Our bus advocacy group got national attention from our trip to Atlanta, so we were invited to attend a national meeting in Washington, DC with other groups around the country and Canada to share success stories. There were two of us going: Charles and me. He was a fellow advocate who was a transit geek. He knew everything about buses and trains, and he was the incoming president of the MTRA. The national group wanted us to fly into DC, but Charles wanted to go by Amtrak. I agreed, as it would be cheaper.
I had not ridden in a train for many years. Probably not since our eventful train ride from Lucerne to Paris in 1973. That's another story from days gone by. You can read about that in a previous post. There is an Amtrak station in Columbia, but the scheduled pickup is around 4am, so we decided to catch another train in Florence, SC which was due to arrive around 10pm. It made more sense. We went in Charles's truck to Florence. The station was pretty small, and we found out that the train would be late. It got there around 11:30pm. Charles got the window seat, and I was on the aisle. There wasn't much legroom for me, and I couldn't sleep. Charles slept like a baby.
We got to Union Station in Washington just before rush hour. As we were eating breakfast in a restaurant in the station, the rush of federal workers came through the station. I smiled at one woman hurrying to work. She smiled back. I hope I gave her a moment in her busy day. After breakfast, we took a few pictures of the station and the outside. It was a very cold day. We caught a local train to a local bus station to head out to our meeting area which was in Silver Spring, MD.
Charles had studied the connections ahead of time, so I just followed him. One thing we found out that you needed a Metro Card to board the bus. It was $10, but it was worth it. I hadn't been to Silver Spring since 1964. My parents and I had stayed in a motel there, and that is where I had lost Teddy in the covers. Teddy was my teddy bear. We were best friends. Apparently, a maid had found Teddy and took him home with her. I thought about Teddy on this trip and hoped he had a good home.
We arrived at the site for our meeting, which also had rooms to sleep. It was an all-inclusive place that specialized in union work. Being a right-to-work state, we didn't have unionized riders, but some states did. We checked in and went to our rooms. I collapsed on the bed. Our first meeting was that night. There was one other group from SC at the meeting, and they were from Charleston. We made good contacts from Nashville and Washington. We promised to keep in touch, but we never did. When I went back to my room that night, I saw a picture on a wall of some freedom riders from the early 60's. One of those pictured was my cousin John David Maguire. I knew he had been a freedom rider with Dr. King. I had my camera with me, but of course I didn't take a picture of him. I did take pictures of ducks and geese outside my room.
The next morning, we had another meeting. One of the founders of the Black Lives Matter group spoke. I followed her outside to thank her for her group, but she ignored me. I had a lot to talk with her about, but I just went back inside. The meeting ended that afternoon, and we headed back to Union Station to catch a train back to Florence. The train left at around 6:30pm. We had not been able to do any sightseeing other than seeing the Jefferson Memorial and the Washington Monument from the train. The ride back was more interesting. In our car was the Stockton Girls Lacrosse team from NJ. They were heading to a game in GA, I think. Across from me was a former Maryland Men's Basketball head coach, who was going to Hilton Head to play golf with a friend. He couldn't drive due to a DUI and suspended driver's license. Charles and I had dinner on the train. Just hamburgers and chips. We weren't able to go to the dining car with our seats. Charles slept going back. I couldn't, but I enjoyed watching movies on a girl's laptop. We got back to Florence early in the morning. I slept in the truck going back to Columbia. It was a short trip but very nice. I want to do another Amtrak trip, but I want a sleeper car, so I can eat in the dining room. What's a few extra dollars?
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