There was lots of drama today. Brandon’s flight from Austin to Philadelphia was delayed. It was going to be close, but doable, for him to make his connection to Albany, NY. His 2 PM arrival was more than enough time for us to catch the 7 PM train to Buffalo. Things deteriorated quickly. He circled Philly for 45 minutes with the threat of being redirected to Pittsburgh. His plane did finally land at 12:45 and he arrived at his connection flight to a closed door. The plane was still at the gate but about to be pushed out.
He did catch a later flight getting him to Albany at 6:15. This was going to be a disaster. When your on a bike, people treat you more of a traveler than a tourist. That happened at the Amtrak station in Albany. With a four hour wait for Brandon, I decided to drive to the station and see our options. It looked like we were going to lose a day. I was about the change tickets when another employee came over and suggested that if we drove to Schenectady, which was close to equal distance from the airport, it would allow us an additional half hour. Everything fell into place.
We had a fun five hour ride on the train, drinking beer and making friends in the cafe car. We arrived at the Buffalo Station at 1 AM and had a four mile ride to our hotel. We finally got to bed at around 2 AM, happy as clams at high tide.
2019 Erie Canal Travel Day from John Sullivan on Vimeo.
A Midnight Rider 