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the road goes ever on
Metro subway trains wear Vorkosigan livery; Amtrak wears Imperial Service colors. I just thought you might want to know what goes through my head while sitting at train stations. Unfortunately, I don't know anyone who dresses their minions in orange and blue (MARC) or turquoise polka dots (Acela). Although if I ever have minions I'd be tempted to try that last. CSX freight trains are patchwork, of course, but the locomotives are all gold and navy (who wears gold and navy livery? I can't recall. And it's been ages and ages since I've spotted a car that still had Chessie on it, alas.)
I timed my walk from the station to the car today; it took me eight minutes to go the .45 miles to the car, which ends up about 3.5 mph, while carrying an 18lb pack. (Apparently, ten-year-old laptops are godawful heavy. Who knew? Add in the two textbooks I *usually* carry, and we're up to 25 lbs, which is already approaching the suggested backpacking weight for somebody my size.) Then I helped Mom mow the lawn, and then I grabbed my hiking stick and we took a walk down to the old WB&A bridge over Old Mill Road that got washed out by Agnes in '72. That was about 1/4 mile in 6 minutes, which is still 2.5 mph. So let's split the difference and say my average walking speed when not pushing myself is about 3 mph. Which is actually better than I thought it would be.
Which means I ought to be able to do 16.6 mi in not much more than 7 hours, barring disaster, even at my slower stop-and-smell-the-wildflowers pace. This is relevant because it's 16.6 miles to the first campsite on the C&O trail, which would be both the longest stretch and the longest day by far. (What, you thought I wouldn't keep talking about that? Hahaha. The thing is, it's so eminently *doable*, and I so want to do it, so why not? I just need three days free with clear weather, and I shall be off, I will, I will.)
This is how the no-car-at-all option would work: Start on a weekday at about 7 AM. Walk about 1 mile down Telegraph Road to the bus stop at the police station. Take the K bus to the Odenton train station (free with Marc ticket). Take the Marc train to the Metro Orange Line ($4.00). Take the Orange line to Foggy Bottom ($2.35). Walk about 3/4 mile NW to C&O Canal Trail visitor center at Georgetown. It should be about 9:30 am. Walk trail 16.6 mi to the Swains Lock campsite. Sleep. Wake up the next morning, sometime. Depending on how well I'm making time, how tired I am, and my plans for later, aim for either Horsepen Branch (26.1) or Chisel Branch (30.5) for the second night's camping. On the third day, aim for Whites Ferry at 35.5; cross the Potomac on the ferry ($3 one way). Then walk the last 6.5 miles to Sister's apartment and demand clean clothes and a shower. If I leave on a Friday morning, I should get there by late Sunday afternoon, and then get someone to put me on the train home Monday morning, and voila! Or I suppose if I had a whole week free and I enjoyed it that much, I could walk back - back would be downhill!
It becomes considerably less complex and about ten miles less walking if people drop me off by car at either end of the trail. Also less pure, though. You may have noticed if you've been reading this journal that I have a thing for public transit. Well, you see, when I was young enough that my main source of science journalism was Kids Discover, I swore that I would always be an environmentalist, and that I would never be the sort of half-hearted environmentalist who drives a car half an hour to work every day. In fact, I swore that I would never own a car, unless I had a roaming job that absolutely required it (like a ranger in a big giant national park, say), or it was a *really cool car*, like a solar-powered car, or one that flies, or an old-fashioned touring car, or something, at which point all bets are off, of course.
As I've gotten older and more cynical, I've gotten less firm on the environmentalism thing (not that I approve of people exploiting the planet, or private land ownership, or corporations, or anything; I just think that at this point many of the enviromentalists are as wrong-headed as their enemies, and anyway, I've always thought it would be cool to live in a post-apocalyptic society.) Plus, the electricity price hike this summer is probably going to do way more to reduce oil consumption than any increase of gasoline prices at the pump. ('Wah,' says the populace, 'how are we going to pay for our air conditioning this summer?' 'Oh, cry me a river,' says I, 'and then go swimming in it, like my forefathers did. And if you can't stand the heat, go back to New England.')
But I've gotten even more firm on the no-cars thing, because private automobiles are just so destructive of *community*, in so many ways; pretty much everything that's wrong with my home country today can be traced back to the destruction of community that was caused by the supremacy of the automobile. So. And on a more personal level, I *know* that if I allow myself, I'll go weeks at a time without seeing the sunlight or speaking to another human being. No car forces me, *personally*, to become part of my community, which is only to the good. And now that I'm starting to be able to make my own choices about things like that, I am making the carless ones, and I'm finding that yes, it is possible to make do without a car, even in these most forsaken suburbs of all, as long as you're willing to step out of your bubble a little, and make compromises. More possible than even I expected, actually. And it makes me so *happy*, just to stand on a train platform and smile at someone, or to sudoku in a bus shelter in the rain.
