I packed up my one small bag, and my sleeping bag into it's stuff bag on Thursday morning.  Del drove me to the train station, and I got there about half an hour early.  The station in Syracuse is right over behind Carousel Mall, and I noticed that there was a lone bike in the rack there.  I scanned my printed page at the quick-ticket thing and it printed my tickets in about 5 seconds, much easier than I thought.  The quick-ticket machines were located right in front of the main doors.  I wandered over to some seating that was closer to the tracks, where it looked like other people were waiting.  The station was small, so I assumed that everyone else there was also going to NYC.  I watched the time pass, found the train station on foursquare, and eventually put on a cd.  I was rockin it old school he CD Player and big headphones.  The time which the train was supposed to leave, 11:38, came and a few minutes passed with no train... so I asked the man across from me if he was taking the train to NYC.  A woman sitting to my left overhead my question and said that it was supposed to be 30 min late.  Awesome.  Forty-five minutes later, an announcement that the train was nearing echoed, and all of us waiting there headed up to the platform.  The train pulled up, and an Amtrak employee looked at my ticket and directed me toward the front of the train.

I packed light, the biggest thing was the sleeping bag

The train approaches

The ride was very enjoyable; I had two seats to myself and sat next to the window.  The train is quiet, and was a very comfortable temperature all the way there.  I read my book, listened to music, surfed the web on the Droid, napped a little, and looked out the window to passing houses to pass the time.   All the way to DC, I was updating my foursquare (and it updates twitter and FB) so that my parents could follow the journey.  The view from Poughkipsee to New York along the Hudson, as the sun was setting across the water, was beautiful.

I could charge my cell phone, which was cool

Incredible view

We arrived in Penn Station at 6:30PM and I had an hour before my next train left for DC at 8PM.  After getting off, I looked for escalators that went UP and eventually ended up outside in the crisp darkness, staring up at the tall buildings and lights of the city.  I then wished that I had planned better for a place to eat, and set out to find a little pizza place or something like it.  A google search on my phone revealed that the nearest brewery was a 15 minute walk, and I set out that direction but decided not to risk going all the way in only 1.5hrs.  In retrospect, the train did not leave early nor would it, so I could've went there.  But, I was all by myself in the big city and the only person I could blame if I missed it would be myself.  I stopped at a small pizza place called The Bread Factory, and had some awesome pizza.  I ate super fast though and was really worried about getting lost in the station and missing the train, and rushed back to Penn.  I still had 30 minutes to watch the board, but was OK with that.  We boarded at about 10 minutes before 8PM, and off to DC we went!

I stepped right out into downtown NYC... So many people!!

A closer look at that sign, the lbs of CO2 emitted today

Penn Station

The ride down to DC was nice, and I fell asleep on the way, waking up in Union Station! I passed right through Del's hood in Philly, and there were some beautifully lit houses along the river, but I wasn't quick enough with the camera.

DC!!!

The platforms at Union Station

After figuring out how to calculate the fares, I took the Metro to Sharif's apartment.  He was coming back from dinner at Caroline's and I saw him walking from the metro station, perfect timing! He had to work in the morning, and I was tired from my travels, so we both went to bed soon.  Sharif was amazed that all I brought was that one bag, he of all people should've understood how BnB teaches you to pack light.

The next morning I went for a run through the embassy district, by the zoo, and to the National Cathedral.  I was awaiting the rest of the CUS10 to get to Sharif's from the Metro for awhile after my run, giving me time to shower and to read.  I was deep into my book when I heard steps on the stairs, and I get so into books that it was a shock to see everyone while I was still in NJ with Teddy R.  It was great to catch up a little, and everyone is doing well.  We went to Chipotle for lunch, then to the zoo and hung out at Sharif's apartment and had pizza for dinner.  The zoo was pretty cool, and free, so I'll show some pictures of that below.

