5/26/05
12:45pm
Day Two of Trip
So, it is now almost twenty-one hours into our trip to NYC, and we are still many hours away. We left the church at roughly 3:00pm yesterday, spent many hours waiting for the train to arrive in Palatka (which is quite possibly the ugliest train station I have ever seen), and finally boarded the train at almost 8:00 pm last night. The train ride to this point has left much to be desired. There have been smells, awful scents that would wake the dead, if smells could do such things. On top of this was the dance of the temperatures that our car was doing all night long. Let me explain that I am a person who can only sleep when the temperature is quite close to freezing, and last night I was sweating from the heat inside the car. Needless to say, I did not sleep well. I think the high point of the night was when I decided to move to the floor so that I may have the room to stretch out only to be awakened, minutes later, by the foot of one of the Amtrak employees gently nudging me (KICKING ME IN THE BACK!) to let me know that this was an inappropriate place for such sleeping. Anyways, all that to say that it is now almost 1:00pm, we were scheduled to be in New York in about half an hour, but it appears as if we will not arrive until about 7:00pm. We were scheduled to be in the Bronx at Yankee Stadium to see a game at that time, but it does not seem that that will be talking place any longer.
On a positive note, the train ride itself has been somewhat enjoyable, smells and sleeping aside. Watching the world (Eastern seaboard of the U.S.) pass by outside the window has been cool. That, and I have had plenty of time to read, talk to friends, and play music with Phil, Evan, Devon, and Meg. Speaking of which, having Meg on the trip has been thoroughly enjoyable. She is a great companion, and has the uncanny ability to know exactly where I have placed things in my bag. Which, in and of itself, has been a huge help. The only downside of having Meg on the trip is how often people assume that we are married. Don’t get me wrong, it is cute in a way but come on. We have only been together six months and between all the people on this trip, my family, and the church council on such matters (according to Devon’s dream last night) it seems that there is a mandate for a fast coming engagement.
I enjoy reading. I like that the train affords me the time and boredom to do lots of it. I am currently enjoying Dave Eggers “You shall know our velocity.” It is a story of two friends who decide that they will travel around the world in roughly a week and attempt to give out almost $32,000. Of course, the trip never works out as well as planned, and they spend most of their time aggravated by the hold-ups and frustrations of travel. It has been a perfect read for this trip. A group of people on a journey with the intention of doing great things for others, but they end up spending most of their time doing very little as travel never quite works out how they would want.
Anyways, that is all for now. I will be updating my journal everyday while in NYC, and adding pictures to my website which I will update on Sunday.
Much Love and Affection to you all,
Rob
12:45pm
Day Two of Trip
So, it is now almost twenty-one hours into our trip to NYC, and we are still many hours away. We left the church at roughly 3:00pm yesterday, spent many hours waiting for the train to arrive in Palatka (which is quite possibly the ugliest train station I have ever seen), and finally boarded the train at almost 8:00 pm last night. The train ride to this point has left much to be desired. There have been smells, awful scents that would wake the dead, if smells could do such things. On top of this was the dance of the temperatures that our car was doing all night long. Let me explain that I am a person who can only sleep when the temperature is quite close to freezing, and last night I was sweating from the heat inside the car. Needless to say, I did not sleep well. I think the high point of the night was when I decided to move to the floor so that I may have the room to stretch out only to be awakened, minutes later, by the foot of one of the Amtrak employees gently nudging me (KICKING ME IN THE BACK!) to let me know that this was an inappropriate place for such sleeping. Anyways, all that to say that it is now almost 1:00pm, we were scheduled to be in New York in about half an hour, but it appears as if we will not arrive until about 7:00pm. We were scheduled to be in the Bronx at Yankee Stadium to see a game at that time, but it does not seem that that will be talking place any longer.
On a positive note, the train ride itself has been somewhat enjoyable, smells and sleeping aside. Watching the world (Eastern seaboard of the U.S.) pass by outside the window has been cool. That, and I have had plenty of time to read, talk to friends, and play music with Phil, Evan, Devon, and Meg. Speaking of which, having Meg on the trip has been thoroughly enjoyable. She is a great companion, and has the uncanny ability to know exactly where I have placed things in my bag. Which, in and of itself, has been a huge help. The only downside of having Meg on the trip is how often people assume that we are married. Don’t get me wrong, it is cute in a way but come on. We have only been together six months and between all the people on this trip, my family, and the church council on such matters (according to Devon’s dream last night) it seems that there is a mandate for a fast coming engagement.
I enjoy reading. I like that the train affords me the time and boredom to do lots of it. I am currently enjoying Dave Eggers “You shall know our velocity.” It is a story of two friends who decide that they will travel around the world in roughly a week and attempt to give out almost $32,000. Of course, the trip never works out as well as planned, and they spend most of their time aggravated by the hold-ups and frustrations of travel. It has been a perfect read for this trip. A group of people on a journey with the intention of doing great things for others, but they end up spending most of their time doing very little as travel never quite works out how they would want.
Anyways, that is all for now. I will be updating my journal everyday while in NYC, and adding pictures to my website which I will update on Sunday.
Much Love and Affection to you all,
Rob
posted by Rob @ 4:51 PM
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