Heading back to the trail

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OD’s comments: 4:30AM came early this morning. We took care of the last few things in the
house, then Christopher drove us down to Syracuse. He took our truck back
home and left us waiting on our train. The sun is just coming up above the
horizon, blue cloudless skies foretell a great day of travel. Delayed, if you
travel by train in America this is the norm. Our first train is running 30
minutes late. We have a two hour plus layover in New York so we are not
concerned yet.
Slowly we pick up speed leaving Syracuse headed east. We roll through the
Mohawk River Valley gliding along side the Erie Canal and the New York Thruway.
New, old and older, first was the canal then the train now the super highway.
Each in its day the primary path to the front door of the towns and cities of
the northeast. We coast into stations that were once the pride of each town, now
they are out-of-the-way buildings and museums of times gone by. Old Baldwin
locomotives sit idle and unused on sidings with their cabs closed off never to
belch steam and smoke again. Domed coach cars sit on tracks only a few feet
longer than the car, display pieces or coffee shops for the new travelers.
Fields sit fallow waiting for the dryer days and the farmer’s plow. Deer graze
in small groups and the odd Tom turkey struts, chest puffed up and tail feathers
spread trying to impress a hen. Empty broken down factories, junk car yards and
the un-kept backsides of old houses all slide by the window. Poles with blue
insulators and sporadic runs of wire stand like old sentinels guarding the edge
of the right of way. Soon the trees will bud blotting out most of the
unsightly areas with fresh green leafs of spring. Syracuse, Canastota, Utica,
Ilion, Yosts, Fultonville, Amsterdam, Hoffmans, Schenditady, Scotia, Albany -
then across the Hudson River and south along it's eastern shore. Hudson,
Rhinecliff, Poughkeepsie, West Point, Peekskill, Cordtlandt, Croton, Terrytown,
Yonkers and Penn Stetion. Like a steamer on the open sea, we steam through or
past old ports towards the commercial center of the world, New York, NY. Blasts
of rhythmic horn signals sound at each grade crossing. Long, short and medium, each engineer has his own distinct rhythm, like the long gone straight keyed railroad telegrapher tapping messages between stations.
We arrived at Penn station about 30 minutes late. We sat there for an extra
hour and 20 minutes. This will put us in to Culperer later than we wanted, but
what can you do. I called our shuttle driver from New York City and he will pick
us up at the motel at 6AM tomorrow. Today we are able to see the sights, unlike
the trip north in the dark. We are going through Newark, NJ right now. This train
is more of a milk run than the super fast train we rode north on.
North Brunswick, NJ and another slow down. There was a brush fire along the
west side of the tracks so we had to sit for a while then crept along for a good
bit. Now we zip south through suburbs, swamps and a farm or two. Passing the
northbound trains is just a short burst of noise and a few flashes of chrome and
blue paint. Philidelphia, Willmington, Baltimore, Washington D.C. and now
Culpeper and bed.

Patrick, Deborah Mooney aka OD & CC
All Who Wander Are Not Lost

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