Saturday I woke up early and ran toward downtown DC, straight down 16th St to the White House.  From Sharif's, I had just headed for "the big pointy thing" (Washington Monument, but that's how well my mind works while running) but turned around when I got to the White House beacuse I didn't want to miss breakfast with everyone.  It was a really good run.  Cold out, and my right knee hurt before it warmed it, but I was able to really cruise on the flat road.   Running on flats is an entirely different thing than running up or down hills.  If I'm going to keep/start running faster, I think I need to do some technique.

When I got back, people were just getting up so I *unpromptedly* hopped in the shower after doing my push ups.  Then it was little while before we headed out to IHOP, and I went with Jen, Emily and Carboni to put our name in.  Emily wanted to go to this vegan bakery called "Sticky Fingers" and it sounded good so I walked there with her.  I got a oatmeal raisin cookie, and oh man it was good.  I can't remember exactly now, but there was some very subtle flavor that made it delicious.  Since I'd had peanut butter toast at the apartment after my run, I didn't get anything to eat at IHOP after we waited 30min for them to seat all 18 of us.  I would've liked a couple eggs over easy, but I can't pay $6 for that...when I could buy three dozen of the eggs they're using for it.

After eating, a group of people took the metro out to Georgetown to get tattoos and some of us stayed at the apartment for a little while, since it was going to take a while and there isn't anything else to do there except shop.  It took them about an hour to get there, and their tattoos were so expensive that only two people ended up getting them, Will and Britt.  I tried to talk the others at Sharifs into going downtown, since I wanted to see the mall and maybe a museum or two while in DC.  I was talking to Katie, and wanted to meet up with her but didn't want to leave the group behind, and after convincing people to go downtown for a little while, I didn't think we were going to be down there very long anyway so it didn't really make sense to meet up.  Sorry Katie!! That night a couple people went to the grocery store and we made pasta and salad for dinner, which was good.  But here comes the bad news:

While we were out at the museum, I got word from Alyson that he car wasn't fixed yet.  And it wasn't going to be, until Monday at the earliest.  Not her fault, but I was left without a ride unless I wanted to hope they fixed her car Monday and miss work that day.  I looked at the train, and since it was the next day, it was expensive.  My options laid out like this: wait till Monday with a good chance her call will be fixed (but uncertain), 3AM train, 5AM train, 11AM train and an 8PM flight.  The transit options went 120-140-160-218 in order of time.... dang.  I got my ticket early enough on the way down that it only cost 75 after a AAA discount (the discount required early booking).  After mulling over the decision all day and night, I decided to catch the 3AM train back to Syracuse.  I really hated having to make the decision, it stressed me out like nothing else.  Sometimes plans have to change though, and I need to be better at going with it.  With the 3AM train I figured that I would save the $40 of the later train, and just say goodbye that night before everyone went to bed instead of in the morning.  Sharif let me print the ticket on his computer, and after saying goodbye...I was so glad to see people again, I'm going to miss them...I headed to the Metro.  Having a lot more confidence on public transit after the ride down, the ride back was a breeze.  DC's Metro is really nice, and I felt completely safe riding out to Union Station at 2:30AM.  I even met a really nice woman who saw my sleeping bag and had been looking for one like it for 6 years.

The trains I was taking back were different, because neither of them ended at my destination, and I wasn't trusting the Amtrak people to wake me up.  So I didn't sleep well, but it was OK.  One of the times I did get some sleep, it was in such an awkward position that my back and right knee hurt were sore for most of Sunday.  I txted my parents and let them know I was on my way home, and my Mom picked me up from the station.   It was right next to Carousel, so we went there to bother Kyle and worked, and I ended up getting a pair of jeans from Hollister and my Mom found a rain shell for running that she was looking for.  Kyle introduced me to the 99 cent bean burrito from Taco Bell, and with enough hot sauce they weren't too bad.  One of the biggest disappointments on the train home was that Moe's wasn't open in Penn Station at 7AM when I was there...so I had to settle for a donut.  I made sure to get a Krispy Kreme though, because I might be trying to eat of dozen of them on the clock in February.

