The trip to Towson

I started my trip to Towson with a ride to the airport from Lauren. The ride was mostly uneventful. We talked about Obama's win and how it would mean more if he was a descendant of slaves, and not among, what I like to call the "new blacks" (descendants of blacks who came to the U.S. by choice), but that's another blog in and of itself, so I will write about that another time.

I got through security quickly, as usual. It's weird to me; before 9/11 I was always stopped at security because, I guess a guy with dreadlocks looks dangerous. I don't remember a trip I made, in adulthood, before September 2001, when I didn't get patted down. Since then, not once have I been asked to step aside. I guess when people screen by name, mine doesn't scream out terrorist.

I sat in the lounge area while the Virgin America workers arranged a penalty kick game (they had a small goal and a soccer ball, so I guess they do this a lot) for passengers. A couple people won a free adult beverage voucher. I didn't partake in the game. The players were obviously not soccer players, and I didn't want to emberass anyone (other passengers by scoring the penalties, or myself for not).

We boarded, with the techno music and purple lighting that Virgin America has (if you've never flown with them, you should, for that experience alone), and we were off. We got to Dulles at 5:30 AM.

I'm not a morning person. At least, not a 5:30 in the morning person. I got no sleep on the flight, then had to figure out how to get from Northern Virginia to Towson, Maryland, a distance of about 75 miles, using public transportation.

First, the bus. I missed it by 10 minutes, and had to wait another 30 for the next one. It was raining and dark, and I had to listen to two college guys talk to each other in that way college guys talk to each other, that I have always found kind of annoying (even when I was a college guy).

The bus came, and there was a rush to get on it. Mostly airport workers leaving their overnight shifts - it took 15 minutes just to get on the bus after it had arrived. We were on the bus for 1/2 an hour then had a stop. More people got on, it was standing room only at this point. I can't imagine a bus that full in the Bay Area, at 7 in the morning.

We eventually got to L'Enfant Plaza, where I boarded the subway to Greenbelt. At Greenbelt, another bus, to BWI. For the first 15 minutes of the ride, I felt like I was in Europe, or the Midwest: it was so green, with meadows, cows, silos. All of this with the background of the Fall foliage made it an experience I've never had in Maryland. Maryland, to me, has always been suburbia and Baltimore, so it was odd.

We got to BWI and I ran toward the light rail sitting there only to get to the train and not see where to get tickets. I got off. It rolled away. I saw the ticket booth, inside the airport. 30 minutes to kill.

I got on the light rail that left BWI at 9:43. The Baltimore light rail has a very different feel than the one I ride in the South Bay. For one, it doesn't feel very light. It just seemed heavy for some reason; it moved very slowly between stops, and just kind of dragged. The trip to Lutherville took well over an hour and I kept trying to keep myself awake for the trip.

After de-training, I boarded the 8 bus, to Towson. The driver must have been in a hurry, because he lurched the bus forward as I was trying to pay. Coins went everywhere, and I was put into a sour mood. As he dropped me off at the stop, he was so in a hurry that he didn't pick up a guy that was waiting for the bus.

With that, I walked to my mom's job, got a key to the house, and walked to my parents' house. I stepped into the house at about 11:15. From the moment I got off the plane at Dulles, to me stepping into the house, almost 6 hours had elapsed - longer than the flight from San Francisco to Dulles.