Back and forth between Charleston SC and Silver Spring, MD — I packed as efficiently as possible, and still managed to have 3 large & heavy bags of stuff along with my tennis rackets. A suitcase filled primarily with Trader Joes food and specialty items only found at the local Asian food stores (gotta have my bulk dried foods and sesame oil!)…my skates and skate gear, and one last bag of laptop, books, CD’s and any item that wouldn’t fit in the other two bags. Wowie-Zow. This is packing light. I’ll be traveling south to Charleston one last time on land…on the midnight Amtrak express train – and expect to arrive in Charleston at 5AM.

Sat next to a delightful woman named Anna. Anna lives in the Isle of Palms, and makes frequent Amtrak trips north to Philadelphia PA to care for her 93 year old mother. We shared many stories about caring for our 90 year old parents — including stocking the freezer full of foods, ensuring they can use their computers for emails, and just enjoying simple ‘time’ with the parentals! Life is good. Anna is a retired computer geek from the Chicago area – who started her second career as a watercolor artist after retirement. Her work is currently featured at the Seagull Gallery in Mt. Pleasant. I am planning to visit this gallery on a sunny day via bicycle — a combined sporting-artismo event if you will.

Well, by 11PM, everyone on the train was snoring…not me. I remained wide awake…listening to all of the snoring ….sigh. Despite a late start out of DC, the train made up time – and arrived on schedule in Charleston. Pat picked me up at the train station, and we arrived at the City Marina just in time for sunrise. It was beautiful.By 8AM – I crashed. So much for sleeping on the midnite train….I would be catching zzzzz’s for the bulk of the day on Monday. It’s now boat-time.

The temperatures have improved considerably since the last time I was in Charleston. It’s T-shirt and short weather now. Having ‘thermal-ed UP’ just 3 days prior – to skate in 18 degree weather in Baltimore…T-shirt and shorts is a very pleasant change.