Anyway. Tonight I'm supposed to be working on my paper on the WB&A Electric Railroad and the development of suburbs and commuting patterns in Anne Arundel County, MD. Toward this end, I have pulled out all of the old maps that were sitting in my room. Most of these maps were given to me by Mary from church, whose husband taught navigation at a maritime school in Annapolis. (PS: If anybody has a use for 40-year-old nautical charts of the Florida Keys, I can totally hook you up: I'll even pay postage. You have to send them back if I ever get my sailboat, though.) I got them the weekend before Dad died, and we spent that Sunday afternoon with them spread out over the living room floor, him telling me about his hiking and boating adventures and his old dream of one day taking his home-made boat all the way around the Delmarva Peninsula, and that's the last memory I have of him.
So. I have, per this paper: 1957 Army Corps of Engineers 7.5'' topographic maps of the entire county; a a larger quadrant covering DC; a 1961 A. A. county street map; a 1993 ADC AA Co street map; a 1998 AA Co small area planning map, covering Severn and northern Odenton; a 2002 DNR map of Maryland's land and water trails; (somewhere) a state street map and bicycle map of the same vintage; and a current WMATA master system map. Somewhere in this house is also a copy of the original plat of the subdivision we live in, which Dad acquired in the mid-70s, but dates back to the 1920s, unless worms have eaten it to dust, which is possible, for I know not where it might be: finding it is my next task, even if what I should be doing is reading the scholarly journal articles that I'm supposed to be using for this paper, rather than primary sources. Somehow, I doubt that the TA will be terribly impressed (Okay, he might be impressed, just not in a 'leads to good grade' sort of way) if my most frequent citation is 'found it in the attic'.
Anybody want to join me some weekend in bushwhacking from my house down to Academy Junction on the old WB&A right-of-way, and find what's been built of the WB&A trail? If they ever, finally, get the wheels moving on finishing that trail, before I'm too old and creaky to enjoy it, which, fingers crossed, they may actually be doing at long last, it's concievable that I could go all the way from our front yard to my sister's place without leaving designated hiker/biker trails - and while I'm dreaming, then I could concievably just *keep going*, right past Mom's hometown, until I hit the Pacific Ocean - and wouldn't *that* be cool? But baby steps, kid, baby steps.
I timed my walk from the station to the car today; it took me eight minutes to go the .45 miles to the car, which ends up about 3.5 mph, while carrying an 18lb pack. (Apparently, ten-year-old laptops are godawful heavy. Who knew? Add in the two textbooks I *usually* carry, and we're up to 25 lbs, which is already approaching the suggested backpacking weight for somebody my size.) Then I helped Mom mow the lawn, and then I grabbed my hiking stick and we took a walk down to the old WB&A bridge over Old Mill Road that got washed out by Agnes in '72. That was about 1/4 mile in 6 minutes, which is still 2.5 mph. So let's split the difference and say my average walking speed when not pushing myself is about 3 mph. Which is actually better than I thought it would be.
Which means I ought to be able to do 16.6 mi in not much more than 7 hours, barring disaster, even at my slower stop-and-smell-the-wildflowers pace. This is relevant because it's 16.6 miles to the first campsite on the C&O trail, which would be both the longest stretch and the longest day by far. (What, you thought I wouldn't keep talking about that? Hahaha. The thing is, it's so eminently *doable*, and I so want to do it, so why not? I just need three days free with clear weather, and I shall be off, I will, I will.)
This is how the no-car-at-all option would work: Start on a weekday at about 7 AM. Walk about 1 mile down Telegraph Road to the bus stop at the police station. Take the K bus to the Odenton train station (free with Marc ticket). Take the Marc train to the Metro Orange Line ($4.00). Take the Orange line to Foggy Bottom ($2.35). Walk about 3/4 mile NW to C&O Canal Trail visitor center at Georgetown. It should be about 9:30 am. Walk trail 16.6 mi to the Swains Lock campsite. Sleep. Wake up the next morning, sometime. Depending on how well I'm making time, how tired I am, and my plans for later, aim for either Horsepen Branch (26.1) or Chisel Branch (30.5) for the second night's camping. On the third day, aim for Whites Ferry at 35.5; cross the Potomac on the ferry ($3 one way). Then walk the last 6.5 miles to Sister's apartment and demand clean clothes and a shower. If I leave on a Friday morning, I should get there by late Sunday afternoon, and then get someone to put me on the train home Monday morning, and voila! Or I suppose if I had a whole week free and I enjoyed it that much, I could walk back - back would be downhill!
It becomes considerably less complex and about ten miles less walking if people drop me off by car at either end of the trail. Also less pure, though. You may have noticed if you've been reading this journal that I have a thing for public transit. Well, you see, when I was young enough that my main source of science journalism was Kids Discover, I swore that I would always be an environmentalist, and that I would never be the sort of half-hearted environmentalist who drives a car half an hour to work every day. In fact, I swore that I would never own a car, unless I had a roaming job that absolutely required it (like a ranger in a big giant national park, say), or it was a *really cool car*, like a solar-powered car, or one that flies, or an old-fashioned touring car, or something, at which point all bets are off, of course.
