Yesterday afternoon, I finished off the last exam of the fall semester (3/4 of the way through my MBA now!), and headed for Penn Station as I’ve done now approximately 25 times in the last two years. This, however, coincided with a certain winter storm that was making its way up from Virginia toward New York. Despite momentary thoughts about just getting a hotel room for the night in New York and heading back today, I really wanted to get home, and so was thrilled to see that the train was only about 10 minutes late leaving.
The snow flakes started by the time the train made it into Newark, NJ, and by the time we Metropark it was really coming down. We made it to Newark, DE only behind schedule by a half hour or so, and I realized, looking out the window that the snow on the northbound tracks had almost reached same height as the platform. To Amtrak’s credit, we kept pushing ahead, and aside from waiting 20-30 minutes at BWI Airport, there were no other weather-related stops. The originally scheduled 9:30pm arrival became 11pm, but I had made it back to DC.
Unfortunately, yesterday evening, DC was still infinitely far from Alexandria. No cabs were running, aside from a few minivans and SUVs without any licensing and requesting flat fees well into three digits. Metro had stopped all service at above-ground stations, meaning there was no way to reach south Arlington, Alexandria or Franconia. Thinking of the couches, big-screen TV and Peet’s coffee machine at my old company, I headed over there, hoping to make it into the employee lounge for the night. It was quite a shock to see how quiet downtown was at 11:30pm on a Saturday night, and while the roads were a complete mess, the sidewalks weren’t bad at all. I was able to make it into the building, but was denied access at the elevator, and headed for the back-up option: my current office. I made it over there (three metro stops and four blocks) in about 40 minutes, and made it into the elevator where I swiped my ID card and hit floor 7. Nothing happened. Twenty more attempts, and I was still on the ground floor. In desperation I started swiping my card and hitting other random floor numbers when number 6 lit up and the elevator started moving.
My company has offices on both the 6th and 7th floors, and while I knew I couldn’t get up to my floor, the fact that I could make it into any office was a huge relief. I ended up settling in on the floor of the server room, and was asleep within a couple minutes. This morning, I finished off the last of the three Chick-fil-A sandwiches I had brought with me, then took stock of the situation. The Metro was still open only for underground stations. The roads were still unplowed. And I was working on six hours of lousy sleep on my rolled up sweater as a pillow.
Amtrak, however, was still saying their 10:55am train to Charlotte, NC was scheduled to leave on time. The first stop of the train was Alexandria-King St. station, a short 15 blocks from my parents’ house. And, what felt most important, I’d be on the correct side of the Potomac River. I made my way back to Union Station (taking an hour, this time), and sat to wait. A short time before 10:55, people were informed that that train would arrivate at 11:10. Around 11:25, the announcement was made that the train was scheduled to arrive at 12:10. Frustrated, I headed out to check on whether any cabs were yet moving – they weren’t. Thankfully, shortly after that my Dad called and suggested that he could just pick me up at Union Station, since the roads had finally been plowed in Alexandria.
About 1:30, I said bye to my dad, and unlocked the door – 19 hours and 234 miles later!
