Diamond Jubilee: departure

Elizabethtown Amtrak Station. June 2021

Life was roller-coastering for everyone. We were living through COVID. Cases were down - was it over (n0)? I had cabin fever to the max after staying for nearly a year in a tiny apartment in Wrightsville with my brother - sleeping on an air mattress in the basement. Our mother was in her last stage of life and we wanted to be nearby. She clung to life - I had rushed home from Iraq when the border opened with Turkey because she was so frail. Nearly a year after my arrival - she was still with us.

My brother took the apartment so he could be near our mother. After I came stateside, I agreed to stay with him. Truthfully, he was doing all the care for our mom. I was mostly providing moral support to him. Mom's last years were not good to any of us. We appreciated our father's quick passing as the time dragged on. For my part, I tried to make sure we ate healthy and took long walks. The situation (along with COVID) was simply depressing.

The place we stayed was small, and after almost a year, I needed a change - desperately. Our nerves were frayed. I went to stay with my cousins over Memorial Day weekend and extended the visit to the following weeks. I needed to do something, so I decided on an epic journey to celebrate my upcoming 60th birthday. Mom showed no sign of imminent decline - why not escape for a while?

Amtrak was desperate for customers and COVID seemed to be winding down. The timing was right for a trip by rail. In a total departure from the norm, I left without much of a plan - just a rail pass and a vague itinerary. I was in the US after all...

Little did I realize how very little I knew about my own country (even parts that were relatively "close" to where I grew up!)

First stop... Pittsburgh.