A) I don't usually travel to unknown places by myself, B) I have never ridden a train in my life, C) I had to make it to Philadelphia get off, get on another train that would then drop me off in Parkesburg, PA, which was nothing but a platform and shelter. To prove Doug's theory that I am just like my mother, I meet a nice lady as we were boarding in Raleigh. Her name was Carol and she was about the same age as mom. She was from Middletown, NJ and had been in New Bern, NC visiting her sister who had surgery last week. I think at this point I could pretty much tell you anything you want to know about the woman. For instance, she was laid off from her 25 years a small news paper in NJ, she now works at a nursing home and as long as she doesn't work more than 32 hours she can still get un-employment. She is divorced and has a daughter and grand daughter who is 3. You can learn a lot about some one on a 8 hour train ride.

The train ride was fun, not a bad way to travel. I have to say I was surprised at the amount of people on the train. Who know so many people traveled by train. Saw some interesting things; had a guy want me to take a picture of him, when I smiled and keep walking he asked "hey, you don't want to take a picture of a nice looking guy?" I just laughed and continued back to my seat. A lady next to me called her estranged brother to tell him that their other brother was dying in UNC, I gathered that he didn't much care. The train station in Philly is very nice. Not a bad place to have to hang out for a few hours. I didn't venture away but I did go outside walk around the building which takes up the entire block and took some pictures. Of course, I hadn't been there for 10 minutes and had a guy about my age ask me for money. Well he never got to the asking part, as soon as he said "excuse me miss, I'm having a bad day" my immediate response was "and I don't have any money" he walked away before I could finish. The Parkesburg stop was a concrete step off the train onto a dirt platform with a shelter. Since it was dark I was glad that Doug was there waiting. Of course I did threaten to divorce him if he made me sit in the dark in a city I know nothing about, and I had seen on the Internet there was nothing at the stop.

So over all, a long day but it was full of interesting moments. I will be posting tons of picture from my trip on flickr when I get back to Raleigh.