On the Road Again

On the railroad, that is. May 7, I left California to travel to Duke University for Allie's Graduation. That seems so long ago, that I can hardly remember what occurred on the trip. I had allowed an extra day for missed connections, but it seemed that I might actually miss Baccalaureate on Friday (I left home on Sunday morning). The train was very late arriving in Chicago, and the train that I had to catch to DC was waiting for us. Last year Amtrak had to provide hotel rooms for passengers on two trains that night, and I was 24 hours late arriving in Florida.

The next train was one from Washington to Raleigh, and it, too, was waiting for us. We were several hours late. We never went into Union Station, but walked across the platform straight into a car on the Southbound train.

I arrived in Raleigh late, and had to get a taxi from the station to Durham. That was certainly an expensive deal, but I basically had no choice. Buses between the two cities had ceased running, and I was dealing with heavy luggage. I made a deal with a couple of guys from one company and headed to Durham. Only one of the men went in the cab, and it turned out that he had no idea where he was going, of course. I was better at figuring it out than he was, and I have never been there.

We had called Allie on the driver's cell phone to make sure she was at her apartment in the dorm, then headed out. At some point, after we were on an expressway, he called Allie again to ask her what exit we should use. It was hard to understand him, and Allie couldn't help because she has had to remain basically on campus, or nearby, as she had no car.

Then I saw a sign that I felt led to the right exit, and I found the way to her dorm.