I was asked by company to take a business trip to Washington, DC so I made arrangements to take "The Vermonter" from White River Junction. This morning, I teleworked early (meetings lasted until 1030). After that, I finished packing and departed my condo (1055). On the way to the station, I got messages from Amtrak that the train was already delayed by 25 minutes (for a car that was blocking the tracks). In attempt to use up some of the extra time, I went walking near the train station. The train finally arrived at 1205 - its roof, windows and entry stairs were full of snow. There were some big lines of people wanting to get onboard (Dartmouth students going on Spring Break) and we were warned by the conductors that the train was going to be full by the time we reached New Haven. As we headed south, I walked around a bit - one interesting thing I noticed was that there were rear facing seats (I've never seen that on previous trips). Temps continued warming up along the way but there was still plenty of snow all the way to the VT/MA state line. Also, the Connecticut River was running VERY high. I got good views from the eastern side windows. Despite the larger number of passengers, the forward cars were "closed" for use. I tried to do some teleworking but the people around me were quite loud (making phone calls, etc.). We arrived at Springfield just after 1500 and spent a bunch of time doing the ridiculous "train backing into the station" routine... I wanted to walk around for a bit but the crew said we were "leaving shortly". About 20 minutes later, we finally pulled out of the station. We made good time to New Haven, recovering all but 10 minutes of our delay (arrived at 1640). Fortunately, there was a time for me to walk on the platform for about 20 minutes (while Amtrak changed the engine from Diesel to Electric). We were on our way just after 1700. I continued to telework. For a little while, we seemed to be doing well - at one point west of New Haven, however, we started driving very slow (there was never any explanation given). After Stamford, I went to the Dining Car and picked up some dinner (1815); I ate in my seat as the sun went down. We finally arrived at Penn Station (NYC) at around 1900 and the train emptied almost completely. At first, I thought I'd get an empty seat next to me but lots of people boarded just before our departure (1910) and I got another seat-mate. After heading across the Hudson River, we seemed to be going fast as possible but I soon noticed that the Conductor time estimates for each stop (Newark, Trenton, Philadelphia, etc.) were off by five to 10 minutes each. The end result was that we got almost 45 minutes behind schedule by the time we arrived at Union Station (Washington, DC). Sadly, this seems to be the typical experience for me (and Mollie) for this route. I was off the train at 2255 and raced to the Metro platform - fortunately, I was able to immediately get on a Shady Grove bound Red Line train and took it to Gallery Place. Another man on the train asked me for help because of confusing signage and muffled announcements (I was able to help him). Next, I took the Green Line train to L'Enfant and then waited (walking while I had the time) for the next Yellow Line train to come. By 2320, I was off the Metro at Crystal City Station - from there, I walked for 15 minutes (south on Richmond Highway) towards my hotel. The area was a bit sketchy but I made it to the Holiday Inn OK. I checked in at 2340 and, after dropping my bags in the room, then took a walk in the hallway to reach 10,000 steps for the day (kind of surprising, with all the other issues I'd experienced). Back in my room again, I planned to go to bed. However, I was not tired at all. Instead, I read and did some online puzzles until I was able to get to sleep (well after midnight). Unfortunately, I ended up dozing (fitfully) all night long. At least I made it to DC...
