The Rail Pass - Segment #2: Floridian

Despite a few unexpected fits and starts while I returned to the DMV, I was back on the road or rather, the rail, again headed toward Chicago. And although a number of things did go wrong, some things did go right, after all, while visiting my storage unit right outside of Baltimore, I saw geese, my favorite!

As I mentioned when describing Segment #1, I found out about this mysterious Rockville station. Keeping with the spirit of adventure tied to this 30 days of exploration, I decided to depart from this entire Amtrak station I'd somehow missed despite frequently riding the adjacent metro line.

As it turns out, there was a reason I'd never noticed the station. It was small and unmanned, there was no checked luggage or even real shelter. I completed a dry run the day before and realized the error of my ways, unfortunately, by that time, it was too late to modify my trip. There was no longer room to board at the Union Station.

Instead, I entertained myself that morning by trying breakfast at a local diner and visiting the Rockville Library until about an hour before the scheduled departure.

Rockville Maryland Amtrak Station

The trouble of getting myself and my luggage to the platform reminded me of a discussion with a former coworker about how something could be technically accessible or meet the statutory requirements for accessibility without actually meeting the needs of the customer. If I had this much trouble getting to the platform, how could someone who uses a wheelchair or scooter navigate it? This was a thought that I returned to often throughout my trip.

Although I didn't have a window seat, so I couldn't take pictures, I still got to take in the beautiful scenery as we traveled west along the banks of the Potomac River. When thinking about the Potomac River, I tend to think about DC especially after a recent aviation disaster at Reagan National Airport (DCA), but it is the fourth largest river in the East. It extends over 400 miles from its start in West Virginia until it empties into the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland.

States visited: Maryland, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois

Although I had previously taken the Cardinal home from my Rose Bowl parade trip, this train took a different route, so everything was new. I neglected my book as I kept my eyes focused on the sights until sunset.

Also, unlike the earlier trip from Chicago, there was no narrated tour from the West Virginia tourist bureau although the engineer did alert us to notable sites as we passed them. One of those sites was Harper's Ferry, the notorious location of John Brown's slave rebellion that took place in the years right before the Civil War.

My seatmate was traveling to Milwaukee. We occasionally exchanged pleasantries as we traveled. Nothing exceptionally personal, mostly just requests to keep an eye on our things as we walked away from our seats to visit to sightseeing lounge or restroom.

Although I knew a lot of trains traveled to and from Chicago, I did not know that you could take a single train from Chicago all the way to Miami. The line was added in November 2024. This knowledge of this new train line also made one of the survey questions I answered gauging the appetite for a second AutoTrain from departing from Chicago make a lot more sense.

I try to reach out to people when I think of them and on the way up, I had the chance to text with one of my previous bosses. I thought one of the upstate stops we passed was near where she'd moved during the pandemic. With the recent layoffs and massive attrition at my former job, everyone is scattered and it's hard to keep in touch and I appreciated the unrushed time to correspond!

In order to make it to San Francisco in time, I caught a flight from Midway Airport in Chicago.

During my layover in Chicago, I'd hoped to catch-up with a couple of former coworkers but wasn't able to make the connection. I had a few more stops in Chicago so I hoped to make it up later in the month.

Chicago Federal Reserve - $1 million in dollar bills

Instead I'd used to locate the CTA Orange line, explore the shoreline, visit the Chicago Federal Reserve, and most importantly buy a lightweight blanket I could use for the remainder of my trip! I used the luggage storage facility to store my backpack and carry-on, so I didn't have to carry it. Unlike the DMW, where temperatures had hovered in the 40s during my brief stay, Chicago treated me to warm weather!

Although this was the third time I'd visited to Chicago metro area, I'd never really visited the shoreline to grasp how great the Lake Michigan really was. I wondered before the time of speedboats and airplanes, how did people know that it was just a lake and not an ocean. It was just so big, despite it being mostly a clear day, I couldn't see the Michigan coast.

Lake Michigan in Downtown Chicago

I made my way back to the train station, caught the Orange Line to the airport and made my way to San Francisco.