PaulGraz's Daily Blog for The Great Ice Cream Run!
Day 0, Friday June 8th: Auto Train to
FL: This is it - after all the planning and prep
work - odometer reading 99,212, and an outside temperature of 67 degrees, I
loaded up the last of my "junk" and I finally hit the road at 7:55am.
It's funny, once I get behind the wheel my mind starts racing through a mental
checklist and I start thinking about what I might have forgot. There were
a few minor things, but nothing serious.
I set my nav destination to the Auto Train terminal in Lorton VA. That's
why this is day "zero", because we really don't start the event until the next
morning when our cars come off the Auto Train. The nav is telling me I'll
get to Lorton around 11:30am - that's probably optimistic because there's no way
to get to Lorton without dealing with DC-area traffic. But - the deadline
to load the car onto the train is 3pm - that's a pretty big fudge factor - I
shouldn't get stuck in traffic for 3 hours...
Getting out of NJ was easy And by now it was over 80 degrees.
Traffic got a little heavier by the time I hit Delaware. I stopped in Bel
Air MD at the WAWA for a pit stop and a cold bottle of water - and found a
rather wild sparlking pink Pontiac sunfire in the parking lot there - whoa!
Had to turn the AC on not long after
that - now approaching 90 degrees. I hit some traffic in DC, but not too
bad - made it to Lorton around Noon - grabbed lunch before loading the car onto
the train - then waited for other MINIs to arrive - which didn't take long.
A couple from New England (Jarlath & Becca) arrived in their MINI within about 15 min, and Robyn &
Ian (organizers of this run) arrived maybe 30 min after that.
They allowed us to board the train at 2:30pm. I had booked a "roomette",
which is a small sleeper cabin. Plenty roomy enough for just me, but I
could see how 2 people in one of these would be a little cramped. Dinner
on the train was at 7pm, which was very good. I sat with a retired couple
from FL and a woman whose husband is a major league baseball player. (She
was bringing his car down to him in FL while he's in rehab from surgery - he's a
pitcher for the LA Dodgers).
Of course dinner on the train included dessert - so that was the first ice cream
of the trip!
We hit the sack early - 10pm. I didn't sleep well at all because of all
the jostling and the noise - but it was my first time travelling by train
(commuter trains don't count). Got up the next morning at 6am and headed
right down to the dining car for breakfast. The train arrived in Sanford,
FL right on time around 9:30am. BUT - then we have to wait for our cars - which brings
us to Day 1...
See my pictures page for all my pics from the day...
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