The Last Part

“Friday”

A noun. “The day of the week before Saturday and following Thursday.”

A day that is sacred anywhere in the working world.

To my friends back in New Haven: “Happy Friday!!!!”:

Day Six began with sunny blue skies when I woke up this morning at 8:30am. About 2 hours later, the clouds were rolling in and slightly cooler air could be felt. Seems my good luck string of 80 degree days is coming to an end as a cold front rumbles east and Indian Summer is going away.

Trying to get a good night’s sleep in an inn about 125 feet from the CSX main line was kinda hard to do. Not that I am complaining. Having been here before, it kinda brought back fond memories of October 1999 when I was last here. On this trip at one point, maybe about 1 in the morning, I was awakened by the sound of a northbound freight train. "Maybe if you count the cars, you might fall asleep faster”, I said to myself. What roared by was 3 big CSX locomotives and 145, yes count ‘em, 145 cars on that their train. After saying, “Wow, that was a long one”, I was soon out and sound asleep….until the next freight train an hour and a half later. No big deal. I feel quite fine on this TGIF morning. The fun begins later after noon time when I begin my northern trek up I-95 to get around our nation’s capital and our layover stop in Perryville, Maryland tonight.

Walking around this part of town and on the east sides of the CSX main line is the campus of Randolph-Macon College. From our friends at Wikipedia.Org:

“Randolph–Macon College is a private, co-educational liberal arts college located in Ashland, Virginia, United States, near the capital city of Richmond. Founded in 1830, the school has an enrollment of more than 1,400 students. The college offers bachelor's degrees in 38 major disciplines in the liberal arts, including political science, business, psychology, biology, international studies, and computer science, as well as 34 minors, including education.[6] Randolph–Macon College is a member of the Annapolis Group of colleges in the United States, as well as the Virginia Foundation for Independent Colleges.”

As you can see by the pics below, the campus is quite nice:

After what was a comfortable morning, it was time to start heading home, with an overnight stop in Perryville, Maryland. But today was without some excitement weather-wise.

Indian Summer was coming to a close. And even though I could not see it as I started my drive north on I-95 from Ashland, I was in for quite the ride.

About 35 miles south of Washington, D.C., the skies to the northwest were getting really dark. I could start to see the leading edge of the rain and before you know it, the heavens started to open up. Road speed went down to 45 MPH and there was bumper-to-bumper traffic on I-95 southbound. I began to wonder where were all these people going?!

Once in Washington, I made the turn to take the I-495 Beltway to the east. And as much as all of us drivers tried, that rain front just kept up with. Back on I-95 and taking that right into Baltimore, the heavens opened up even more. And trying to reads the overhead signs was a treat, especially when yours truly does not own an E-Z Pass. Into bore number 4 of the Fort McHenry Tunnel I go and under Baltimore Harbor we go. Out of the bore, E-Z Pass/Cash comes into view. $4.00 to the toll collector and on we go. Again, 4 lanes of northbound traffic with the density of a NASCAR race and LO, we are pulling ahead of the rain but as much as we all do, the front looks awfully ominous in the rearview mirror. And soon the Susquehanna, the Suzie-Q River, is ahead. You make this descending 60 degrees curve to the left and you are now one of the scariest bridges around. Jersey barriers in the center to divide northbound and southbound. Jersey barriers as the guardrails on the sides and the river over 200 feet below. CSX’s railroad bridge is to the south and south of that is Amtrak’s bridge between Harve de Grace and Perryville. $8.00 to the toll collector one mile east of the bridge and my hotel is in sight. I had figured 3 hours and 30 minutes travel time. No stops. And arriving on the advertised. Well done. And the rain arrives about an hour later Safe!!

Tomorrow is the last leg of this trip as I depart Perryville at 9am with arrival back home in Niantic early Saturday afternoon. 

And on that note, this brings to an end my retrospective trip to Altoona and Ashland. Beautiful Indian Summer weather. A comfortable king bed at each location and full-flow showers. YES!!

I hope you had fun reading as I did writing. If all goes well, it will be back to Nebraska this time next year.

Thanks for coming along. Have a safe ride wherever the train may take you….when you do. And I’ll see you later.

And we end with 2 parting shots from Ashland; a northbound CSX freight and the beautiful Henry Clay Inn:

And a look at Amtrak Train number 91, the southbound Silver Star that runs between New York City and Miami, as it rolls thru Ashland.

https://youtu.be/ZpyZ5TQkCYU

I’m Philip J Zocco. On The Road. In Perryville, Maryland.