As I've gotten older and more cynical, I've gotten less firm on the environmentalism thing (not that I approve of people exploiting the planet, or private land ownership, or corporations, or anything; I just think that at this point many of the enviromentalists are as wrong-headed as their enemies, and anyway, I've always thought it would be cool to live in a post-apocalyptic society.) Plus, the electricity price hike this summer is probably going to do way more to reduce oil consumption than any increase of gasoline prices at the pump. ('Wah,' says the populace, 'how are we going to pay for our air conditioning this summer?' 'Oh, cry me a river,' says I, 'and then go swimming in it, like my forefathers did. And if you can't stand the heat, go back to New England.')
But I've gotten even more firm on the no-cars thing, because private automobiles are just so destructive of *community*, in so many ways; pretty much everything that's wrong with my home country today can be traced back to the destruction of community that was caused by the supremacy of the automobile. So. And on a more personal level, I *know* that if I allow myself, I'll go weeks at a time without seeing the sunlight or speaking to another human being. No car forces me, *personally*, to become part of my community, which is only to the good. And now that I'm starting to be able to make my own choices about things like that, I am making the carless ones, and I'm finding that yes, it is possible to make do without a car, even in these most forsaken suburbs of all, as long as you're willing to step out of your bubble a little, and make compromises. More possible than even I expected, actually. And it makes me so *happy*, just to stand on a train platform and smile at someone, or to sudoku in a bus shelter in the rain.
Anyway. Tonight I'm supposed to be working on my paper on the WB&A Electric Railroad and the development of suburbs and commuting patterns in Anne Arundel County, MD. Toward this end, I have pulled out all of the old maps that were sitting in my room. Most of these maps were given to me by Mary from church, whose husband taught navigation at a maritime school in Annapolis. (PS: If anybody has a use for 40-year-old nautical charts of the Florida Keys, I can totally hook you up: I'll even pay postage. You have to send them back if I ever get my sailboat, though.) I got them the weekend before Dad died, and we spent that Sunday afternoon with them spread out over the living room floor, him telling me about his hiking and boating adventures and his old dream of one day taking his home-made boat all the way around the Delmarva Peninsula, and that's the last memory I have of him.
So. I have, per this paper: 1957 Army Corps of Engineers 7.5'' topographic maps of the entire county; a a larger quadrant covering DC; a 1961 A. A. county street map; a 1993 ADC AA Co street map; a 1998 AA Co small area planning map, covering Severn and northern Odenton; a 2002 DNR map of Maryland's land and water trails; (somewhere) a state street map and bicycle map of the same vintage; and a current WMATA master system map. Somewhere in this house is also a copy of the original plat of the subdivision we live in, which Dad acquired in the mid-70s, but dates back to the 1920s, unless worms have eaten it to dust, which is possible, for I know not where it might be: finding it is my next task, even if what I should be doing is reading the scholarly journal articles that I'm supposed to be using for this paper, rather than primary sources. Somehow, I doubt that the TA will be terribly impressed (Okay, he might be impressed, just not in a 'leads to good grade' sort of way) if my most frequent citation is 'found it in the attic'.
Anybody want to join me some weekend in bushwhacking from my house down to Academy Junction on the old WB&A right-of-way, and find what's been built of the WB&A trail? If they ever, finally, get the wheels moving on finishing that trail, before I'm too old and creaky to enjoy it, which, fingers crossed, they may actually be doing at long last, it's concievable that I could go all the way from our front yard to my sister's place without leaving designated hiker/biker trails - and while I'm dreaming, then I could concievably just *keep going*, right past Mom's hometown, until I hit the Pacific Ocean - and wouldn't *that* be cool? But baby steps, kid, baby steps.
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minionsstewardesses in an exceedingly bright shade of turquoise. Turquoise dress suits (with very narrow knee-length skirts, urgh), to be exact.Also, you have heard of the Trans-Canada Trail (http://www.tctrail.ca/), right? One day, man, one day...
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The Trans-Canada Trail sounds *really cool* (... if a bit ... chilly?). Although it also sounds rather more wildernessy than the American one, something to do *after* one is in shape. I know! Do that to cool down, right after I circum-bicycle Australia!
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On the other hand, I did look at that trail map, and go 'darn! It wouldn't take me past where Frey and Courtney live!', so, hey! (On the other hand, it goes right by St. Louis.)
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Now, I have only been through, uhm, these (http://oldkasperl.kesil.com/been.jpeg) states, and the things I have heard of Kansas and the middle-y farm states haven't been all too thrilling; BUT, if you do have the choice, after you get through Utah (http://mersh.com/vacation/utah/utah04.jpg) and Nevada (http://www-personal.si.umich.edu/~choidh/images/nevada.JPG) and that part of northern Cali (which isn't actually that awful, as California goes), head up the Pacific Crest Trail! (http://www.pcta.org/about_trail/overview.asp) It's a mountain-y ("crest") hike, so it's too bad it doesn't have the full variety, but you can always detour. Plus, then you can stop by Bellingham!
And my hermitage/hollowed-out tree trunk in the Northern Cascades!no subject
And I could head up the pacific crest trail, and then across the Pacific Northwest trail, and then hook up with the trans-Canada trail, and take the Appalachian trail home! That way I wouldn't have to backtrack at all!
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