We traversed 11 states, but not DC -- yet...

Summary of the day: A baptism with water...two angels......speaking in tongues? and a baptism of fire. After a 5 a.m wake up call, Pete dropped Deacon Tom Duplessie and me off at Wells, where we met Deacon Cindy Beaulieu on the DownEaster--she had reserved one of the sets of seats facing each other for the trinity of deacons...All was well, until the air conditioning unit over us began sweating...suddenly we were wishing our umbrellas weren't packed! We managed to dodge the steady stream of droplets the rest way to Boston. Once in Boston, we transferred to the Orange line--two wonderful transit workers--who would have made a great comedy duo--helped us figure out where to go next and kept us in stitches. Once at Back Bay station, we grabbed a bite at the local Dunkin' Donuts--that's where we experienced the speaking in tongues--not English...not Spanish...we heard but didn't understand... Then, we boarded the Amtrak Regional that would bear us to DC--we thought! All was well--it was a beautiful day--on the beaches of the coast of Connecticut, we saw swimmers and beach goers...fresh spring green leaves on the trees...blossoming fruit trees--sparkling blue water and azure sky studded with puffy clouds-- it was beautiful!

And then, just south of New Rochelle, the train stopped. There was a power failure. We sat. And sat. And sat. Finally after about 1 1/2 hours, Amtrak sent a diesel locomotive to tow us to New York. Air conditioning-free, we made slow progress to that city--that was our baptism of fire. It was hot! As we approached Washington, 3 hours late, my brother Jim picked us up at New Carrollton station and drove us to his house, where we are staying.

It was a long day, but even with the interesting happenings, the three travelers are glad to be here. On our trip down, as we passed through the largest cities in the Northeast, we noticed, in contrast to the natural beauty, the ugly evidence of poverty -- graffiti, houses in decay, trash by the rails... We hope the three days we spend here at the M2EP will help us find ways of replacing the ugliness of poverty with hope in our own communities.

We'll add DC to our 11 states tomorrow...for now, bed is looking very good!