So that was the trip, and here are some more of the pictures.

To Chipotle...although not being a big Chipotle fan, I really liked the veg burrito

Emily, Kristen, and Britt

sloth cat!!most of us!

Aileen with a naked mole rat

Clothed mole rats

Mark!

Bikes!

Then downtown

Abe was a long way away through a fiercely cold headwind, but we could see him from here

We went to the Museum of Natural History, and they had a whole Human Origins exhibit that was all about lots of things that I learned this semester in my class. I didn't take any pictures of that, or the dinos, but here is a cool staircase in their!

And that's all I've got in the way of pictures, I look forward to riding the train in the future and a possible CUS10 reunion in Denver this summer!!

Break is going to fly by real quick now, each weekend being planned out already. This coming weekend is Christmas, which should be great.  And then it's New Year's weekend.  After that, I'll be headed to DC the following weekend for the Bike and Build reunion which I'm really excited for.  And then it's either heading to training camp or coming back for more work, and a work trip to Bluebell for that last weekend. Then school on Tuesday!!  So here are my options:

#1: Drive to DC, then continue to Blacksburg for training camp the following week.

#2: Drive to DC and back... no way jose

#3: Train to DC, catch a ride back with Alyson to Ithaca, hitchhike/bike/get a ride home from there.

a. Work the following week, go to Bluebell in OBG car (they're taking one) and come back with them Sun night.  Drive down to school Monday from home.

b. Work the following week, drive to Bluebell with all my stuff.  Then continue on down to Blacksburg Sunday night.

I think laying it out like that helps me think it through.  Picking apart #1 vs #3... the money is the only reason I would work the extra week, having already put in three weeks.  Training camp will help me this season in Men's B, but not sure how much.  We're talking about something like $600 here.  That's more than two month's rent... Tough decisions!  Since I don't really want to take Kazane on the train, and wasn't thinking to bring fixie home, I just inquired about a fixed gear bike on craigslist just for the trip.  It's $200, but no doubt I could sell it in Bburg for at least that.

So, I'll figure it all out! Right now leaning on coming back to SYR to work, then driving from Bluebell down to Tech, if none of the people I gave rides to need one back down.

Riding into the ocean!!

Mom and I

Bike and buuuiiiiilllllldddd!!

The ride here was again relatively uneventful, as we inched toward our goal.  We set out with different strategies on how to ride today, as I was super eager to complete the journey and arrive at the Pacific but others wanted to savor this last ride for every second.  We were going to ride into town and into the ocean as a group though, so those of us readier to get to Cannon Beach had to wait for the others who chose to take a two hour coffee break in the morning and ride real slow, which was some of the toughest waiting, but we all got there.  It was something like a 65 mile ride today, which could have been done by 10AM any other day but we didn’t arrive at the beach until 4:30PM.  After two months of working hard toward completing this one goal, I’m not sure I can say fully what it means, because it hasn’t really sank in yet entirely.  I rode Kazane clear across the country, coast to coast, mile for mile.

Tonight, after we got back and showered (warmed up) we had a picnic with other family and friends who had come to witness loved ones finish.  I was super hungry, about 8 hours after my 10AM lunch, and we had cold cut sandwhiches and tons of desserts, and good beer.  I wasn’t so much a fan of the Inversion IPA, but would definitely recommend Alaskan Amber, of which I saved a bottle cap for my bike.  We got to meet other rider’s family which was great, our leaders spoke, and then we had a fire down by the water.  My Mom and Aunt left after awhile, and I spent some more last minutes with the CUS family over beer and these really cool mini-hot-air-ballon wish things before hopping in the van to come back to church for the night.  Everyone is asleep by this point I’m sure, and I’ll be saying goodbyes tomorrow at Noah’s house in Portland…