Getting Here Was Half the Fun!

As I've been telling anyone who would listen (and even those of you who wouldn't) my last day at Fidelity was March 5! Where the heck has a whole month gone??? That week, we got the Mercedes Benz ready for the trip to KW. Neal pulled out the Porter Court parking sticker we got when were were here in January.

He cleaned the ice and snow from the car, washed the windshield and it was finally time to apply it. Yeah, it's official!

Next, we removed the Massachusetts State Inspection Sticker. Florida doesn't have any car inspection at all - not even emissions testing.

And finally, we removed my Fidelity Investments parking identification sticker. I won't be needing that any more!

Now, we're almost ready to go! Last thing to do was to program the navigation system so we wouldn't get lost.

On my last day, I went to Marlborough and returned my Fidelity-issued property. That afternoon, they had a reception and send off! It was very special and I really appreciated it. Neal worked from Marborough that day and we began our trek south right from the reception. Our hope was to get through NY before calling it a night. The traffic wasn't bad and we made it as far was Edison NJ by 9:15 pm. We found a Courtyard by Marriott and stayed there for the night. It clean and efficient and worked just fine for the night.

The next morning, we got up and headed out on the next leg of our adventure. We got back on Rt. 95 for the scenic drive along America's friendly highways......

We went over the rivers ......

and through the tunnels.

It was about a 4 hour drive from Edison, NJ to Washington. We arrived at the Auto Train Station a little after noon on Friday.

The Department of Homeland Security was there to greet us - sniffing dog and all. Good thing Theresa wasn't with us. She smuggles stuff! : -)

Once they cleared out car, they took it over and drove it into the car-carrier. Once full, the car carriers are then attached to the end of the passenger train before it leaves the station.

They take motorcycles on the train, too. They attach them to these motorcycle carriers.

Then they pulled the motorcycyle carriers onto the train using John Deere tractors.

Once securty and the dog cleared us, they took the car and we went inside to register and check-in.

Then we waited for them to board us. The waiting area felt a little bit like waiting at a Gate at the airport.

The train was very, very long. We couldn't really get a good picture of  its length. But, it was one long train!!

Neal had reserved us a 'roomette' on the train. A 'roomette' is a small, private cabin with 2 recliner-type seats and a table.

Each car had a small beverage station with bottled water, fresh coffee, teas, ice, etc. which were available throughout the trip.

It took about an hour to attach all the auto/motorcycle-cars to the back of the train. So, Neal and I decided to do some exploring of all the various cars on the train. As we did that, we found a guest reception and wine-tasting going on in the Lounge Car. They had wine, cheeses, crackers, fresh salmon and other good snacks. The more 'experiened auto-trainers' knew all about this but we found it by accident. It was nice and we enjoyed sitting by the window watching all the activity in the yard as the crew got the auto-train ready.

Once they got the last car attached, we were off!

The auto-train went over the rivers, through the woods and passed small quaint towns. It was a lot of fun!

We had a nice dinner on the train. We could have had a private dinner served in our 'roomette'. But, we opted to eat in the Dining Car since we were on the train and had never done experienced this before. We had our choice of a few different entrees. While it wasn't our typical 'Friday Night Dinner' the food was surprisingly good. And it was a hoot to eat by the window in a Dining Car of a moving train!

After dinner, we went to the Lounge Car where they were showing "Julie & Julia" with Meryl Streep. How funny is that - it turned out to be French Night after all!

While we were having dinner, they serviced our 'roomette' and converted into our sleeping accomodations. When we got back to our cabin, we climbed (literally) into bed and went to sleep as the train rolled merrily along!

We arrived in Sanford, FL well rested and a even a bit ahead of schedule. It was a great adventure and experience and we'd do it again. It took about an hour for them to unload our car and get it to us. But once they did, we were on-the-road-again! We could tell by the signs that we were a long way from Lynnfield.